In 1968, I began scientific research on the possible ecological effects of global warming, and published my first scientific paper about this subject in 1973. During the same period, I developed a computer model of forest growth. Called JABOWA, it became one of the major methods in the 1980s and 1990s to forecast possible effects of global warming on forests and some endangered forest species. When I first became concerned about global warming, there was a relatively small group of scientists – ecologists, climatologists, and meteorologists mostly – who were thinking about it. In the years since, I have continued to do research and publish articles, both scientific and for lay people, about global warming. I devoted a chapter and more to this subject in my first major trade book, Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the 21st Century (Oxford University Press, New York: 1990).

In all of this work, my goal was to do an objective scientific analysis and new research, following traditional scientific principles of disprovability. This research includes observations (empirical studies) and theory. Wherever possible, theoretical models have been tested and validated.

Now that global warming has become a major public issue, a great many people are speaking and writing about global warming , regardless of their knowledge, experience, research, and study of the subject. As a result, people have been asking me a variety of questions about the scientific basis of what we are being told.

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