The
Oregon Petition is the name commonly given to a
petition opposed to the
Kyoto protocol, organized by the
Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) between
1999 and
2001. During this period the
United States was negotiating with other countries on implementation of the protocol before the
Bush administration withdrew from the process in 2001.
[1] Former U.S.
National Academy of Sciences President
Frederick Seitz wrote a cover letter endorsing the petition.
The Oregon Petition was the fourth, and by the far the largest, of five prominent efforts to show that a scientific consensus does not exist on the subject of anthropogenic
global warming, following the
1992 Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming, the
Heidelberg Declaration and the
Leipzig Declaration. The petition site currently lists more than 31,000 signatories.
[2]
The petition was circulated again in October 2007.
The text of the petition (which was on a reply card) reads, in its entirety:
[3]
“ We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.