Here is a web page declaring that it has a Global Warming Petition that basically declares that there really is no such thing as global warming. They claim that they have 17,200 signers who are in some way authorities in the field. It's not a complete hoax -- but close to one.
The page declares that the petition has been signed by signed by "17,200 basic and applied American scientists, two thirds with advanced degrees". It further declares that it includes 2,660 physicists, geophysicists, climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers, and environmental scientists who are especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's atmosphere and climate."
"Signers of this petition also include 5,017 scientists whose fields of specialization in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and other life sciences make them especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide upon the Earth's plant and animal life."
"Of the 19,700 signatures that the project has received in total so far, 17,800 have been independently verified and the other 1,900 have not yet been independently verified. Of those signers holding the degree of PhD, 95% have now been independently verified."
I was stunned to see that they had so many scientists on board, as all my readings on the topic seemed quite certain that there really is a problem. So I decided to check out some of their references. They list every single signer, so I grabbed the first 21 names from the state of Alaska and checked them out. You can find these names at:
http://www.sitewave.net/pproject/listbystate.htm#CA
Here they are, with the results of my Google search for them.
Ronald G. Alderfer: published a scientific paper in 1971. Nothing since.
Donald F. Amend: a fisheries scientist.
David Anderson: a Bush political appointee Asst Secretary for Indian Affairs.
Donald N. Anderson: nothing found
Roger Baer: mineralogist
Alex Baskous: medical doctor
Don Bassler: petroleum engineer
Don Beitia: executive at Unocal and president of the oil industry's response cooperative.
William M. Bohon: nothing found
James Boltz: Petro Star, Inc, running a refinery in Alaska
John K. Bowman: author of "The Use of Woodwaste for Road Construction in SE Alaska"
Mike Briscoe: Director of GTP Technologies, BP America (British Petroleum)
Carrel Bryant: nothing found
William Burgess: geotechnical and environmental consultant
Roger C. Burggraf: Nothing found
Bonnie Carrington: BA in Architecture, works with computers
Glen D. Chambers: BS Mechanical Engineering, retired businessman
Lowell Crane: BP Exploration, Alaska
Michael Croft: Nothing found
Thomas Delahunt: Nothing found
Edward M. Dokoozian PhD: Nothing found
Now, I would define a scientist for the purposes of this petition to be somebody who is affiliated in a scientific capacity with a research institution or has published relevant scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. By this definition, none of the persons listed here has been demonstrated to be a scientist. The first two might well be considered scientists, but Alderfer has not published a paper in 34 years and Amend is in a field unrelated to global warming. Moreover, five of the 21 are employed by the petroleum industry; their objectivity is questionable.
Now, a sample of 21 people from a list of 17,000 is rather small to draw large conclusions from. But the fact that there was not one single person in my sample who represents a reliable authority calls into question the integrity of the entire petition.
So I decided to take another stab at it. This time I looked at the list of scientists claimed to have direct expertise in the appropriate fields. I selected a number of names, concentrating on names rare enough to be easily distinguished on Google. Here are my results:
Luther Aull, PhD: nothing found
Arthur Ballato, PhD: electrical engineering
Andrew M. Bardos: author of "Database Management using Optical Associative Memory"
Frank T. Bodurtha: author of "Explosion Prevention and Protection"
James H. Burbo: nothing found
Richard S. Burwin: designer of amplifiers for audiophiles
Dixon Callahan: nuclear power systems physicist working at Oak Ridge
Roberto Colella: professor of physics at Purdue
George B. Cvijanovich: physicist at AMP, Inc
Martin E. Coniglio: meteorologist
Armand Desmarais: professor of Education
Val L. Eichenlaub: Professor of Geography, Western Michigan University
William J. Felmlee: physicist
Anthony H. Foderaro: Professor Nuclear Engineering
Lowell R. Flud: nothing found
Steven A. Gaal: professor of mathematics
Elton W. Geist: mining engineer
Lawrence Grauvogel: nothing found
Benjamin C. Hablutzel: meteorologist
John F. Hutzenlaub: MIT graduate
Sherwood B. Idso: scientist
John A. Jaszczak: professor of physics
Thus, in this list of 22 authorities, only seven (Colella, Coniglio, Cvijanovich, Felmlee, Hablutzel, Idso, and Jascczak) seem to me to qualify as meaningful authorities whose professional opinions are worthy of respect in this matter. Moreover, their signatures date from 1998; in the seven years since, the increasing volume of data and improved analysis have convinced more scientists to accept the claim that global warming is real and dangerous. Indeed, one of the signers (Idso) has subsequently published a paper suggesting that he takes global warming seriously.
My conclusion: the organizers of the petition have considerably overstated the qualifications of their signers. There are indeed some qualified people in their list, but there are many more people who are utterly unqualified, have left no trace on the web, or are obviously biased because of their employment.
Demonstrating again the falsehoods propagated by the Right. If you'd like to see an honest summary of scientific opinion on the issue, try this.