For Immediate Release:
Contact: Candace Crandall
Tel: (703) 503-5064
e-mail: Crandall@SEPP.org

DR. S. FRED SINGER WRAPS UP SUCCESSFUL, FIVE-CITY EUROPEAN SPEAKING TOUR ON GLOBAL WARMING CONTROVERSY
Talks Focus on New Findings, Old Uncertainties

FAIRFAX, VA, JUNE 19, 1997---S. Fred Singer, president of The Science & Environmental Policy Project, returned to Washington, D.C., last week following a hugely successful European speaking tour on the global warming issue. Appearing at the invitation of scientific groups and think tanks, Dr. Singer, a prominent skeptic on the global warming issue, presented his case in London, Munich, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm before audiences of up to 100 scientists, journalists, industry representatives, and national policymakers. His talks centered on the many still unanswered questions, as well as on new scientific findings that cast further doubt on the reality of a climate change catastrophe.

"The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know," said Singer. "That has certainly been true in the year since the last UN Global Climate Change report. We've seen a possible mechanism for solar influence on climate. We've had successful results with ocean fertilization, which could draw down CO2. We've discovered other human effects on climate that were completely unexpected. And we've seen an anti-correlation between temperature and sea level, which could lay to rest our fears of coastal flooding. Secretary Tim Wirth's views to the contrary," he added, "the science of global warming is certainly not settled."

In his talks, Singer honed in on the following points, which are included in his forthcoming book Global Warming: Unfinished Business, available in late 1997 through the Independent Institute in Oakland, California:

1. An anti-correlation--discovered by researchers at SEPP--between global temperature over the last century and sea level, i.e. when temperature goes up, sea level goes down. Comparing data on temperature and sea level published in the peer-reviewed literature, Singer found that the ongoing sea level trend showed a drop between 1925 and 1940, when temperatures were rising (recovering from the "Little Ice Age"). If confirmed, this would indicate that during a global temperature increase, any glacial melting would be more than offset by increased ocean evaporation and precipitation (snow) at the poles.

2. New evidence--discovered by researchers at SEPP--of regional climate warming at northern mid-latitudes (over Europe and the United States), which shows a startling correlation to patterns of commercial airline traffic. Singer theorizes that thin contrails of ice particles--not CO2--are creating a regional warming at the surface. Airline traffic is increasing at a rate of 5 percent per year, yet Singer notes that this effect has not been addressed by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

3. Large and rapid natural variations in the temperature and CO2 record (from ocean sediment cores and tree-ring data), unrelated to human activities, over the entire history of the earth. Singer demonstrated that even in recorded history--the last 3,000 years--there have been rapid temperature variations, exceeding anything predicted by the IPCC, that produced no apparent ill-effects.

4. The impact of the heat-island effect on land-based temperature stations, specifically the research on land-based stations in California by meteorologist James Goodridge, which show a wide disparity between temperature readings in large-population counties (large increase over time), medium-population counties (small increase), and small-population counties (no increase at all).

5. The continued unreliability of computer climate models, including the much-touted three-dimensional models. Singer cited University of Virginia meteorologist Patrick Michaels' critique of the IPCC results, showing that the claimed temperature trends are still the result of the time frame selected--i.e. when you start and when you stop; and Richard Kerr's article in the May 16, 1997 issue of Science, "Greenhouse Forecasting Still Cloudy," which reveals considerable doubt about the models, even among scientists affiliated with the IPCC.

6. The impact of solar radiation--as outlined by Danish scientists Eigil Friis-Christensen and Henryk Svensmark--which affects climate by modulating the cosmic radiation, which in turn affects cloudiness. This mechanism has been detailed by respected British science writer Nigel Calder in a popular book, The Manic Sun (Pilkington Publishers, 1997), which has just been published in Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Singer discussed climate change research in private meetings with scientists and journalists in Cologne, Hannover, Nuremberg, Bonn, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and in Britain at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of Southampton. His public lectures were presented at the following locations:

Place:                             Date:		Host:

London, England                       May 20          Imperial College
  Imperial College				       Dept. of Physics

Munich, Germany                       May 22          Max Planck Institute
   Max Planck Institute
   for Extraterrestrial Physics				

Copenhagen, Denmark                   May 26          Institute of Geophysics
   Copenhagen University						

Helsinki, Finland	              May 29          University of Helskinki
   University of Helsinki--				Finnish Heidelberg Society
   debate with IPCC scientist
   Dr. Eero Holopainen					

Stockholm, Sweden                     June 2, 3       SNS Energy (energy
   Center for Business					 research institute)
   and Policy Studies (SNS)--
   two debates with IPCC Chairman
   Bert Bolin					

S. Fred Singer, professor emeritus in environmental science at the University of Virginia, holds a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. Dr. Singer was formerly Chief Scientist of the U.S. Department of Transportation, first Director of the National Weather Satellite Service, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and founding Dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences at the University of Miami, among other government and academic positions. He is now President of The Science & Environmental Policy Project, a research group he founded in 1992 to foster environmental policies based on sound science.

Dr. Singer is accepting invitations for another round of environmental seminars and debates when he returns to Europe in the fall. He has already received an invitation to speak to the German Society of Environmental Geologists and a tentative invitation to address the Danish Society of Environmental and Energy Journalists.

The Science & Environmental Policy Project is located just outside Washington, D.C. at
1600 South Eads Street, Suite #712-S
Arlington, VA 22202-2907
Tel/Fax 703-920-2744Fairfax, VA 22030-6812.