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Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate

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Unlike the previous reviewer, I found Dr. Singer to be a very persuasive source of information. Probably it has something to do with one's political predisposition.

S. Fred Singer is a preeminent authority on energy and environmental issues. Among other things, he designed the first satellite instrument for measuring atmospheric ozone and was a principal developer of scientific and weather satellites.

A research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and president of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, he is also Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science and a member of the Energy Policy Studies center at the University of Virginia. His academic honors and qualifications are too many to list here, but many of them are in the About the Author section in the book

To accuse him of intentionally slanting his opinions because his work has been utilized by some energy companies is scurrilous and denigrating. His work has also been utilized by government agencies, because he is an acknowledged expert in the field.

This book is replete with facts, figures, graphs, and a great variety of evidence to back up his opinions. There are eight pages of closely typeset references of people who agree with his conclusions.

Singer, in the book, discusses the scientific case against the Global Climate Treaty, and says that there is no detectable anthropogenic (man caused) evidence of global warming, and further that the consequences of modest global warming would be positive, rather than negative.

He discusses the so-called "greenhouse effect," and recommends prudency over panic. He says that, contrary to the major thrust of the Second Atmospheric Report of the IPCC (1996), studies by Hansen, et al, conclude that anthropogenic aerosol gases are of lesser importance, but that the ozone depletion of the last 20 years can cancel up to 50 percent of the greenhouse gas climate effects.

This book is a very good source of information, from a scientist who taught us how to measure these effects, and which will dispel many of the myths being peddled by socialists who are today masquerading as environmental wackos in order to attain their political ends.

I recommend it to you.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

Dr. Singer presents an excellent review of the problems associated with determining the future extent of global warming. He emphasizes the differences between land , ocean, and atmospheric temperature measurements. He also points out correctly that all forecasts depend on models and as we all know weather forecasting is far from an exact science even for the short time of a week or a few months. We still don't know, for instance, if we'll have good snow for the Olympics in Salt Lake City and they are only less than half a year away. How can we have the audacity to pretend to know what the temperature is going to be a hundred years from now? Models can only give answers based on information which is currently available but that is bound to change even within a decade. To engage in massive government intervention on basis of a perceived threat, which in turn rests on inadequate data, would qualify for inclusion in Tuchman's "March of Folly." Dr. Singer is to be congratulated for having had the courage to go against public pressures and present the facts as they exist.

This is a clear, concise presentation of the case against belief that there is a reason to fear global warming. If global warming did occur, the oceans and seas would not increase to envelop the earth as predicted, but they would decrease by evaporation into the clouds and then rain to produce more ice cap at the poles. Many other fears are dispelled by this book which should be must reading after all the science fiction produced in the press.

The author has solid credentials. His thrust is presenting scads of conflicting evidence to the "conventional wisdom" that global warming has us on a trajectory to doom.

Some of his evidence is temperature records for the past -- showing fluctuation, but no overall trend. The data is from many varied sources, some of it prehistoric.

Some of his evidence is from surveys of professional weather people -- showing significant lack of confidence in the computer models that are predicting global warming. That should tell us all something by itself.

I remember in the 1970's the scare was about a global ice age caused by cooling. Now new computer models predict global warming. All this at a time when no one can yet predict the weather more than a couple of weeks into the future.

The author reminds us that the world is complex. We don't understand it all yet.

Fred Singer, the former director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service, predicts that cutbacks in energy use mandated by the climate change treaty "will cost citizens literally hundreds of billions of dollars in higher product costs and lost wages -- all to mitigate climate 'disasters' that exist only on computer printouts and in the feverish imagination of professional environmental zealots." Singer disputes the "evidence" for global warming, denies that its impact would be harmful even if it were occurring, and rejects the contention "that scientists know which atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are 'dangerous' and which are not." Singer's scientific and sensible formula for a hospitable future, with or without global warming, is "economic growth and continued technological advances."

This is one of the easiest books to follow that tell the truth about the non-existence of so-called "global warming." Here, Mr. Singer analyzes the Global Climate Treaty and shows how damaging it could be to our economy, if adopted. He goes on to review the relevant facts and figures that clearly indicate the lack of overall warming of our globe in the last decade. His conclusions regarding the effects of man-made carbon dioxide are also clearly justified and documented, showing that the media claims are simply not supported by known facts.

This book clearly explains why we should NOT sign the Kyoto treaty, as Pres. Bush insists, and for the same reasons, that it would decimate our economy without doing anything that useful for our worldwide environment. Americans of all parties should read this book and be prepared to resist the media fear-mongers who try to get us to run from their chicken-little-like scare tactics into the arms of economy-destroying legislation.

I am glad to have read "Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate." Although it is written in such a way that a lay person can generally understand, it isn't easy to read.
Having heard a lecture by Fred Singer in a local college I was interested to read further evidence of his scientific position.

How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

This book is only good as a reference to back up Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes And Erik M. M. Conway.

Singer presents a solid case that global warming is a very complicated and poorly understood phenomenon. Like others he agrees that the industrial age has brought with it an increase in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere. He asks the question "why has this not led to a discernible warming?" He suggests competing anthropogenic influences might mitigate the effects of an enhanced greenhouse effect.

The problem with Singer's argument is that his theory is just as poorly understood as the GCMs (Global Circulation Models). There is inadequate discussion of what happens if the delicate balance is upset.

His argument seems to be that until we know more, (The timescales are such that a few years wait should not lead to castrophy.), we should error on the side of economic growth. Most environmental economists would suggest that until we know more we should error on the side of very limited economic growth, since there is a direct link between economic growth and environmental impact.

For one, I would prefer to error on the side of future habitability until we know more. We have mortgaged the future of our children and grand- chiildren too many times. Financial wealth is useless if we can't live on the planet.

While Singer's book may provide some useful information about the global warming debate, it's overshadowed by shoddy organization and a weak writing style. The repetition of the same key information makes it appear as if Singer has ample evidence for his claim; however, his three major points appear in the foreword. Don't waste your time reading the whole book!