Leipzig Declaration
Encyclopedia
The Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change is a statement made in 1995, seeking to refute the claim there is a scientific consensus
on the global warming
issue. http://web.archive.org/web/19981206090752/http://www.sepp.org/leipzig.html
It was issued in an updated form 1997 and revised in 2005 http://sepp.org/policy%20declarations/LDrevised.html, claimed to have been signed by 80 Scientists and 25 Television News Meteorologists while the posting of 33 additional signatories is pending verification that those 33 additional scientists still agree with the statement. http://sepp.org/policy%20declarations/LDsigs.html
The declaration, which opposes the global warming hypothesis and the Kyoto Protocol
, has appeared in two versions, both penned by Fred Singer
's Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP).
The first declaration was based on a November 9–10, 1995 conference, organized by Helmut Metzner
in Leipzig, Germany. The second declaration was additionally based on a successor conference in Bonn, Germany on November 10–11, 1997. The conferences were cosponsored by the SEPP and the European Academy for Environmental Affairs and titled International Symposium on the Greenhouse Controversy.
now show statistically-significant warming.
The declaration also criticised the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
, saying: "Energy is essential for all economic growth, and fossil fuels provide today's principal global energy source. In a world in which poverty is the greatest social pollutant, any restriction on energy use that inhibits economic growth should be viewed with caution. For this reason, we consider 'carbon taxes' and other drastic control policies ... to be ill-advised, premature, wrought with economic danger, and likely to be counterproductive."
: the current SEPP chair. Perhaps the most prominent signatory to the declaration was Dr. Robert E. Stevenson, a former research scientist for NASA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/StevensonRE/RES_BIO.pdf. The signature list was last updated on July 16, 1996. Of these 79, 33 failed to respond when the SEPP asked them to sign the 1997 declaration. The SEPP calls the signatories "nearly 100 climate experts".
The signatures to the 1995 declaration were disputed by David Olinger of the St. Petersburg Times. In an article on July 29, 1996, he revealed that many signers, including Chauncey Starr
, Robert Balling
, and Patrick Michaels
, have received funding from the oil industry, while others had no scientific training or could not be identified.
The 1995 declarations begins: "As scientists, we are intensely interested in the possibility that human activities may affect the global climate". However, those identified as scientists and climate experts include at least ten weather presenters, including Dick Groeber of Dick's Weather Service in Springfield, Ohio
. Groeber, who had not completed a university degree, labelled himself a scientist by virtue of his thirty to forty years of self-study.
In any case, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the list of signatures of the 1995 declaration, as the SEPP website provides no additional details about them except for their university, if they are professors.
, as the Kyoto conference was in the process of being finalised. The declaration says:
The 1997 declaration also updated its citations of evidence that appeared to run contrary to the consensus on global warming. For example, the 1995 declaration cites "observations from earth satellites," where the 1997 declaration cites "observations from both weather satellites and balloon-borne radiosondes." As with satellite data, subsequent analysis of radiosondes has shown a statistically-significant warming trend.
The signers are generally described by Fred Singer and his supporters as climate scientists, although the current signers also include 25 weather presenters. One key report opposing the scientific credentials of the signers was a Danish Broadcasting Company TV special by Øjvind Hesselager.
Hesselager attempted to contact the declaration's 33 European signers and found that four of them could not be located, twelve denied ever having signed, and some had not even heard of the Leipzig Declaration. Those who verified signing included a medical doctor, a nuclear scientist, and an entomologist. After discounting the signers whose credentials were inflated, irrelevant, false, or unverifiable, Hesselager claimed that only 20 of the names on the list had any scientific connection with the study of climate change, and some of those names were known to have obtained grants from the oil and fuel industry, including the German coal industry and the government of Kuwait (a major oil exporter). As a result of Hesselager's report, Singer removed some, but not all, of the discredited signatures. The number of signatures on the document, according to the SEPP's own press releases, has declined from 140 (according to a December 1997 press release) to 105 .
The SEPP's position is that "a few of the original signers did not have the 'proper' academic credentials - even though they understand the scientific climate issues quite well. To avoid this kind of smear, we want to restrict the Leipzig Declaration to signers with impeccable qualifications." To address the signer credibility issue, the SEPP has provided considerably more information about each signer on their website and lists the weather presenters separately from the other signers.
Singer's SEPP website currently lists a "2005, revised" declaration (which still speaks of the 1997 Kyoto conference as a future event). This version includes In fact, many climate specialists now agree that actual observations from weather satellites show no global warming whatsoever.
in editorial columns appearing in hundreds of websites and major publications, including The Wall Street Journal
, Miami Herald, Detroit News, Chicago Tribune
, The Plain Dealer, Memphis Commercial Appeal, The Seattle Times
, and The Orange County Register
. Jeff Jacoby
, a columnist with the Boston Globe, describes the signers of the Leipzig Declaration as "climate scientists" that "include prominent scholars." Think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation
, the Heartland Institute
, and Australia's Institute for Public Affairs calls them "noted scientists." Both the Leipzig Declaration and Frederick Seitz
's Oregon Petition
have been quoted as authoritative sources during deliberations in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Although the key data on which the Leipzig declaration relied (see: satellite temperature record) has been invalidated by subsequent research, and much new evidence has accumulated, the declaration continues to be cited, along with the Oregon petition
as evidence of the current views of scientists on climate change. Moreover, the organizers have not changed their stated position of rejecting anthropogenic global warming.
