1. Highlight of the Week: Adaptation in a Rapidly Changing Climate
2. Quote: Bishop Stephen Blaire
3. Economic Story of the Week: Keystone XL Bill Passes House Committee, Spurs Protest
4. Editorial of the Week: Spurring the EPA on Greenhouse Gases
5. EcoCARs cross the Finish Line
6. Killer Heat
7. Gardener’s Guide to Climate Change
8. Al Gore Rolls Some Punches
9. Happening this Week

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Highlight of the Week

Adaptation in a Rapidly Changing Climate

via USFWS/Flickr, the diamondback terrapin turtle, whose habitat is likely to be inundated as the sea rises.

Scientists are looking toward the future, working on concrete plans to help people and wildlife adapt in an increasingly warming world. More than 80 experts in climate change adaptation shared their knowledge at Adaptation 2011: Conserving Natural Systems in a Rapidly Changing Climate Workshop, hosted by he National Wildlife Federation and the National Council for Science and the Environment.

Resource managers, scientists and researchers from federal and state agencies, non-profits and academia  expressed the need for clear communication with stakeholders, from local communities to national policymakers. The group wants to prioritize working together to move climate change adaptation from  planning stages to on-the-ground implementation. Adaptation 2011 was designed to help develop critical guidance for carrying out conservation in an era of climate change.

In one concrete example, the Union of Concerned Scientists has just released an interactive tool to help explore the impacts global warming is having on our lives. Using their Climate Hot Map you can participate in a Scavenger Hunt to virtually travel the world and could win a trip to help scientists investigate answers to climate change challenges.

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Quote:

“Such standards should protect the health and welfare of all people, especially the most vulnerable members of our society, including unborn and other young children, from harmful exposure to toxic air pollution emitted from power plants.”

-Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, commented in support of the EPA’s mercury and air toxic rules.

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Economic Story of the Week

Keystone XL Bill Passes House Committee, Spurs Protest

via Rainforest Action Network/Flickr

The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved legislation, H.R. 1938, which will force the Obama administration to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by November. The bill comes as the pipeline builder, TransCanada, was just cited by federal regulators for frequent spills of its existing major U.S. tar sands pipeline known as Keystone I. TransCanada’s own documents say the proposal would cut oil supply to 15 Midwest states. Observers say choking supply would increase gas prices.

Jeremy Symons, NWF senior vice president said, “The oil companies behind this bill are desperate for Congress and the administration to rush the approval of this pipeline scheme because the truth about this pipeline’s real cost is coming to light.

“If we let oil companies build this pipeline, they will manipulate oil supplies to increase gas prices at the pump in 15 states throughout the Midwest. Changing the rules robs Americans of a full and fair debate and puts Big Oil ahead of consumers and ahead of pipeline safety.”

350.org’s Bill McKibben and environmental crusader David Suzuki are calling on Canadians and Americans for civil disobedience this summer to halt construction of the pipeline.

More on this story: Reuters

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Editorial of the Week

Spurring the EPA on Greenhouse Gases

(Los Angeles Times)

The Supreme Court decision to reject a climate-change lawsuit against power plants should be a catalyst for the EPA to work on rules to limit greenhouse gases….The EPA — too slowly — is working on rules for limiting greenhouse gases from power plants. It should see this decision as a spur to set meaningful curbs. Meanwhile, the political debate over climate change continues. Environmentalists need to be vigilant on every front. Global warming denial is still common, as is opposition to supposedly burdensome government regulation. And some members of Congress oppose an effective EPA. Having been deferred to by the court, the agency now needs to make the most of its mandate. (More…)

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EcoCARs cross the Finish Line

via AVTC/Flickr

After a three-year competition students from Virginia Tech were named the winners of EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge for designing and building an exceptional extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) that runs on E85 ethanol.

“The ingenuity and dedication shown by the students of Virginia Tech in building this next-generation vehicle will help them launch careers as leaders in the clean energy field,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “With the experience and skills these innovative students have gained through the EcoCAR competition, they will help reduce our nation’s reliance on oil imports and keep U.S. industries competitive in the global marketplace.”

