Polar Bear to Be a Protected Species

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday, saying it must be protected because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses. These declines, he told a news conference, mean the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.

Kempthorne also said, though, that it would be "inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.

Reflecting views recently expressed by President Bush, Kempthorne said the Endangered Species Act was "never meant to regulate global climate change."

He said the decision to list the bear includes administrative actions aimed at limiting the impact of the decision on energy development and other climate related activities.

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Operation Climate Vote!

The Senate is set to vote on landmark global warming legislation in early June. We need your help to urge your Senators to seize this historic opportunity to cap and reduce America's global warming pollution.

Email your Senators our list of the top 5 reasons why they must act now.

Here's our list:

1. Every year we wait equals extra effort. If we delay this bill by just two years, we will have to make twice the annual cuts in carbon emissions to hit the same cumulative reductions by 2020.

2. The science is unforgiving. As the Earth warms, we approach a "tipping point," after which large destructive climate changes become inevitable.

3. The political opportunity is ripe. 78% of Americans want Congress to act on global warming. We need to take advantage of the tremendous momentum that exists today.

4. Someone is going to win the global race to reinvent energy. It should be us. Renewable energy promises to become one of the world's most profitable industries. But advances in renewable energy technologies will not be fully realized without a national cap on global warming pollution. The sooner we act, the sooner these new industries will start to flourish.

5. What legacy will the 110th Congress leave? When future generations look back at this moment, they will either praise the Senate for starting us down the path to solving the global warming crisis, or blame the Senate for squandering this opportunity.


You and I - and everyone we know - need to make sure that the Senate gets the message now.

With your support, we're keeping up constant pressure to make sure the Senate seizes this historic opportunity. As the Climate Security Act makes its way to the Senate floor for a vote next month, we must hammer these urgent points home.

Please email your Senators our top 5 list now.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

The Global Warming Team at Environmental Defense Action Fund

Oppose Sham Global Warming Bill

Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) proposed legislation that would allow global warming pollution to increase for decades.

If you think global warming is a hoax, this is your bill.

Email your Senators today to oppose Senator Voinovich's sham global warming proposal.

The Senate has scheduled time the first week of June to debate and vote on global warming legislation, and this proposal may be debated then.

We need the Senate to seize this opportunity to cap and reduce America's global warming pollution with a meaningful bill, not waste precious time on delaying and denying the reality of global warming.

The Voinovich bill is dressed up as a way to take action, but in fact is a detailed prescription for doing nothing.

It would postpone meaningful action on global warming pollution for at least twenty years. It calls for weak, non-binding emissions reduction benchmarks – current levels in 2020 and 1990 levels in 2030 – while providing taxpayer-funded subsidies for favored technologies.

The Environmental Protection Agency could establish a cap and trade system to reduce emissions – but it could be suspended the cap on a whim, and it would come with an astonishingly low $5 per ton "safety valve" – an artificial price control on emissions reductions.

In the meantime, the proposal would take away state authority – confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA – to control global warming pollution. Dozens of states across the country, including California, Florida, and the Northeast members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, have set ambitious emissions reduction targets.

We need to do everything we can to defeat Senator Voinovich's sham bill.

Take action today: Email your Senators to urge them to oppose the Voinovich proposal.

Thank you for helping keep the pressure on for real global warming action this year.

-- The Global Warming Team at Environmental Defense Action Fund

10 Global Warming Facts to Inspire Real Action

Global Warming by the Numbers
Economic opportunity and a clean energy future
Posted: 22-Jan-2008; Updated: 24-Jan-2008

Global warming is the most serious environmental threat of our time.

As these facts show, affordable options are available. And America cannot afford to fall behind any more in the race to invent clean, renewable energy sources.

45%
Increase in world’s solar generating capacity in 2005.

2
Rank of China as global producer of solar cells, behind Japan (U.S. ranks 4th).

$1.5 billion
Amount US government spends a year on renewable energy research.

$1 billion
Amount ExxonMobil earns in a day.

$2 billion
Amount GE Energy Financial Services invested in wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy in 2007.

$200 billion
Amount China has committed to invest in renewable energy sources over the next 15 years.

0.74%
Projected cost of smart cap-and-trade climate policy on US economic output in 2030.

100%
Projected growth of the US economy by 2030.

53
Number of senators supporting cap and trade legislation.

0
Number of bills passed by Congress to cap and reduce America's global warming pollution.

Sources: World Watch Institute, Earth Policy Institute, Department of Energy, CNN, GE Energy Financial Services, Reuters, Upcoming Report: Climate Policy and the U.S. Economy. Environmental Defense, 2008

What Are They Waiting For?

