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For example, in the 1990s, both Exxon and API funded and promoted the work of Fred Seitz, Fred Singer, and Singer’s Science and Environmental Policy Project (“SEPP”). Neither Seitz nor Singer was trained in climate science. Both had previously been hired by tobacco companies to create doubt in the public mind by questioning mainstream scientific conclusions.
In 1998, Seitz helped to organize and distribute a sham petition “refuting” global warming. The petition was formatted to look like it was sanctioned by the National Academy of Sciences and sent to thousands of American scientists. The petition claimed to find “no convincing scientific evidence that human release of . . . greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” Although supposedly signed by 17,000 “scientists,” the list of signatories was filled with fictitious names, deceased persons, and celebrities.
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In the early 1990s, both API and Exxon funded and promoted the work of Fred Seitz, Fred Singer, and Singer’s Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP). Neither Seitz nor Singer was trained in climate science, but both had previously been hired by industry, including tobacco companies, to create doubt in the public mind (where there should have been none).
Seitz, Singer, and SEPP were used to attack climate science, and specifically the IPCC conclusions and process. At first, Seitz and Singer claimed there was no climate warming or alteration. When the evidence of warming of the climate became too hard to deny, they claimed the warming was simply natural variation.
As just one example of their tactics, in 1998, Seitz helped to organize and distribute a sham petition “refuting” global warming. The petition was formatted to look like it was sanctioned by the National Academy of Scientists and sent to thousands of American scientists. Supposedly signed by 17,000 “scientists,” the petition claimed to find “no convincing scientific evidence that human release of greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” The list of signatories was filled not with 17,000 actual scientists, but fictitious names, deceased persons, and celebrities.
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