“Man has made global warming a myth,” claimed Hoover Institution research fellow Siegfried Fred Singer during yesterday’s talk titled “Is global warming a myth?” The event, which was put on by The Stanford Review as part of its weekly luncheon series, offered an alternative view to common arguments about global warming.

The former space scientist and government scientific administrator, who is co-author of the bestselling book, “Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years,” claimed that observed warming is produced by the sun and that “human contribution is negligible.” Singer’s research suggests that for the past million years, the Earth has gone through warming and cooling phrases that have lasted about 1,500 years each. He writes that these phases are in no way correlated with carbon dioxide levels.

Singer passed out sugar cookies with “Every 1,500 Years” written in frosting before he began his talk.

The speaker explained that the recent warming the Earth has experienced is not dangerous and is not something humans could alter. Global warming activists such as Al Gore, Singer chided, are hyping the problem. He said that such activists have not come close to demonstrating that human-generated greenhouse gases are contributing to global warming.

Singer also criticized a back-to-nature mentality.

“Nature is not good and cuddly,” he said. “It is harsh and it will kill you.”

“If we have a goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent,” he added, “that means we will have to drive and use our air-conditioning systems only one day out of the week. The real danger is our loss of liberty, our loss of freedom.”

If politicians truly wanted to make a change to affect energy use, Singer said, they would have to increase taxes on gasoline, which would decrease use of vehicles. He believes that such taxes would hit people of low income the hardest.

The speaker claimed that many businesses, such as the wind farm industry, are making money off the global warming hype. Singer said that it is essential to convince the proponents of global warming that what they are doing is counterproductive and will not make any difference to the climate.

“We have students for sustainable development marching in D.C.,” he said. “How do we talk to people like that? Somehow we have to convince the powers that be that this is useless.”

“If [they] think changing light bulbs in California is going to make a difference and reduce carbon dioxide levels, they don’t have their heads on right,” he added, “especially when China is building a coal plant every week.”

Paul Craft ‘09, an editor at The Stanford Review, said he appreciated the speaker’s unconventional views.

“He made an interesting argument — the nature of science is to have a debate about the evidence,” Craft said. “Therefore, I think it’s healthy to have dissenting opinions regardless of where you stand of the issue.”