Major political reporters have been actively ignoring the issue of global warming when interviewing presidential candidates. They have only mentioned the words GLOBAL WARMING in 3 questions ALL YEAR! Hosts like Tim Russert, George Stephanopoulos and Wolf Blitzer have instead asked ridiculous questions about UFOs, baseball and even Chuck Norris!

Check out www.whataretheywaitingfor.com to learn more and urge these hosts to stop covering the horse race and get back to the human race.

Global warming needs to be a priority issue in the election. Act today.

U.N. Report Describes Risks of Inaction on Climate Change

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
New York Times

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 16 — In its final and most powerful report, a United Nations panel of scientists meeting here describes the mounting risks of climate change in language that is both more specific and forceful than its previous assessments, according to scientists here.

Synthesizing reams of data from its three previous reports, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the first time specifically points out important risks if governments fail to respond: melting ice sheets that could lead to a rapid rise in sea levels and the extinction of large numbers of species brought about by even moderate amounts of warming, on the order of 1 to 3 degrees.

The report carries heightened significance because it is the last word from the influential global climate panel before world leaders meet in Bali, Indonesia, next month to begin to discuss a global climate change treaty that will replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. It is also the first report from the panel since it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October — an honor that many scientists here said emboldened them to stand more forcefully behind their positions.

As a sign of the deepening urgency surrounding the climate change issue, the report, which was being printed Friday night, will be officially released by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday.

The full report was embargoed from news organizations until Saturday. But drafts have been circulating for weeks, and descriptions of its findings began to appear on Web sites and in news agency reports on Friday. Bush administration officials held a news conference to discuss the report but insisted that their comments be withheld until after its official release.

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Warming Is Seen as Wiping Out Most Polar Bears

by: John M. Broder and Andrew C. Revkin
10 September 2007
NY Times

Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will disappear by 2050, even under moderate projections for shrinking summer sea ice caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, government scientists reported on Friday.

The finding is part of a yearlong review of the effects of climate and ice changes on polar bears to help determine whether they should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Scientists estimate the current polar bear population at 22,000.

The report, which the United States Geological Survey released here, offers stark prospects for polar bears as the world grows warmer.

The scientists concluded that, while the bears were not likely to be driven to extinction, they would be largely relegated to the Arctic archipelago of Canada and spots off the northern Greenland coast, where summer sea ice tends to persist even in warm summers like this one, a shrinking that could be enough to reduce the bear population by two-thirds.

The bears would disappear entirely from Alaska, the study said.

"As the sea ice goes, so goes the polar bear," said Steven Amstrup, lead biologist for the survey team.

The report was released as President Bush was in Australia meeting with Asian leaders to try to agree on a strategy to address global warming. Mr. Bush will be host to major industrial nations in Washington this month to discuss the framework for a treaty on climate change.

The United Nations plans to devote its general assembly in the fall to global warming.

A spokeswoman for the White House declined to comment on the report, saying it was part of decision making at the Interior Department, parent of the survey.

In the report, the team said, "Sea ice conditions would have to be substantially better than even the most conservative computer simulations of warming and sea ice" to avoid the anticipated drop in bear population.

In a conference call with reporters, the scientists also said the momentum to a warmer world with less Arctic sea ice — and fewer bears — would be largely unavoidable at least for decades, no matter what happened with emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide.

"Despite any mitigation of greenhouse gases, we're going to see the same amount of energy in the system for 20, 30 or 40 years," said Mark Myers, the survey director. "We would not expect to see any significant change in polar conditions regardless of mitigation."

In other words, even in the unlikely event that all the major economies were to agree to rapid and drastic reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, the floating Arctic ice cap will continue to shrink at a rapid pace for the next 50 years, wiping out much of the bears' habitat.

The report makes no recommendation on listing the bears as a threatened species or taking any action to slow ice cap damage. Such decisions are up to another Interior Department agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the Endangered Species Act. That decision is due in January, officials have said. The wildlife agency had to make a determination on the status of a threatened species because of a suit by environmental groups like Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In some places, the bears have adapted to eating a wide range of food like snow geese and garbage. But the survey team said their fate was 84 percent linked to the extent of sea ice.

Separate studies of trends in Arctic sea ice by academic and government teams have solidified a picture of shrinking area in summers for decades to come.

A fresh analysis by scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to be published Saturday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, says sea-ice coverage of the Arctic Ocean will decline by more than 40 percent before the summer of 2050, compared with the average ice extent from 1979 to 1999.

This summer the ice retreated much farther and faster than in any year since satellite tracking began in 1979, several Arctic research groups said.