Engineering students from Virginia Tech competed against 15 other universities in this competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors (GM) to re-engineer a GM-donated vehicle to minimize fuel consumption and emissions, without sacrificing utility, safety and performance.

More on this story: Energy.gov

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Killer Heat

A new study in Europe released by Nature Communications finds that one of the few benefits of global warming, reduced deaths from milder winters, may be more than offset by the increase in deaths due to extreme summer heat waves.

The study uses computer models to analyze climate under global warming and compares the death rates from heat and cold to those in 200 regions of Europe. Findings suggest that by 2070 the warming climate may cause 15,000 more temperature-related deaths a year in Europe.

More on this story: Associated Press

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Gardener’s Guide to Climate Change

via NWF

Americans may notice the impact of climate change right in their own gardens and backyards. The federal government recently announced that it will take advantage of this easy connection to the natural world with a pilot project in partnership with the American Public Garden Association.

Starting with an exhibition at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, where evidence of climate impacts is already apparent in earlier flowering plants, the project will educate some 70 million annual public garden visitors on climate change.

Learn more about how wildlife and plants are affected by global warming in your garden and region with the National Wildlife Federation’s Gardener’s Guide to Global Warming report.

More on this story: New York Times

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Al Gore Rolls Some Punches

Al Gore via Juampe Lopez/Flickr

In a passionate and hotly-debated Rolling Stone article, Al Gore critiqued the Obama Administration’s environmental record and leadership on climate change. Mr. Gore wrote “[W]e are destroying the climate balance that is essential to the survival of our civilization. This is not a distant or abstract threat; it is happening now. The United States is the only nation that can rally a global effort to save our future.” The article also rebukes the media for seeming “confused about whether he is in the news business or the entertainment business” and acting like a wrestling referee.

National Wildlife Federation CEO and President Larry Schweiger commented:

Look, it’s fair to criticize President Obama for not doing more. He hasn’t done nearly enough to reach his own goal of cutting carbon pollution 17 percent by 2020. There is in fact no known plan or any process to evaluate our energy choices and where we are heading.But how can President Obama lead when the American public is so misinformed about the threats America is facing and the opportunities for action? One of my great frustrations is that the conservationists aren’t asking the media for any special treatment here – we’re just asking journalists to report what climate scientists are telling us about the potential impacts we face and the ways to solve them.

How much is global warming fueled by man-made carbon pollution to blame for 2011′s extreme weather events? Should we be building a massive new Keystone XL pipeline through America’s heartland to carry tar sands, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet? Television, radio and print journalists cover these questions rarely, if at all.

Instead, the news media has helped turn our public square into a pro wrestling ring, with the heroes and villains refereed as equals by journalists.

More on this story: Rolling Stone, Wildlife Promise

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Happening this Week

Tuesday, June 28

Webinar of the highlights of NOAA’s 2010 State of the Climate report. With Tom Karl, Deke Arndt, Peter Thorne, Walt Meier. 1PM [RSVP]

Thursday, June 30

Hearing on EPA Power Plant Rules, Senate Environment and Public Works, 10AM, 406 Dirksen

Coming Soon…
Wednesday, July 13

Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment, 9:00 AM- 12:30 PM, The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, also live webcast.

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For more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.

Former Vice President Al Gore (via Flickr's AmericanProgressAction)

Al Gore’s Rolling Stone essay spent four times as much space comparing the news media to pro wrestling referees as it did urging President Obama to act on the climate crisis. So what did media coverage of Gore’s piece exclusively focus on?

The media proved Al exactly right, presenting only his criticism of the president framed as a Gore vs. Obama edition of WWE Smackdown. The coverage might as well have been narrated by “Mean” Gene Okerlund.

In breaking the news of Gore’s essay, Dina Cappiello of the Associated Press completely ignored Gore’s media criticisms, focusing only on Gore’s call for President Obama to do more to educate Americans about the threats of the climate crisis and the need for clean energy action.

