This post collects statements from environmental and progressive
organizations in response to the Third National Climate
Assessment of the U.S. Global Change
Research Program.
Joint statement from Earthjustice, Environmental Defense Fund, Center
for American Progress, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of
Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters, National Wildlife
Federation, Sierra Club:
The National Climate Assessment provides more stark evidence that
climate change is happening now and threatening our health, homes,
businesses and communities. It must be addressed immediately. The
NCA comes only weeks after the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report reaffirmed the
overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is underway and
that carbon pollution from human activity is responsible for it. The
message from the NCA is blunt. Without
action, the damage from climate change on our communities will worsen,
including: more asthma attacks and respiratory disease; threats to our
food and water supplies as well as our outdoor heritage; and, more
violent and deadly storms that shutter businesses and cost billions of
dollars in recovery. Next month, the Environmental Protection Agency
is expected to unveil an ambitious proposal to set the first-ever
federal limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants — the
largest U.S. contributor to climate change. We applaud the
administration for its commitment to protecting our communities and
our economy through the National Climate Action Plan, and call on
other public officials to support the plan and these life-saving
safeguards.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune:
Today’s landmark report is a wake-up call that we simply cannot afford
to sleep through yet again. American families are already paying the
costs of the extreme weather and health risks fueled by the climate
crisis. Now, the nation’s most comprehensive study of climate threats
shows the toll on our health, our communities, and our economy will
only skyrocket across the country if we do not act. We applaud the
Obama Administration for listening to these alarm bells, and urge them
to continue to take critical, common-sense steps, including the
first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants. We don’t just
have an obligation to future generations to take action now—we will
seize an enormous opportunity as we do. By leaving dirty fossil fuels
in the ground and continuing the transition to clean energy solutions
like wind and solar, we can create good American jobs and power homes
and businesses nationwide without polluting our air, water, or
climate.
The United States is getting more heavy storms and major floods these
days. Global warming is partly to blame for these heavy rainfall events.
Warmer air simply can hold more moisture, so heavier precipitation is
expected in the years to come.
National Wildlife Federation will release “Increased Flooding Risk:
Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for Riverfront Communities,” a mini-report
detailing:
How global warming has caused more heavy rainfall events
America’s over-reliance on levees and other strategies for taming
rivers
Communities that are on the frontlines
What must be done to confront the realities of global warming
Perspectives will be provided regarding the latest scientific research
on global warming and flooding, the national flood insurance program,
and recommendations for how to cope with projected changes and how to
avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
Call 1-800-944-8766 pin 39227# just before 11 a.m. (Eastern)
Speakers
Dr. Amanda Staudt, climate scientist, National Wildlife Federation
David Conrad, senior resource specialist, National Wildlife
Federation, Conservation Programs
Dr. Will Gosnold, University of North Dakota, professor of Geophysics,
Chair of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Dr. Staudt will talk about the latest science on heavy rainfall and
increased flooding risk.
Mr. Conrad will talk about what needs to be fixed in national flood
insurance program, so that we don’t make the situation even worse.
Dr. Gosnold will explain why flood protection plans should take the
implications of more frequent and extreme floods into account, based on
his more than 20 years of studying climate change.
Contact: Aileo Weinmann, National Wildlife Federation, 202-538-5038
cell, [email protected]
A coalition of 16 environmental organizations (and the League of Women
Voters) is sending a joint
letter to U.S. Senators
indicating a joint position on the Baucus-Grassley tax extenders
package
(H.R. 6049). They write:
On behalf of our millions of members and activists, we urge Congress
to pass the clean energy tax incentives included in the Energy
Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 and strip the bill of incentives
for dirty fossil fuels. Congress should take this opportunity to
promote a new energy economy and begin the fight against global
warming, and not reward the big oil and dirty coal industries.
The organizations are the Alaska Wilderness League, Audubon, the Center
for International Environmental Law, Clean Water Action, Defenders of
Wildlife, Earthjustice, Environment America, the Environmental Defense
Fund, Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation Voters, League of
Women Voters of the United States, Natural Resources Defense Council,
Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, The Wilderness Society,
and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The National Wildlife Federation, because of the “sweeping new federal
subsidies for oil shale, tar sands and liquid coal refining,” “dirty
fuels that will dramatically increase global warming pollution and
threaten millions of acres of wildlife habitat,” is sending a
letter in
unambiguous opposition to Baucus-Grassley.
As votes near this evening on the “all of the above” Democratic energy
package (H.R.
