The Myth: More than 17,000 American scientists — two thirds with advanced degrees specializing in physics, geo-physics, climatology, meteorology, oceanography, environmental science, chemistry, and biochemistry, have signed a petition disputing the “consensus view” that man is responsible for climate change. If there is a scientific “consensus” that human carbon emissions are responsible for “global warming” how would you characterize the scientists who signed this petition? Are they merely heretical “deniers” in the pocket of Big Oil companies?
Fact: Of all the oily tricks played by the global warming denier industry, this is one of the oiliest. It’s known as The Oregon Petition and, according to some sites, the number of scientists who openly debate the global warming consensus now stands at 31,000.
It’s nothing more than a dirty trick organized by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (which actually doesn’t do any real science.
The Petition Project was organized by late Frederick Seitz, who at one time was a real scientist, and a former President of the National Academy of Science. The project started by sending a so-called scientific study — really just a diatribe written by climate change skeptics that was filled with half-truths — asking “scientists” to sign a petition urging the US government not to ratify the Kyoto Accord.
The petition and that accompanying letter were written on a letterhead and in the style of a scientific paper that made it seem like it had been published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, so it was designed to be deceptive.
After the petition appeared, the NAS issued a press release. “The NAS Council would like to make it clear that this petition has nothing to do with the National Academy of Sciences and that the manuscript was not published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences or in any other peer-reviewed journal.”[14] It also said “The petition does not reflect the conclusions of expert reports of the Academy.”
Nevertheless, 17,000 did sign the petition, and Seitz would have you believe that all 17,000 – or 31,000 in 2009 – are working scientists with PhDs. In fact, virtually none of them are. When you look deeper into the list, it falls apart. The vast majority of signatories have nothing more than a bachelor’s degree. By Seitz’s definition, I’m an advanced scientist. As well, scattering among the number of “scientists” are signatures by Spice Girl Dr. Geri Halliwell, author John Grisham, Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Honeycutt from MASH.
Of the original 17,000, almost 10,000 signatures come from engineers, another 3,063 come from physicians and veterinarians. I have no doubt that these professionals are smart people, but it would be difficult to believe they are climate change experts.
But even if we allow their signatures to stand unchallenged, they prove nothing. Even if more than 3,000 doctors and veterinarians signed the petition that would mean that 99.7 percent of all doctors practicing in the US didn’t sign the petition, and 99.2 percent of US engineers didn’t sign.
The Petition is a fraud and a deception.
The Oregon Petition is not valid. I know an environmentalist friend of mine who signed the petition just to help sabotage and discredit it. If they want to do it right, the petition needs to be started all over again.