Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate

by S. Fred Singer, David R. Legates, Anthony R. Lupo, Frederick Seitz (Foreword by), William Happer (Foreword by)

Overview

"In Hot Talk, Cold Science, Fred Singer looks at the issue of climate change the way a physicist should. He asks probing questions and offers reasoned possibilities. He notes the obvious weaknesses that others too often ignore…. Fortunately, some like Dr. Singer still prefer the joys and value of scientific inquiry.”
—Richard S. Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor Emeritus of Meteorology, M.I.T.

The revised and expanded third edition of Hot Talk, Cold Science forms the capstone of the distinguished astrophysicist Dr. S. Fred Singer’s lucid, yet hard scientific look at climate change. And the book is no less explosive than its predecessors—and certainly never more timely.
 
Singer explores the inaccuracies in historical climate data and the failures of climate models, as well as the impact of solar variability, clouds, ocean currents, and sea levels on global climate—plus factors that could mitigate any human impact on world climate.

Singer’s masterful analysis decisively shows that the pessimistic, and often alarming, global-warming scenarios depicted in the media have no scientific basis. In fact, he finds that many aspects of increased levels of CO2, as well as any modest warming, such as a longer growing seasons for food and a reduced need to use fossil fuels for heating, would have a highly positive impact on the human race.

As alarmists clamor to impose draconian government restrictions on entire populations in order to combat “climate change,” this book reveals some other startling, stubborn contradictory facts, including:

• CO2 has not caused temperatures or sea levels to rise beyond historical rates.
• Severe storms have not increased in frequency or intensity since 1970—neither have heat waves nor droughts.
• Global “climate change” is not harming coral reefs.
• Any increases in CO2 concentrations across huge time spans haven’t preceded rising global temperatures, they’ve followed them by about 600 to 800 years—just the opposite of alarmist claims.
• “Carbon” taxes and other “solutions” to the global warming “crisis” would have severe consequences for economically disadvantaged groups and nations.
• Alarmist climate scientists have hidden their raw temperature data and deleted emails—then undermined the peer-review system to squelch debate.

In sum, despite all the hot talk—and outright duplicity—there is no “climate crisis” resulting from human activities and no such threat on the horizon.

With the assistance of renowned climate scientists David R. Legates and Anthony R. Lupo, Singer’s Hot Talk, Cold Science is an essential, clear-headed book of scope and substance that no one who claims to value science, the environment, and human well-being can afford to ignore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598133417
Publisher:	Independent Institute, The
Publication date:	02/16/2021
Edition description:	Third edition
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	70,973
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

S. Fred Singer was one of the world’s preeminent authorities on energy and environmental issues. A pioneer in the development of rocket and satellite technology, Dr. Singer designed the first satellite instrument for measuring atmospheric ozone and was a principal developer of scientific and weather satellites. Author of more than 400 technical articles in scientific, economics, and public policy journals, plus more than 400 articles in popular publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post, Dr. Singer received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University.

David R. Legates is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of Climatology in the Department of Geography and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Applied Economics and Statistics at the University of Delaware. He is former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Observation and Prediction and former Executive Director of the United States Global Change Research Program. His research has appeared in such scientific journals as the International Journal of Climatology, Journal of Geophysical Research, and Theoretical and Applied Climatology.

Anthony R. Lupo is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of Atmospheric Science and Principal Investigator of the Global Climate Change Group in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. He has been a Member of the Working Groups I and III for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and he is Associate Editor of the Monthly Weather Review. His peer-reviewed publications have appeared in such scientific journals as Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, International Journal of Biometeorology, and International Journal of Climatology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 1

Foreword to First and Second Editions Frederick Seitz 3

Foreword to Third Edition William Happer 5

Preface 7

List of Figures and Boxes 9

Part I Hot Talk 13

1 A Century of Climate Concerns 15

Little Support for the Greenhouse Theory

Warming or Cooling?

Fear of Global Warming

2 FCCC and the Kyoto Protocol 41

The Earth Summit Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)

The Kyoto Protocol

3 The Paris Agreement 49

Failure in Copenhagen

The Paris Agreement

A Big "Nothing Burger"

Leaving the FCCC

4 Misled by the IPCC 55

A Fake Consensus of Scientists

Corruption of the Peer-Review Process

The Missing Hotspot

Walking

Back Key Alarmist Claims

A Huge Public Deception

5 The Hockey Stick Deception 71

The Hockey Stick Illusion

The Illusion Exposed

6 The Climategate Scandal 77

"An Organized Conspiracy"

The Scientific Background

International Journal of Climatology

In the Courtroom

Part II Cold Science 85

7 What Science Really Says 87

The Temperature Record

What We Think We Know

What We Know We Don't Know

Severe Storms Are Not Increasing

Heat Waves Are Not Becoming More Common

Droughts Are Not Becoming More Common

Global Warming is Not Harming Coral Reefs

8 The Unreliable Surface Temperature Record 107

Two Warming Periods or One?

Corrupt Data and Changes in Instrumentation

9 The Gap Between Observed Temperatures and Climate Models 117

No Warming Trend

The Gap Between Observations and Models

Internal Causes

External Causes

Jet Contrails

Solar Influences

Other Possible Causes

10 Does CO2 Lead to Cooling? 129

The Theory

Assumptions

A Typical Reaction

11 Sea Level Rise 135

Sea Level Rise Is Not Accelerating

A Test of the Global Warming Theory

The Missing Water Is Turning into Ice

12 Malthusians versus Cornucopians 143

Rise of the Environmental Movement

"Sustainable Development"

Resource Depletion

Environmental

Protection

Implications for Climate Change

13 Benefits of Modest Warming 153

How Much Warming Can We Expect?

Lessons from History

A Boon for Agriculture

"Greening of the Earth"

Positive Effects on Human Health

14 Mitigation, Sequestration, or Adaptation 161

Mitigation: Reducing Emissions

Sequestration: Storing CO₂

Adaptation: Turning Tragedy into Opportunity

15 Unfinished Business 171

Unsettled Scientific Issues

The Truth Needs to be Told

Preparing for Global Cooling

Major Glaciations

Little Ice Ages

How to Overcome a Little Ice Age

16 Conclusion 181

Afterword David R. Legates Anthony R. Lupo 185

References 195

Acronyms 215

Index 221

About the Authors 231

Editorial Reviews

"As contentious as the climate issue was and is, I was always impressed by Fred Singer’s gentle demeanor within that storm. I suppose he remained calm because he sought to ground his views in the actual evidence of climate observations. In his day, reproducible evidence was the foundation on which one was taught to test one’s claims and he simply went about the business of checking out the latest theorized conjectures about the climate. Here in Hot Talk, Cold Science, he updates his findings regarding those conjectures, as well as giving a tour of the political landscape that melded itself to the climate-alarm agenda. His conclusions should give us all a modest sense of gentle calmness—that same calmness he carried to the end of his days." —John R. Christy, Director, Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville


"When debating environmental policy, we frequently hear from scientists, climate activists, and public officials who claim 'the science is settled' with regard to global warming. This book is a great reminder that the data are mixed at best. We should follow the science. Hot Talk, Cold Science provides the reader with important facts and evidence consistently and conveniently overlooked by climate alarmists, making clear the case on global warming is far from closed." —Ted Cruz, U. S. Senator; Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space


"Hot Talk, Cold Science is an excellent book on the politics and science of climate change." —Elliott D. Bloom, Professor Emeritus, Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory; Member of the team with Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall and Richard E. Taylor who received the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics


"Hot Talk, Cold Science by Fred Singer (with David Legates and Anthony Lupo), is one of the most important contributions undermining the economically and politically problematic and highly controversial scientific doctrine of man-made global warming." —Václav Klaus, former President, Czech Republic


"“Drs. Singer, Legates, and Lupo bring science and reason to a debate that has increasingly been driven by panic and politics. Now more than ever, the public deserves Hot Talk, Cold Science’s thorough scientific and economic analysis of the realities of our environment." —Thomas M. McClintock, U.S. Congressman; Member, House Natural Resources Committee


"Drs. Singer, Legates, and Lupo uphold the vital method of scientific inquiry, which is the only way to improve the current, blurred description of the physical nature of the human impact on the terrestrial ecosystem. Nonetheless, the scientific questions about global warming are largely inseparable (properly so) from policy discussion. As Singer, Legates, and Lupo do, let’s keep the debate scientifically sound and enlightening." —Sallie L. Baliunas, former Staff Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

From the Publisher