6899),
National Wildlife Federation president Larry Schweiger sent a letter to
Congress
opposing the bill because it lifts the oil shale moratorium. He writes:
The public, including National Wildlife Federation’s four million
members and supporters, wants Congress to take the urgent and
necessary steps that will give consumers better energy choices, cut
oil dependency and cut global warming pollution. While we favor many
provisions in the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer
Protection Act (H.R. 6899), especially when compared to the expected
motion to recommit, we oppose the bill because of its provision
allowing commercial oil shale leasing. As a result of this provision,
the bill fails to address the fundamental challenge of avoiding
significant new increases in global warming pollution and protecting
important wildlife habitat on our public lands.
League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski issued the
following statement opposing the Republican motion to recommit:
Drilling is no longer the issue – unfortunately, both H.R. 6899 and
the motion to recommit include drilling. The issue today is whether or
not each Member of Congress will stand up for the American people or
stand with the oil industry lobbyists.
All summer, Republicans have called for an ‘All of the Above’ plan on
energy. Now, presented with a compromise that gives them everything
they’ve asked for, the Republican leadership refuses to support it.
Instead, they offer a motion to recommit, which will remove every
provision from the bill that Big Oil doesn’t like: provisions that
reduce tax breaks to Big Oil and extend them to renewable energy
companies, increase efficiency, and create the first national
renewable energy standard.
How each member votes will highlight the real differences between
those in Congress who support clean energy as central to America’s
energy future, and those who remain tied to big oil and want to keep
us stuck in the past. LCV opposes the motion
to recommit and calls on the Members of Congress who support it to
stop working for the oil companies and start working for the American
people.
In a news
release,
the National Wildlife Federation’s climatologist Amanda Staudt warns
that “this hurricane season is a stark reminder of what science tells us
to expect from a new era of stronger hurricanes fueled by global
warming: higher wind speeds, more precipitation, and bigger storm surge
in the coming decades.”
Scientific findings she notes:
“The big picture is that global warming is allowing hurricanes to pack
a bigger punch. Over this century, windspeeds could increase 13
percent and rainfall could increase 31 percent.”
“Even storms that do not reach category 3 and above will hit harder
because they will likely bring more rain than a similar storm would
have just a few decades ago. It is a law of physics that warmer air is
able to carry more water.”
“Both Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav brought costly flooding,
with rainfall totals exceeding 10 inches in some locations. As the
remnants of Gustav continue to bring heavy rains, much of the lower
Mississippi valley remains under flood watch.”
“We must restore the coastal wetlands, lowlands, and barrier islands
that provide the first line of defense against hurricanes,” advises Dr.
Staudt. “For example, about half of the wetlands around New Orleans have
been lost in recent years. Because scientists estimate that every mile
of healthy wetlands can trim about 3-9 inches off a storm surge – and an
acre of wetlands is estimated to reduce hurricane damage by $3,300 – we
must restore these wetlands.”
For more, read the full NWF
report
on the influence of global warming on the destruction caused by tropical
storms.
The National Wildlife Federation, which has been warning that global
warming is worsening
wildfires
and
floods,
describes the triple threat of
global warming-fueled tropical storms in a new
report:
While Florida and Gulf Coast residents bear the brunt of Tropical
Storm Fay, the latest science connecting hurricanes and global warming
suggests more is yet to come: tropical storms are likely to bring
higher wind speeds, more precipitation, and bigger storm surge in the
coming decades.
Watch it:
As Dr. Staudt writes in the report, “Stronger hurricanes, heavier
rainfall, and rising sea level: this is what global warming has in store
for the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts.”
The National Wildlife Federation has launched a
campaign
to get a total of 218 sponsors for the Waxman (HR 1590, equivalent to
Boxer-Sanders) or the Olver-Gilchrest (HR 620, equivalent to
McCain-Lieberman) cap-and-trade climate bills. The two bills combined
have 170 co-sponsors. NWF is targeting what
they call The Final Fifty, fifty legislators who
have not co-sponsored either bill.
Q: Does the National Wildlife Federation support the idea of a cap and
auction system?
A: Yeah, we’ve been working for a number of years on supporting the
best cap-and-trade system possible. We support 100% auction of
credits, or if there is distribution, there should only be
distribution for public benefit, and want to see good legislation come
out of Congress. Our time for strong action is rapidly dwindling and
want to see the best legislation we can possibly pass as soon as we
can possibly pass it.