1997 declaration:
2005 declaration (revised):
Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
on the global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
issue. http://web.archive.org/web/19981206090752/http://www.sepp.org/leipzig.html
It was issued in an updated form 1997 and revised in 2005 http://sepp.org/policy%20declarations/LDrevised.html, claimed to have been signed by 80 Scientists and 25 Television News Meteorologists while the posting of 33 additional signatories is pending verification that those 33 additional scientists still agree with the statement. http://sepp.org/policy%20declarations/LDsigs.html
The declaration, which opposes the global warming hypothesis and the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
, has appeared in two versions, both penned by Fred Singer
Fred Singer
Siegfried Fred Singer is an Austrian-born American physicist and emeritus professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia...
's Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP).
The first declaration was based on a November 9–10, 1995 conference, organized by Helmut Metzner
Helmut Metzner
Helmut Metzner was an eminent plant physiologist, Professor of Biochemical Plant Physiology at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, the founder of the European Academy of Environmental Affairs and a co-founder of the Weikersheim Think Tank.- Life and Works :Metzner studied biology, physics and...
in Leipzig, Germany. The second declaration was additionally based on a successor conference in Bonn, Germany on November 10–11, 1997. The conferences were cosponsored by the SEPP and the European Academy for Environmental Affairs and titled International Symposium on the Greenhouse Controversy.
The 1995 Declaration
The 1995 declaration asserts: "There does not exist today a general scientific consensus about the importance of greenhouse warming from rising levels of carbon dioxide. On the contrary, most scientists now accept the fact that actual observations from earth satellites show no climate warming whatsoever." The latter statement was broadly accurate at the time, but with additional data and correction of errors, all analyses of satellite temperature measurementsSatellite temperature measurements
The temperature of the atmosphere at various altitudes as well as sea and land surface temperatures can be inferred from satellite measurements. Weather satellites do not measure temperature directly but measure radiances in various wavelength bands...
now show statistically-significant warming.
The declaration also criticised the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
, saying: "Energy is essential for all economic growth, and fossil fuels provide today's principal global energy source. In a world in which poverty is the greatest social pollutant, any restriction on energy use that inhibits economic growth should be viewed with caution. For this reason, we consider 'carbon taxes' and other drastic control policies ... to be ill-advised, premature, wrought with economic danger, and likely to be counterproductive."
Signatures
According to the SEPP website, there were 79 signatures to the 1995 declaration, including Frederick SeitzFrederick Seitz
Frederick Seitz was an American physicist and a pioneer of solid state physics. Seitz was president of Rockefeller University, and president of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1962–1969. He was the recipient of the National Medal of Science, NASA's Distinguished Public Service...
: the current SEPP chair. Perhaps the most prominent signatory to the declaration was Dr. Robert E. Stevenson, a former research scientist for NASA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/StevensonRE/RES_BIO.pdf. The signature list was last updated on July 16, 1996. Of these 79, 33 failed to respond when the SEPP asked them to sign the 1997 declaration. The SEPP calls the signatories "nearly 100 climate experts".
The signatures to the 1995 declaration were disputed by David Olinger of the St. Petersburg Times. In an article on July 29, 1996, he revealed that many signers, including Chauncey Starr
Chauncey Starr
Chauncey Starr was an American electrical engineer who was an expert in nuclear energy.Born in Newark, New Jersey, Starr received an electrical engineering degree in 1932 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1935 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.Starr was Vice President of Rockwell International and...
, Robert Balling
Robert Balling
Robert C. Balling, Jr. is a professor of geography at Arizona State University, and the former director of its Office of Climatology. His research interests include climatology, global climate change, and geographic information systems...
, and Patrick Michaels
Patrick Michaels
Patrick J. Michaels is an American climatologist. Michaels is a senior research fellow for Research and Economic Development at George Mason University, and a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute...
, have received funding from the oil industry, while others had no scientific training or could not be identified.
The 1995 declarations begins: "As scientists, we are intensely interested in the possibility that human activities may affect the global climate". However, those identified as scientists and climate experts include at least ten weather presenters, including Dick Groeber of Dick's Weather Service in Springfield, Ohio
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...
. Groeber, who had not completed a university degree, labelled himself a scientist by virtue of his thirty to forty years of self-study.
In any case, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the list of signatures of the 1995 declaration, as the SEPP website provides no additional details about them except for their university, if they are professors.
The 1997 Declaration
The 1997 declaration updated the 1995 declaration in a number of ways. The most obvious difference was its focus on the Kyoto ProtocolKyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
, as the Kyoto conference was in the process of being finalised. The declaration says:
- "We believe the Kyoto Protocol -- to curtail carbon dioxide emissions from only part of the world community -- is dangerously simplistic, quite ineffective, and economically destructive to jobs and standards-of-living. ... We consider the drastic emission control policies deriving from the Kyoto conference -- lacking credible support from the underlying science -- to be ill-advised and premature."
