09-20-95 Global Warming Expert to Speak

SINGER TO ADDRESS GLOBAL WARMING AT OHIO STATE

     COLUMBUS -- It may be premature to make expensive 
policy decisions to address global climate warming, 
according to S. Fred Singer, an atmospheric physicist at 
George Mason University.  Singer will speak at The Ohio 
State University on Sept. 29.

     His speech, "Global Warming: Do We Know Enough to Act?" 
will begin at 3 p.m. in 100 Mendenhall Laboratory, 125 S. 
Oval Mall.

     The speech is free and open to the public.  Parking is 
available in the nearby Ohio Union parking garage between 
High Street and College Road.

     "There is not, nor ever was, a 'scientific consensus' 
in support of climate catastrophes," Singer wrote in the 
Sept. 4 edition of Insight.

     Singer says that many atmospheric scientists expect a 
modest average warming in the next century that may barely 
be detectable, "leading to higher nighttime and winter 
temperatures with consequences that are on the whole 
beneficial, especially for agriculture."

     Writing in Insight, Singer said scientists should solve 
problems that exist in the climate forecasting models and 
make policy decisions that make sense, such as conserving 
energy and increasing efficiency, as if there were no 
global-warming scare.

     That strategy, he said, is preferable to making major 
investments in policy decisions that may be based on 
inaccurate information.

     Singer is a Distinguished Research Professor at the 
Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University and 
director of the Science and Environmental Policy Project in 
Fairfax, Va.

     A professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, 
Singer served in high federal positions with the departments 
of Transportation and Interior and with the Environmental 
Protection Agency.  He was the first director of the 
National Weather Satellite Service.

     In 1956, Singer was the first to predict the existence 
of radiation belts high above the surface of the earth, 
which was confirmed two years later by the discovery of 
James Van Allen.  In the 1960s, Singer developed the capture 
theory of the moon.  Singer also pioneered upper-atmosphere 
research in high-altitude V-2 and Aerobee rockets and 
devised the satellite instrument currently used for 
measuring stratospheric ozone.

     "His studies of atmospheric methane led to the paradigm 
that guides research on greenhouse warming and ozone 
depletion to this day," said Douglas Southgate, director of 
Ohio State's Center for International Studies and an 
associate professor of agricultural economics.

     Singer's honors include a White House commendation for 
development of earth satellites and a gold medal from the 
Department of Commerce.  A member of the International 
Academy of Astronautics, Singer holds a bachelor's degree in 
electrical engineering from Ohio State and a doctorate in 
physics from Princeton University.  He received an honorary 
doctorate from Ohio State in 1970.

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Contact:  Douglas Southgate, (614) 292-2432.

Note to news reporters:  Interviews with Singer may be 
arranged by contacting Southgate at 292-2432.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 21 Sep 1995 11:21:17 -0400]
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