An Open Letter from Oregon Climate Change Scientists

A group of Ph.D. scientists and researchers in Oregon have issued an open letter to state leadership warning that human-caused climate change threatens the state's quality of life and future. The authors highlight specific regional risks, including reduced snowpack, increased wildfires, and rising sea levels, and call for a combination of community adaptation investments and strict adherence to the state's 2050 emissions reduction target.

• Human activity is identified as the primary driver of global warming over the last fifty years, and continued increases in heat-trapping emissions will accelerate the severity and scope of associated risks.
• Oregon is currently experiencing multiple climate-related threats, specifically regarding water availability due to earlier snowmelt and smaller snowpack, forest health issues such as insect outbreaks, tree diseases, and wildfires, and coastal impacts including ocean acidity and rising sea levels.
• The authors advocate for a dual strategy of investing in community preparedness to adapt to inevitable climate impacts while implementing policies to achieve the state's existing legislative goal of reducing heat-trapping emissions to 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2016). An Open Letter from Oregon Climate Change Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/01/Oregon-climate-letter-final.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. An Open Letter from Oregon Climate Change Scientists. 2016. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/01/Oregon-climate-letter-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=An Open Letter from Oregon Climate Change Scientists |date=1 February 2016 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/01/Oregon-climate-letter-final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{unionofconcernedscientists2016open, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{An Open Letter from Oregon Climate Change Scientists}}, publisher = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2016}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/01/Oregon-climate-letter-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }