Some good news in the fight against global warming

"Elections have consequences," has long been one of LCV's guiding principles. Too often, we bring that axiom up to explain why something bad just happened. Today, we get to look at it from a happier perspective. In today’s news there are two stories that together, show just how much difference an election can make.

1) Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her first official visit to China (in her current role) and global warming is at the top of her agenda. As part of the bilateral talks on climate change and energy, she will tour a thermal power plant and discuss the potential economic benefits of clean energy to both China and the United States.

As Energy Secretary Steven Chu says in the USA Today article on Clinton's visit, the ultimate solution to global warming will have to include both China and the United States, two of the world's largest emitters of global warming pollution. That climate change topped the agenda on Secretary Clinton's first visit to China suggests that bringing the two country's into agreement on this vital issue will be a top goal for President Obama's administration.

2) Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that he plans to bring a global warming bill to the Senate before the end of this summer, after taking care of a new energy bill in the next few weeks. After years of waiting, years the planet could scarcely afford, this announcement was music to our ears. While we don't know the details of either of those bills, LCV will help to get them written and passed and we expect both of them to move the ball forward on protecting our planet, increasing our security, and creating jobs with clean, renewable energy.

Domestically and internationally, forward-thinking leaders in Congress and the Obama administration are moving us in the right direction. Sign up for the new LCV Facebook Cause for the latest updates and to find out how you can help make this happen.

Gore remains inspiration to LCV policy team

We were treated yesterday to a momentous and inspirational speech in downtown DC by former Vice President Al Gore. He challenged the American people to revolutionize our country by switching to 100% renewable energy sources within ten years.

His words were informative and backed by facts from world famous scientists and energy entrepreneurs. His is a truly thoughtful solution to the threat of global climate change. The message was confident, simple, and truthful, that the audience could not help but be inspired and rejuvenated with new hope for the energy future of our planet.

On another front, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid showed great leadership this week by continuing to stand firm against the pro-drilling lobby backed by the oil and gas industry. Our environmental champions continue to fight hard to protect our coasts and pass clean energy legislation that will create jobs, save us money, and combat global climate change.

50% by 2050 is Not Good Enough

G-8 leaders at a summit in Toyako on Tuesday pledged to reduce emissions 50% by 2050. While this is the first time that world leaders embraced a goal to cut emissions, their ambitions fall short of their intended efforts to combat global warming.

The effects of global climate change are apparent now. The consequences require immediate action, not a leisurely attempt in the hopes of having the problem disappear in 42 years.

The goal also did not specify a base year for the proposed cuts, which could lead to unstable and uncertain environmental effects.

The target is weak, slow, and insufficient in mitigating the already present results of our addiction to fossil fuels and our readiness to release harmful toxins into the atmosphere.

Rally Behind a Strong Climate Security Act

This afternoon’s press conference and rally was joined by key leaders in the Senate who took time before the floor debate to voice their support for the passing of a strong Climate Security Act.

Present were Senators Boxer, Cardin, Kerry, Klobuchar, and Snowe.

They represented a united front for a sustainable future, characterized by green jobs, better security, and a stronger economy.

It was just as much a rally for them, leading into the debate, as it was for those watching. Senator Boxer said of her fellow senators that they knew this argument by heart, and that despite the hard and lonely fight against special interests, they stood unwavering with science and bipartisan support on the side of passing the Climate Security Act.

Senator Kerry said that the passing of this bill “goes to the core of our very responsibilities as legislatures for the future.” To him and the other senators standing beside this cause is a “matter of public responsibility.”

In addition to the comments made by the senators, there were remarks made by members of the religious, scientific, labor, economic and environmental communities in support of the passing of a strong bill to combat global warming.

Their stories of how the evidence of global warming is affecting their lives and their work proved further that the people of this nation are ahead of the federal government when it comes to accepting the realities and severities of the implications of a changing environment.

Stand Up for the Climate Security Act

Monday, June 2^nd, LCV President, Gene Karpinski will be at the Upper Senate Park along with speakers from Natural Resources Defense Council, Johns Hopkins University, and the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, among others, to rally around strengthening and supporting the Climate Security Act.

Senator Barbara Boxer is hosting this press event, to start at 1 pm, to bring together the diverse collation to show support for the debate that will be happening that day on the 7^th floor of the Capital.

Our message to congress for the Climate Security Act is to strengthen the framework for reducing our global warming pollution and pass a sound piece of legislation to combat the effects that we have had on climate change. Come out to be a part of this historic event for the environment.

Help to Solve the Climate Crisis

I just signed the We Campaign's petition urging Congress to renew tax incentives for renewable, clean energy. Will you join me? Just copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/s/tax

The We Campaign is an effort launched by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to promote solutions to the climate crisis. It's an urgent issue, but the climate crisis is also solvable if we work together and unite our leaders around solutions like renewable power and enhanced energy efficiency. We can leave the next generation a healthy climate.

Thank you.

High Temperatures

Today the Center for American Progress released a summary detailing global warming’s projected effects on human health. Cases of vector-born diseases, respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, heat waves, food scarcity, wildfires and floods all threaten to increase in a hotter world.

Fortunately several major health organizations will draw attention to the upcoming challenges. The Center for American Progess says:

“The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions holds a hearing this morning on the public health challenges of climate change. The World Health Organization has declared the theme of this week’s annual World Health Day ‘protecting health from climate change.’ And this week’s National Public Health Week is themed ‘Climate Change: Our Health in the Balance.’”

