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CORVALLIS, Ore. - A group of 72 leading climate change scientists have written a letter to major United States presidential candidates urging strong American leadership on clean energy - and calling for a "vibrant economy free from carbon pollution by mid-century."

The effort began as a letter from nine scientists from Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, Tufts and elsewhere - part of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Other scientists, including Philip Mote of Oregon State University, recently joined the initiative.

Mote, who directs the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State, and also provides leadership on two joint federal climate change centers at the university, said focusing on clean, renewable sources of energy is not a choice between a strong economy and a healthy environment.

"These are not mutually exclusive," said Mote, a professor in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. "Many of the largest and most influential companies in the world are using energy from renewable sources, including Apple, Google and others. It's not just a good environmental strategy - they see it as a good business strategy."

"Oregon's emission of greenhouse gases peaked in 1999 and has been declining, showing that we can grow the economy and reduce emissions," Mote added.

In their letter, the climate scientists point to the gradual shift away from non-sustainable fossil fuels to solar and wind power - in part because of rapidly advancing technology. The next U.S. president "will be uniquely positioned to ensure that our nation sustains and accelerates this transition," they wrote. "The dangers of inaction are also increasingly apparent and lend great urgency to this appeal."

The letter is being released this week as policy-makers and others convene in Paris for the annual international climate summit.  Limiting carbon emissions from fossil fuels is critical in slowing the rate of warming the Earth is experiencing, the scientists note, and the effects are being seen world-wide - from rapidly warming and acidifying oceans to melting glaciers.

Yet much of the public - and many political leaders - has been slow to accept what many scientists say is overwhelming evidence that our planet is in peril, Mote said.

"This week, as some of Oregon's rivers are rising, we are reminded that a warming climate accentuates existing risks like flooding," Mote said.  "Additional risks for the region include increased wildfires and coastal inundation. Limiting emissions will reduce the size of future changes."

The scientists call for the next president to pursue key goals, including:

• Following through on the U.S. commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2025;
• Phasing out fossil energy subsidies and putting a price on carbon to "ensure a level playing field" for renewable energy, nuclear power and other low- or zero-carbon technologies;
• Modernizing antiquated energy transmission, distribution and transportation systems;
• Increasing investment in clean energy research.

Mote was a lead author on the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which led to a Nobel Prize, and a lead author for the fifth IPCC report in 2013 in a chapter focusing on the cryosphere.