The 1997 declaration also updated its citations of evidence that appeared to run contrary to the consensus on global warming. For example, the 1995 declaration cites "observations from earth satellites," where the 1997 declaration cites "observations from both weather satellites and balloon-borne radiosondes." As with satellite data, subsequent analysis of radiosondes has shown a statistically-significant warming trend.
Signatures
The declaration begins: "As independent scientists concerned with atmospheric and climate problems, we...". As with the 1995 declaration, questions have been raised about the scientific background of the signers, and others have questioned the degree to which they can be deemed to be independent. Because many of those who signed the 1997 declaration also signed the 1995 declaration, the concerns raised by David Olinger and others after the 1995 declaration are still relevant.The signers are generally described by Fred Singer and his supporters as climate scientists, although the current signers also include 25 weather presenters. One key report opposing the scientific credentials of the signers was a Danish Broadcasting Company TV special by Øjvind Hesselager.
Hesselager attempted to contact the declaration's 33 European signers and found that four of them could not be located, twelve denied ever having signed, and some had not even heard of the Leipzig Declaration. Those who verified signing included a medical doctor, a nuclear scientist, and an entomologist. After discounting the signers whose credentials were inflated, irrelevant, false, or unverifiable, Hesselager claimed that only 20 of the names on the list had any scientific connection with the study of climate change, and some of those names were known to have obtained grants from the oil and fuel industry, including the German coal industry and the government of Kuwait (a major oil exporter). As a result of Hesselager's report, Singer removed some, but not all, of the discredited signatures. The number of signatures on the document, according to the SEPP's own press releases, has declined from 140 (according to a December 1997 press release) to 105 .
The SEPP's position is that "a few of the original signers did not have the 'proper' academic credentials - even though they understand the scientific climate issues quite well. To avoid this kind of smear, we want to restrict the Leipzig Declaration to signers with impeccable qualifications." To address the signer credibility issue, the SEPP has provided considerably more information about each signer on their website and lists the weather presenters separately from the other signers.
2005, revised
Use of the declarations
The declarations have been widely cited by some in the "sound science" movement. It has been cited by Fred SingerFred Singer
Siegfried Fred Singer is an Austrian-born American physicist and emeritus professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia...
in editorial columns appearing in hundreds of websites and major publications, including The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, Miami Herald, Detroit News, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, The Plain Dealer, Memphis Commercial Appeal, The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
, and The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.The Register is notable for its...
. Jeff Jacoby
Jeff Jacoby
Jeff Jacoby is an American journalist and syndicated newspaper columnist.-Biography:Born in Cleveland to a Jewish family, Jacoby is a graduate of George Washington University and the Boston University School of Law, both with honors. His father, a Holocaust survivor, was born in present-day...
, a columnist with the Boston Globe, describes the signers of the Leipzig Declaration as "climate scientists" that "include prominent scholars." Think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
, the Heartland Institute
Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is a libertarian, American public policy think tank based in Chicago, Illinois which advocates free market policies. The Institute is designated as a 501 non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service and advised by a 15 member board of directors, which meets quarterly. As of...
, and Australia's Institute for Public Affairs calls them "noted scientists." Both the Leipzig Declaration and Frederick Seitz
Frederick Seitz
Frederick Seitz was an American physicist and a pioneer of solid state physics. Seitz was president of Rockefeller University, and president of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1962–1969. He was the recipient of the National Medal of Science, NASA's Distinguished Public Service...
's Oregon Petition
Oregon Petition
The Global Warming Petition Project, usually referred to as the Oregon Petition, is a petition opposing the Kyoto Protocol and similar efforts to mitigate climate change. It was organized by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine , a non-profit organisation run by Arthur B. Robinson, between...
have been quoted as authoritative sources during deliberations in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Although the key data on which the Leipzig declaration relied (see: satellite temperature record) has been invalidated by subsequent research, and much new evidence has accumulated, the declaration continues to be cited, along with the Oregon petition
Oregon Petition
The Global Warming Petition Project, usually referred to as the Oregon Petition, is a petition opposing the Kyoto Protocol and similar efforts to mitigate climate change. It was organized by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine , a non-profit organisation run by Arthur B. Robinson, between...
as evidence of the current views of scientists on climate change. Moreover, the organizers have not changed their stated position of rejecting anthropogenic global warming.
Related resources
- Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR1) report, TV report cited by Christian Jensen.
- Hans Bulow and Poul-Eric Heilburth, "The Energy Conspiracy" (video documentary), Filmakers Library, 124 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016.
- Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles With Your Future (New York, NY: Tarcher Putnam, 2002).
External links
1995 declaration:- Original text (broken link)
1997 declaration:
- Original text
- letter in naturalSCIENCE, February 11, 1998 -- by Christian Jensen, a Ph.D. student in Climate monitoring at the Danish Meteorological InstituteDanish Meteorological InstituteThe Danish Meteorological Institute is the official Danish meteorological institute, administrated by the Ministry of Transport and Energy. The institute makes weather forecasts and observations for Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands....
Research Department. (ok link)
2005 declaration (revised):