The article "Climate change belly-flop" (OGJ, June 18, 2001, p. 19) was well done. The editorial statements coincide with those of S. Fred Singer (professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia and a former director of the US Weather Satellite Service) about the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) National Research Council findings. He went a step further.
Besides citing what the editorial said about lacking temperature records, unreliable computer models, solar variables in place of human-related caused warming, no mention in the report was made of observed cooling and cooling of the deep ocean. Singer also pointed out that geological evidence confirms 400 ft of sea level rise over the past 18,000 years vs. the report's mention of a sea level rise without any connection to human action.
Does the NAS panel report imply that we underestimated the human industrial revolution by 17,800 years? And when are they going to address and explain the six or eight ice ages in the past million years with consequent warming between each ice age?
Singer goes on to state that honest science and journalism should be more careful and write balanced summaries, especially when there are so many unknowns. It is not advisable for one to hold their breath waiting for that, Singer points out, because of the makeup of the 11-member panel.
Some members were being asked to produce a report that would confirm their earlier work for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control (IPCC). No geologist or glacialogist was on the panel. Only one ideological skeptic, Mr. Lindzen (who criticized the report) and no one critical of the earlier IPCC report. There were no statisticians to test the conclusions.
The NAS report stands on whether the climate warmed in the past 50 years, and more so since 1980. The overwhelming bulk of data from different independent sources show no warming trend, states Singer. Then he gives these scientists their due. "It's a matter too important to be left to just a select group of scientists. We need an open evidentiary hearing before a jury composed also of nonscientists."
President Bush is absolutely right to demand more proven science before he acts on the issue.
Toby Elster
Consulting Geologist
Pan-Western Petroleum Inc.
Wichita