Politico’s Darren Sameulsohn & Reid Epstein disregarded Gore’s media criticisms as well.

The New York Times’ John Broder makes only a passing mention of Gore’s media criticisms later in his article (which is bizarrely accompanied by a shadowy picture of a sweaty Mr. Gore).

James Fallows, author of the must-read Breaking the News, writes:

Yes, the news value here is Gore-v-Obama; yes, that’s part of the story. But the theme I tried to lay out in that essay is that the media’s all-consuming interest in the “how” and “who’s ahead” of politics, and “oh God this is boring” disdain for the “what” and “why” of public issues, has all sorts of ugly consequences. It makes the public think that politics is not for them unless they love the insider game; it makes the “what” and “why” of public issues indeed boring and unapproachable; and as a consequence of the latter, it makes the public stupider than it needs to be about the what and why.

The reaction to Gore’s essay illustrates the pattern: from his point of view, it’s one more (earnest) attempt to say “Hey, listen up about this problem!” As conveyed by the press, it’s one more skirmish on the “liberals don’t like Obama” front, and one more illustration of the eyes-glazing-over trivia and details about melting icebergs and scientific disputes.

Remember Jon Stewart’s argument, that the real bias of the mainstream media is not “liberal” but in favor of conflict and sensationalism.

Look, it’s fair to criticize President Obama for not doing more. He hasn’t done nearly enough to reach his own goal of cutting carbon pollution 17 percent by 2020. There is in fact no known plan or any process to evaluate our energy choices and where we are heading.

But how can President Obama lead when the American public is so misinformed about the threats America is facing and the opportunities for action? As I wrote in my book, Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth, one of my great frustrations is that the conservationists aren’t asking the media for any special treatment here – we’re just asking journalists to report what climate scientists are telling us about the potential impacts we face and the ways to solve them.

How much is global warming fueled by man-made carbon pollution to blame for 2011′s extreme weather events? Should we be building a massive new Keystone XL pipeline through America’s heartland to carry tar sands, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet? Television, radio and print journalists cover these questions rarely, if at all.

Instead, the news media has helped turn our public square into a pro wrestling ring, with the heroes and villains refereed as equals by journalists.

As I head back from the Gulf coast today, where I saw firsthand some of the terrible impacts of the BP oil disaster, I read Al Gore’s excellent op-ed that ran in The New Republic today.

In “The Crisis Comes Ashore,” Al Gore highlights that oil leaking from the Macondo well isn’t the only uncontrolled pollution we’re putting into the environment. Every three seconds, we put the same amount of manmade carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the highest current estimates of oil spilling from the leaking well. Both the oil spill and the carbon dioxide spilling into the atmosphere are causing harm to our planet.

The justifiable outrage over the BP oil disaster may be creating a new opportunity to pass energy and climate legislation, similar to how the public outrage from the Exxon Valdez spill led to the reinvigoration of environmental laws.

Will the oil spill become America’s moment to embrace a clean energy future?

My hope is that as Al Gore says, this “…is one of those clarifying moments that brings a rare opportunity to take the longer view” and that we will take this moment to make the world safe from our oil addiction and the climate crisis.

Check out this Wildlife Promise video – and Dirty the Sock Puppet – who will believe anything he hears on Fox news.

By Larry Schweiger

Take a look at Al Gore’s piece in yesterday’s The New York Times We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change. I found it to be an insightful, thoughtful piece on what has stymied our energy and climate progress to date and the economic and national consequences if we fail to move forward at this time. The timing of this piece is important since later this week Senators Graham, Kerry and Lieberman are expected to present energy and climate legislation for consideration that will put us on the path forward to enhance our national security, create economic opportunities and increase our energy independence.

