Rating: 
Summary: Jury Still Out on Global Warming
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: I found Dr. Singer very persuasive
Review:
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
Rating: 
Summary: FOSSIL FUEL CONSULTANT BASHES GLOBAL WARMING
Review: Dr. S. Fred Singer's resume lists him as corporate consultantto: " ... EXXON, Shell, Unocal, Sun Oil, ARCO." Otherwise,Singer's dysinformation between the covers of his "Hot Talk, Cold Science ..." could simply be dismissed as the writings of a good scientist gone bad. But probably, emulating the oldest profession of mankind Singer is pleased to peddle his credentials to the highest bidder among those whose product kills earth's environment when used as directed: coal and oil. His book claims: the Framework Convention on Climate Change (i.e., the Global Climate Treaty) is based on forecasts from flawed computer models of the Earth's climate, and not on the actual observations, which Singer claims show global average temperatures going down! His book obviously dismisses recording data from the National Aeronautical and Space Administration's satellite temperature probes that correlate well with corresponding data from British weather baloons: earth's atmoshpere is MEASURABLY heating up. How can Singer be "right" and 2,500 international climate and atmospheric scientists can be "wrong?" Global scientific conspiracy? No doubt, this man is one of those who Ross Gelbspan had in mind when he wrote the scientifically accurate, "The Heat Is on: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription." Too bad Singer didn't bother to look beyond his short term self-interest to discover that whatever the fossil fuel people paid him to write what amounts to an ideological dysinformation tract he could have made even more money out of writing the scientific truth on global warming. Had Singer been smarter by writing about British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company's investment of billons in alternatives to fossil fuels (and NOT "merely" to reduce carbon emissions) he no doubt would have been able to boast of servicing an even better class of clientel.
Rating:
Summary: FOSSIL FUEL CONSULTANT BASHES GLOBAL WARMING
Review: Dr. S. Fred Singer's resume lists him as corporate consultantto: " ... EXXON, Shell, Unocal, Sun Oil, ARCO." Otherwise,Singer's dysinformation between the covers of his "Hot Talk, Cold Science ..." could simply be dismissed as the writings of a good scientist gone bad. But probably, emulating the oldest profession of mankind Singer is pleased to peddle his credentials to the highest bidder among those whose product kills earth's environment when used as directed: coal and oil. His book claims: the Framework Convention on Climate Change (i.e., the Global Climate Treaty) is based on forecasts from flawed computer models of the Earth's climate, and not on the actual observations, which Singer claims show global average temperatures going down! His book obviously dismisses recording data from the National Aeronautical and Space Administration's satellite temperature probes that correlate well with corresponding data from British weather baloons: earth's atmoshpere is MEASURABLY heating up. How can Singer be "right" and 2,500 international climate and atmospheric scientists can be "wrong?" Global scientific conspiracy? No doubt, this man is one of those who Ross Gelbspan had in mind when he wrote the scientifically accurate, "The Heat Is on: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription." Too bad Singer didn't bother to look beyond his short term self-interest to discover that whatever the fossil fuel people paid him to write what amounts to an ideological dysinformation tract he could have made even more money out of writing the scientific truth on global warming. Had Singer been smarter by writing about British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company's investment of billons in alternatives to fossil fuels (and NOT "merely" to reduce carbon emissions) he no doubt would have been able to boast of servicing an even better class of clientel.
Rating:
Summary: Good job
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Authorative debunking of the global warming hoax.
Review: 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."
Rating:
Summary: Rubbish from an Unqualified idiot
Review: I don't believe in global warming, based on my own studies on climate and pollution over the past 30 years. But this guy Singer is a complete joker.
He completely misses the point and addresses issues which no proponent of global warming has ever raised. He tackles dumb subjects, and ignores the very complexity of the issue which he claims to discuss. An example: Singer talks about the earth getting warmer, and says being warm will help poor people, as less fuel will be needed to keep people cosy. RUBBISH. The issue is not about the CLIMATE getting WARMER, its about climates everywhere CHANGING in either direction. Climate change proponents claim that cold places may get colder, warm places wramer, or anything in between - their arguement is that nobody knows and the risks need to be managed. Yet Singer has completely ignored the science and the political arguements - he claims to have studied them, but he's either a crap student or he's lying.
I can come to no other conclusion except that this prat has decided to write a book to make money and make a name for himself, and he risks destroying the hard work which other climate scientists are doing to disprove the climate change theory. What a complete loser. It makes me furious.
Rating: 
Summary: Scientific advances in 1998 make global warming less likely
Review: Scientific discoveries are proceeding apace; but with no support for human-caused warming. Ice core data show that carbon dioxide increases *lagged* major warmings that ended past ice ages. Even though 1998 was a superhot year, the climate is already cooling. Climate models predictions still not validated by data. Sealevel will not be rising faster. Check our website for details.
Rating:
Summary: Singer urges caution on global warming policy.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Painful to read
Review: 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.
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