While solving some health issues will be difficult, others can be controlled with wise investments. For example, numbers of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, already rampant in parts of Africa, are rising the with the temperature. However, distributions of insecticide-filled nets in countries like Ethiopia and Kenya have produced miraculous drops in malaria cases.

Last night on a special charity episode of American Idol, British Prime Minster Gordon Brown announced that his government would supply the funds for 20 million mosquito bed nets. “That's one in six of the 120m bed nets the world needs," Brown said. “And I'm challenging the rest of the world - governments, business and anyone else who wants to end this killer disease - to join us in this effort by donating money for nets.”

Empire Staters: Tell Albany to Combat Climate Change by March 31st

March is here and so is a major opportunity for New York state lawmakers to take bold action over the next several weeks to combat climate change.

March 31, 2008 is a hard deadline for two important decisions:

As usual, it is the deadline by which Albany must adopt its annual budget for the fiscal year that begins on April 1st. This is when critical matters such as the Environmental Protection Fund, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill and financial incentives such as a Bioheat Tax Credit are decided.

The other is the final deadline by which Albany can adopt a Congestion Pricing Plan that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, dramatically ease traffic congestion, provide desperately needed dollars for our mass transit system and further strengthen the economy of the entire downstate region. In order to be eligible for $354 million in federal funding, the Legislature must approve the program no later than March 31st.

Take action; these initiatives are critical components of a greener and greater New York.

Brookings Institute hosts Climate Change forum

Today at the Brookings Institute here in Washington, Johan Eliasch, Special Representative on Reforestation and Clean Energy for UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, gave a talk entitled "Climate Change: the Next Global Security Threat."

Eliasch stated that deforestation contributes to 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than transportation or even agriculture. However, indigenous people often level forests out of necessity for wood, which they either use or sell. So he co-created Cool Earth, a company that allows people to invest in forest conservation based on the premise that "trees must be made more valuable standing than logged." Eliasch has personally purchased 400,000 acres of Amazon woodlands, meaning he pays indigenous people to preserve the land and keep loggers away.

Chairman of IPCC testifies before Congress

Today Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, testified before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Chairman Edward J. Markey of the Select Committee hosted what was Dr. Pachauri’s first appearance before Congress.

In his somber, eloquent testimony, Dr. Pauchauri reminded Congress that addressing global warming isn’t just about installing wind turbines and passing vehicle efficiency standards; it's about protecting the poorest, most vulnerable people on the planet. Evoking Ghandi he quoted, "Anything you do, you must look at what the implications will be for the least privileged." In material terms, he was alluding to shocking statistics that a warming climate will likely lead to water stresses and crop reduction by 50% in some African countries by 2020.

Dr. Pachauri also testified that global warming cannot be stopped. Even if the world’s greenhouse gas emissions peaked in 2015, the gases already in the atmosphere would continue warming the earth by 0.1 degrees every decade. This climate shift will be enough to make one fifth to one third of the earth’s organisms extinct. There is a strong possibility that Greenland will collapse, creating higher ocean levels that will change the world’s geography.

Nevertheless, Dr. Pachauri reminded the Select Committee that there is reason to be hopeful, and to start moving towards becoming a low emission society. All the green technology that we need has either been developed or will be so in the next two decades. Genetically modified crops can be developed to become more flood and drought resistant. The use of wind power is dramatically rising around the globe. Countries like Germany are having an "Energy Renaissance" which is bringing economic growth. If America engages in investment flows, technology transfers, and incentives towards clean energies, it can lead the world as a low emissions economy.

Capping carbon need not be at the expense of alleviating poverty in the developing world, and Dr. Pachauri called one of his personal missions "Lighting a million lights." He is dedicated to bringing renewable energy that is affordable to the 1.6 billion people who currently have no access to electricity. As a society that is "preoccupied with human rights," he encouraged the US to engage with its own low-emission partnership activities with developing countries.

(Image from Dagbladet: www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/01/29/490346.html)

Why we're proud to be scared

Today, Denise L. Behreandt of the "John Birch Society," a conservative political organization, released an article entitled "Wisconsin Residents Fed Global Warming Scare Stories."

Behreandt is referring to the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters’ upcoming Conservation Lobby in Madison on January 30. The WLCV will encourage Wisconsin residents to urge their legislators to back WLCV’s ‘Conservation Priorities’, which include adopting a science-based plan to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Behreandt says, "Like many environmentalist organizations pushing global warming based regulations, the WLCV attempts to use fear to generate support." She calls the WLCV’s warnings that global warming will bring more extreme weather, diseases, and species extinction "baseless and undisguised propaganda." She continues, "The evidence for human induced global warming is shoddy, there’s no reason to expect more extreme weather, and in cold weather climates, if it were to happen, warming would be a boon to human health."

What Behreandt doesn’t seem to realize is that there is nothing shameful about using fear to garner support when that fear is based on reality. For example, Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth" used the tagline, "By far the most terrifying film you will ever see." It didn’t aim to be the feel-good flick of the year, but a wake up call to people that hurricanes, floods and droughts will only escalate if we continue our current energy consuming habits. With similar intentions the WLCV is sending a serious message to voters that if legislators don’t start acting on global warming, we will suffer the consequences.

What’s perhaps even scarier is that the link Behreandt provides for "shoddy" evidence goes to the website of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where the headline reads, "U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007. Senate Report Debunks "Consensus.” Think it’s a dated piece? Nope- this report was released in December 20, 2007.

If the Senate is still releasing reports trying to disprove climate change is a man-made threat, you bet that people in Wisconsin should be demanding that their elected officials will take a different stance. People need to know that every pro-environmental vote is a plus for America and a plus for the world. And if that requires fear-mongering, then bring out the boogeyman.