Arctic sea ice melts to its lowest level ever

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 22 September 2007

The sea ice of the Arctic shrank to its lowest-ever level this week, shattering the previous record, set two years ago, by an enormous amount, American scientists have confirmed.

In what will be widely seen as one of the most alarming signs yet of accelerating global warming, the summer melt-back exceeded the September 2005 low point by 22 per cent – an area of 1.2 million square kilometres – more than 385,000 square miles. This represents an area five times the size of the UK.

The colossal shrinkage is immediately and dramatically visible on satellite images of the two low points. Furthermore, the difference between 2005 and this year is more than double the difference between 2005 and 2002, the previous lowest year.

"It's the biggest drop from a previous record that we've ever had and it's really quite astounding," said Walt Meier, a research scientist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado. "That's a dramatic change in one year. Certainly we've been on a downward trend for the last 30 years or so, but this is really accelerating the trend."

The ice cover of the Arctic Ocean shrinks in the summer and regrows in the autumn and winter, in a regular cycle. By Sunday last week, it had shrunk to 1.6 million sq miles, the NSIDC said. This compares with the 2005 low point of 2.07 million sq miles. The contrast is even greater with the long-term average over the past 20 years or so. Between 1979 (when regular satellite monitoring had just started) and 2000, the long-term average minimum was 2.6 million sq miles.

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Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act

I don't know if there's anything better than walking into the office
on Monday morning to discover that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
that the EPA has essentially ignored the problem of tailpipe CO2
emissions for too long, and that the EPA does in fact have the
authority to regulate these emissions.

What a huge victory for activists like you who've done so much to
make sure our elected officials know how crucial it is that we take
action now on global warming. But, we're not home free. Tailpipe
emissions are just one source of global warming pollution.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act -- which would reduce all forms of
global warming pollution by 80% by 2050. Can you help by asking your
senators to co-sponsor the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act?
To sign a petition to your senators, click on the link below or copy
and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentohio.org/action/global-warming/senate?id4=ES

Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
on to them.

Background

Global warming is starting to change weather patterns. Scientists
predict that these changes will accelerate in the future and say that
we can expect:

* Extreme weather. Scientists expect hurricanes to become more
intense and say that the hurricanes that hit the Gulf states in 2005
may be an indication of what's to come.

* Public health risks. Scientists also expect heat waves to become
more dangerous, causing more people to suffer heat stress and stroke.
Other impacts include the spread of infectious diseases.

* Less snow, less water. Many of the rivers and streams that we rely
on for our water supply are fed by mountain snow. But warmer winters
are starting to cause less precipitation to fall as snow, which may
cause serious future water shortages.

Most global warming pollution comes from burning oil, coal, and
natural gas in our power plants, cars, SUVs, and factories. Power
plants are the single biggest source, responsible for about 40% of
U.S. global warming pollution. Because there are no federal limits on
global warming pollution, industry can pump unlimited amounts of the
pollution into our skies.

The good news is we can reduce global warming pollution by using
existing technology to make power plants and factories more
efficient, make cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shift to
cleaner technologies, such as hybrids, biofuels, and wind and solar
power.

These are win-win solutions because they also will reduce our
dependence on oil, reduce air pollution, protect pristine places from
oil drilling and mining, and bring many other benefits.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act -- which would reduce all forms of
global warming pollution by 80% by 2050. Can you help by asking your
senators to co-sponsor the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act?
To sign a petition to your senators, click on the link below or copy
and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentohio.org/action/global-warming/senate?id4=ES

Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
on to them.


Sincerely,

Erin Bowser
Environment Ohio State Director
ErinB@environmentohio.org
http://www.EnvironmentOhio.org

HELP SAVE POLAR BEARS FROM GLOBAL WARMING

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_polar_0107

The Bush Administration is beginning the review process to decide whether to protect the polar bear, threatened with extinction due to global warming, under the Endangered Species Act. But we must speak up before February 23, 2007, or they will not hold public hearings on this critical matter.

Please help by sending a message directly to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, letting them know you want public hearings on polar bear protection. They are not required by law to hold such hearings, but they can be swayed if we all speak up.

CLICK HERE to show your support for polar bear protection.

GLOBAL WARMING DISRUPTING BEAR HIBERNATION IN EUROPE

It's not just Arctic creatures suffering from the negative effects of global warming. Spanish scientists are blaming global warming for the fact that brown bears appear to have stopped hibernating in Spain's northern Cantabrian Mountains, the first bears known not to hibernate in Europe.

According to Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, "There is a grave concern about the prospects of a great number of species. They are likely to be harmed by temperature changes, by mismatch between their life cycles and the altered seasonal life cycles of species on which they depend, and by invasion of competing species that are better adapted to warmer conditions."

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_polar_0107