The urgency of this moment is captured very well at the end of the piece:

“The pathway to success is still open, though it tracks the outer boundary of what we are capable of doing. It begins with a choice by the United States to pass a law establishing a cost for global warming pollution…

“We have overcome existential threats before. Winston Churchill is widely quoted as having said, ‘Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes, you must do what is required.’ Now is that time. Public officials must rise to this challenge by doing what is required; and the public must demand that they do so — or must replace them.”

That if we decide we want to be more energy independent and create millions of jobs, the answers are available to us.There’s a connection between our climate, national security and economic crises. Each is linked to our overdependence on carbon based fuels. We have the solutions in our hand, if we choose to implement renewables like solar and implement our capabilities to become more energy efficient. I keep a note on my desk that says “keep your destination in view.”

For those who want to be part of the solution to a new energy future, Our Choice is an important guidepost on the path.

Watch Katie Couric’s interview with Al Gore on CBS News.

The National Wildlife Federation has, in cooperation with Mr. Gore, and with the support of film producer Particpant Media and the Tosa Foundation, developed an Incovenient Truth high school curriculum that focuses on the science of global warming and educational activities about global warming solutions. 

The curriculum and other materials on climate change education can be found on the NWF Climate Classroom website which has age-differentiated sections for both teens and younger children and a wide range od useful parent, child and educator resources.

Click here and scroll down the page to access and download free copies of An Incovenient Truth high school curriculum.    

Speaking at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in Madison, Wis., Gore said there is more bipartisan support in the Senate for the energy bill than is evident. Gore said that several Republican senators, behind closed doors, support a federal clean energy bill.

“I think it’s more likely than not that we will have Senate bill passed and in conference committee by the time the Copenhagen conference takes place,” Gore said. “I think we’ll see the emergence of 60 votes.”

The December Climate Conference in Copenhagen is a step toward replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The Senate will soon begin deliberations on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009.

“We have everything we need, with the possible exception of political will” to solve the climate crisis, Gore said. He called the task of slowing global warming an awesome responsibility.

“Never before in human history has a single generation — those of us alive today — been asked to make such difficult and consequential decisions that will have implications for all succeeding generations,” Gore said. “This is up to us … I believe we are more than up to it.”

Photo via Flickr’s ElsaMary

Over the past few days, the former vice president and environmental activist has mobilized his green grass roots, marshaled his well-endowed lobbying organization and even personally called Democratic committee members in an effort to push the bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee
and through Congress.


“I have enormous respect for Al Gore. When it comes to climate change, he’s the guru,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).

Rumor has it the bill could get a final vote before the full committee as soon as tonight. We’ll keep you updated!

NWF — 11:33am … Gore compares people who take their science advice from global warming deniers to people who took their financial advice from Bernie Madoff.

AP — Gore then compared Barton and Bernard Madoff, who swindled investors out of $50 billion, prompting Barton to interrupt Gore: “I’ve never talked to Bernie Madoff.”

Gore wasn’t comparing Barton to Madoff. He was comparing Barton to Madoff’s victims. Big difference.


Let’s look at another exchange (again, emphasis added):

NWF — 12:03pm: What’s with committee Republicans wasting hearing time to take surveys? Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA) is asking every witness if they want a “transparent” hearing for the bill. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) is asking every witness if they’ve read the entire draft bill (then complaining he didn’t get enough time for questions).

AP — “I have read all 648 pages of this bill,” Gore bragged, a boast that would surprise no one who caught his teacher’s-pet performance in the 2000 presidential race. “It took me two transcontinental flights on United Airlines to finish it.”

Gore wasn’t bragging — he was prepared to give an answer to a question that every other panelist all week had been asked. Was everyone else who said they read the bill “bragging”?


Clearly the AP’s Laurie Kellman was trying to re-write the exchanges to fit the frame of her “analysis” piece — there goes that know-it-all Al Gore again, trying to make himself look smart and us feel dumb! The article makes similar broad generalizations about Newt Gingrich.


You know what makes me feel dumb? When reporters ignore the economic, energy and climate crises that America faces and instead waste our time trying to perpetuate political stereotypes.