SEPP

The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) was founded in Fairfax, Virginia in 1990 by S. Fred Singer. It presents scientific evidence against the global warming theory, and argues that the media and other institutions have shown bias in reporting on the global warming controversy.

According to the Harvard University Center for the Environment, "The Science and Environmental Policy Project site is primarily an outlet for the views of S. Fred Singer, Distinguished Research Professor at George Mason University. It provides access to Singer's congressional testimony, articles, and reprints of related newspaper stories."

According to Grist magazine, "The Science and Environmental Policy Project is run by contrarian Fred Singer, formerly of the University of Virginia. Singer maintains a steady drumbeat of op-eds in the Washington Times and Wall Street Journal, among other publications, disputing the scientific consensus on issues such as ozone depletion and climate change. Singer's organization has a board of directors and advisers made up primarily of retired scientists no longer active in the field, many of whom are also on the board of the closely linked George C. Marshall Institute."

Table of contents 1 Board of Directors 2 Board of Science Advisors 3 Views of the SEPP 4 Sources of funding 5 Notes 6 External links

Board of Directors

Present on the Board of Directors are:

• Frederick Seitz (chair)
• Fred Singer
• Charles Gelman[?], formerly of Gelman Sciences[?], currently retired.
• David Hill[?], president and CEO of the Patent Enforcement Fund[?], who retired from science some time in the 1980s

Board of Science Advisors

The board of science advisors, in general, lack scientific connections to climate change.

• Bruce Ames[?], a cancer researcher
• C.J.F. Böttcher[?], studies natural resources
• Tor Gerholm[?], physicist
• Michael Higatsberger[?], physicist
• Henry Linden[?], ???
• William Mitchell[?], ???
• William Nierenberg[?], oceanographer
• Michel Salomon[?], ecologist
• Chauncey Starr[?], researches electric power

Views of the SEPP

SEPP has emerged as one of the chief opponents of concerns over global warming, dismissing it as little more than a fabrication. SEPP's position on global warming is summed up in these quotes from Dr. Singer's web site:

• ". . . at least two-thirds of the warming in this century occurred before 1940, i.e., before most of the increase in greenhouse gases. The period, 1940-1975, showed a cooling. More important perhaps, the highly accurate global temperature data from weather satellites show no warming whatsoever in the last 18 years, while the climate models predict a warming of 0.4 to 0.6 C. Clearly, the theoretical models have not been validated by actual observations. Why then should we trust them to predict a future warming?" (August 26, 1996) [1] (http://www.sepp.org/ipcccont/wirth.htm)

• "The possibility that global temperatures could rise because of an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a concern that needs to be monitored," says Singer. "But there has been no indication in the last century that we've seen anything other than natural climate fluctuations. Both greenhouse theory and computer models predict that global warming should be more rapid in the polar regions than anywhere else," he says, "but in July the Antarctic experienced the coldest weather on record." (Sept. 2, 1997) [2] (http://www.sepp.org/pressrel/goreglac)

SEPP was the author of the Leipzig Declaration, which it says was based on the conclusions drawn from a November 1995 conference in Leipzig, Germany, which SEPP organized with the European Academy for Environmental Affairs.

Sources of funding

SEPP accepted a one-year donation of office space from the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, a now-defunct think tank affiliated with Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. [3] (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm) SEPP has subsequently dissociated itself from the Washington Institute, strengthening its links with the conservative Virginia-based George Mason University. In 1998, SEPP received a $10,000 donation from ExxonMobil [4] (http://web.archive.org/web/20011031010631/www.exxonmobil.com/contributions/public_info).

Notes

[2] No longer online, copy from the Internet Archive.

External links

• The Science & Environmental Policy Project (http://www.sepp.org/)