Comments On Federal Scientific Integrity
By Kenneth Haapala, President
The Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
July 28, 2021 (slightly edited)
“It is one thing to impose drastic measures and harsh economic penalties when an
environmental problem is clear-cut and severe. It is quite another to do so when the
environmental problem is largely hypothetical and not substantiated by careful observations.
This is definitely the case with global warming.” – Frederick Seitz, 17th president of the United
States National Academy of Sciences
This paper addresses the scientific integrity involved in the fear that human additions to
atmospheric carbon dioxide will cause significant global warming. To comprehend how carbon
dioxide influences the globe’s temperatures one must comprehend the greenhouse effect, how
different greenhouse gases influence the loss of heat to space, how different greenhouse gases
influence the effectiveness of other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and how increasing the
greenhouse effect influences climate. Further, to comprehend how human emissions of
greenhouse gases affect climate requires separating the greenhouse effect from other human
impacts on climate such as urbanization. Also, it requires separating human impacts from natural
climate change including changing ocean circulation and changing solar influences which we do
not fully understand.
This brief paper is divided into six basic sections: One, the importance of the scientific method
for understanding the physical world; Two, the changing climate; Three, the importance of the
greenhouse effect, including carbon dioxide, for life on this planet; Four, problems with global
climate models used to predict dire consequences from increasing greenhouse gases, particularly
carbon dioxide; Five, modern physical evidence supporting an alternative analysis of the
greenhouse effect; and Six, a suggested policy for going forward with steps the nation needs to
take.
https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2021/Federal%20Scientific%20Integrity%202.pdf
