The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

FCNL: Act Now to Help Slow Global Warming (5/25/04)

The following action items from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) focus on federal policy issues currently before Congress or the Administration.

On Memorial Day weekend, the latest Hollywood disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow" will be released. The movie depicts a world abruptly struck by catastrophic consequences of global climate change.

While the extreme and instantaneous ice-over portrayed in the movie is science fiction, global climate change is not. The growing consensus among the scientific community is that global warming is already occurring and there are expectations of future climate change. This includes a rising sea level and episodes of erratic and severe weather, such as droughts, heavy rainfall, and bouts of brutal heat. Global climate change will have dramatic impacts on people and the environment.

Global warming is induced by certain human activities, such as clearing forests and burning fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Hence, climate change can be minimized by limiting and regulating human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. Without instituting a regulatory mechanism, it is projected that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 14 percent over the next nine years.


WHAT IS BEING DONE?
Last fall, Senators McCain (AZ) and Lieberman (CT) introduced the Climate Stewardship Act (S 139). The bill would establish a mandatory reduction in U.S. emissions that contribute to global warming through a market-based system with the objective of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010, approximately 1.5 percent below today's levels. It would also establish grants for climate change research, including research for enhancing technologies that reduce greenhouse gases.

In October 2003, the Climate Stewardship Act was rejected 55-43.

To see how your senators voted, click here: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19715)

Fortunately, the Climate Stewardship Act (or similar legislation) is expected be reintroduced after the May recess. Now is the time to contact your senators and ask them to support legislation that would reduce human-created greenhouse gases. The McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act takes a proactive step toward controlling growing U.S. emissions that contribute to global warming.

To compose a letter to your senators, click on the link, then enter your ZIP code and click "Go" in the "Take Action Now" box.

Here is the link to send an email from the FCNL website: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19716)

Thirty national religious leaders and prominent scientists concerned about global climate change recently signed on to a letter to the U.S. Senate, urging leaders to support legislation, like the Climate Stewardship Act, that would help reduce human-created greenhouse gases. To read the letter, click here: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19717)

Environmental Defense and other organizations are using the release of the film, "The Day After Tomorrow," to educate and mobilize the public to help stop global warming. We need your help. To find out more about the Environmental Defense Global Warming UnDoIt campaign, click here: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19718)

This resource includes
* a video public service announcement and video news release,
* a movie flyer for volunteers to distribute at theaters showing movie, and
* emissions petitions supporting the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act.

For more information on global warming and the Climate Stewardship Act

visit the Union of Concerned Scientists web site at: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19719) and (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19720)

______________________________________________________________________________
SUBSCRIBE to FCNL's listserves (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19721)