Historic Times for the Conservation Movement

The momentum right now in the conservation movement is really incredible.  Not only are we on the eve of mandating an increase in fuel efficiency to 35 MPG, but we are also just hours away from seeing the first comprehensive global warming legislation to ever pass through a full Senate committee.

Part of this momentum can be attributed to all of the exposure conservation and environmentalism have had over the past several months.  Whether it was Live Earth or The Nobel Prize, global warming and other environmental issues have dominated the headlines in 2007.

Regardless of the many victories we’ve already seen this year, the real magic is about to take place.
On Wednesday, the House will vote on an energy bill with several great provisions.

  1. Protects wildlife and public lands from oil and gas development.
  2. Includes a Renewable Electricity Standard of at least 15 percent by 2020.
  3. Includes a fuel economy standard requiring cars to go at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Tell the House to pass the energy bill with the above provisions.  This will be a great first step toward a comprehensive solution to climate change.  Stay tuned, because the Senate will be voting next week.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee will vote on the Climate Security Act.  This strong piece of global warming legislation has the bipartisan support necessary to get further than any global warming bill has before.

On Saturday, the National Wildlife Federation is hosting an awareness-raising fundraiser called Turn the Tables on Global Warming.  This event, featuring several popular DJs, is taking place at Fur Nightclub in Washington, DC.  You can learn more on the myspace page.  If you don’t live in the area you can still take the 2% pledge.  This pledge says that you will only support candidates who support the 2% solution (pdf) to global warming.

Next week, thousands of NGOs, government officials and policy experts will meet to discuss climate change in Bali.  As an NWF employee in our international department points out, if we don’t establish and join international carbon emission agreements, our domestic progress will do little good.  Hopefully we can see some progress coming out of the discussions in Bali.

Thank you to all of the activists who have worked to make such progress possible.  It is more important now than ever that we keep fighting to protect wildlife and our planet.  I ask that you take action now to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

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