received by e-mail April 21, 2004, in time for Earth Day

This is an e-mail received from Professor Eban Goodstein, Professor of
Economics and Chair, Environmental Studies, Lewis and Clark College,
Portland, Oregon, and founder of the Greenhouse.net.
The e-mail is self explanatory.

Portland, OR– In spite of an early strong showing, novelist Michael
Crichton failed to capture this year’s Flat Earth Award
(www.flatearthaward.org), instead losing out to long-time chief
advocate for the “global warming is a hoax” camp, Fred Singer.

The “Jurassic Park” author was thought to be the runaway favorite for
this year’s award, created by students at Middlebury and Lewis & Clark
Colleges to highlight the denial of global warming by prominent public
figures. Based on the strength of his best-selling novel “State of
Fear”, Crichton took an early lead in the voting. Radio talk show host
Rush Limabugh then surged ahead. But Singer, was not to be shut out.
Apparently operating under the theory that any publicity is good
publicity, last month, Singer began actively campaigning for the title
of Flat Earther of the year.

Two weeks ago, Singer felt confident enough in his lead to post an
acceptance speech on his web site (reprinted in today’s Christian
Science Monitor). There he declared defiantly: “as long as weather
satellites show that the atmosphere is not warming” he couldn’t put any
faith in global warming.

However, NASA satellite data shows clearly that the atmosphere is
warming:
http://eob.gsfc.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/2004/2004050516955.html.
According to Eban Goodstein of the Green House Network (the official
award sponsor), “Singer has, as usual, staked out an extremist
position-even among the climate naysayers-by making claims that can’t
be supported by the scientific evidence . So we have to say the award
went to the right person”.

In a surprise development, the sponsors of the honor have announced
that they will not be offering the Flat Earth Award in the future. “Our
goal has been to highlight the overwhelming scientific consensus that
human-induced carbon dioxide emissions are altering the global
climate,” said Goodstein. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, an international body of scientists charged with studying
global warming predicts that the globe will heat up between 2 and 10
degrees Fahrenheit over the next hundred years as a result of
greenhouse gas emissions, largely from the burning of coal, oil and
natural gas.

Most of the so-called skeptics have in fact, grudgingly come around to
acknowledge that global warming is real, and now accept the low-end
warming estimates of the IPCC. “There simply aren’t enough real Flat
Earther’s left to provide a decent slate of candidates for next year”,
said Goodstein.

The final vote tally had Singer with 42% of the vote, Limbaugh with 32%
and Crichton with 26%.

Additional info on satellite data:

NASA:
1.
http://eob.gsfc.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/2004/2004050516955.html

Reason Magazine– skeptic admits satellite data shows warming
2. http://www.reason.com/rb/rb111903.shtml

Science Daily review of the issue
3.

For additional information:
Eban Goodstein
Volunteer Executive Director, Green House Network
www.greenhousenet.org
info@greenhousenet.org
503-697-4015

Eban Goodstein
Professor of Economics and
Chair of Environmental Studies
Lewis and Clark College
Portland, OR 97219