Carbon dioxide pollution knows no political boundaries. Decarbonizing every economy around the world must be our common goal.

In a few weeks, National Wildlife Federation will send a team to the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen to support world leaders striving to create an enforceable global agreement to cut carbon dioxide pollution. We will be demanding that assembled leaders produce a roadmap–with every nation participating this time–to collectively curb this massive pollution threat before it’s too late to avoid catastrophic climate changes that will spell unprecedented losses of wildlife all over the world in every ecosystem. We will demand firm reductions and timetables that match the best available science and we will press for the establishment of specific, enforceable targets proportional to each country’s contributions. Here are some of the key elements to a global deal.

Bold and verifiable goals

The 20 largest emitters known as the G-20 produce eighty percent of the carbon dioxide pollution. They include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. These nations must lead the way and be accountable to cut their emissions on an aggressive timetable. Discussions leading up to Copenhagen have been marked by wrangling about who should do what and which countries should make the biggest emissions cuts. The U.S. and China together, now represent more than 40 percent of annual emissions so we both must do our fair share to cut future emissions. Copenhagen will fail unless scientifically-sound 2020 emissions targets are established for each of these countries and to establish a firm date for industrialized nations to begin cutting overall emissions. The actual atmospheric declines should start by no later than 2015 to minimize the real risks of runaway global warming.

Skipping 20th century mistakes

Many developing nations are rightfully looking for ways to build their own economies to provide for their people. It is critically important that we help them build clean energy economies, while avoiding fossil-fuels that increase global emissions. Instead, we need to help them adopt and deploy new, clean energy technologies to meet their needs. In other words, we want to help developing nations to go from the 19th century right into the 21th century bypassing our 20th century mistakes.

Think of it this way, many of the world’s poorest people have never made a phone call, if and when they do, it will be on a cell phone. When they get their first lights, they will be solar or wind-powered. They will be able to stop burning wood and dung for cooking and replace these soot-producing stoves with solar cookers.

Protecting Forests

Deforestation and continual degradation of forests represents about 20 percent of the total human-caused atmospheric carbon dioxide as trees remaining tropical rain forests, are vital stores of carbon. We must forge a global deal that helps developing countries protect remaining uncut forests by providing financial incentives to reduce future deforestation and degradation. Properly executed, this will help mitigate climate change, provide protection for extravagant biodiversity in rainforests and help the poor develop in sustainable ways. All of this must be sensitive to and address various social, institutional and political drivers that trigger destructive forest losses.

Storing Carbon in Second-Growth Forests and Agricultural Soils

Because it will take time to transition large coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities, we must invest in carbon offsets that fund farmers who increase their carbon storage in soils and pay forest landowner for delaying timber harvests by 30-40 years to get additional carbon storage from older trees.

The December meeting will bring together world leaders and their environmental ministers to forge an agreement to succeed the Kyoto climate change treaty that expires in 2012. Many of us were hoping that the election of Barack Obama signaled to the world that the US would now play a strong leadership role in Copenhagen by tackling climate change with a new law that would set a firm foundation for U.S. action. President Barack Obama went to Copenhagen in October in a failed attempt to support Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, it is yet to be seen whether or not he will return as a world leader determined to forge a climate agreement that protects the future of all children.

The U.S. House of Representatives under the able leadership of Speaker Pelosi has passed a foundational bill that will enable President Obama to lead. As of this writing, the Senate has not matched the House action. It is unclear whether the U. S. Senate will pass a bill in time to help shape the President’s role in the treaty decisions ahead. I remain hopeful that Senator Kerry and Senator Boxer can reach out to the Republican Senators and those swing Democrats from high-carbon states to forge a deal.

We are running out of time to save the planet, and the Copenhagen summit is a terribly important milestone. You should urge President Obama to lead the charge for a global deal and urge your Senators to act now to pass climate legislation to create millions of clean energy jobs, make our world more secure and to give wildlife this last chance.

Many of you wrote letters and placed phone calls to your members of Congress in support of the American Clean Energy and Security Act to protect wildlife from global warming, create clean-energy jobs and improve the nation’s energy security. As a result, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on the eve of the 4th of July weekend. It was a close fight, and every letter and call counted.

While letters were pouring in from real voters like you who want a new energy future, a surprising number of calls and faxes were being sent to undecided lawmakers from phone numbers outside of their districts urging a vote against the bill. Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello received a letter that supposedly was sent from a local chapter of the NAACP, asking him to oppose the measure. On further investigation, Perriello discovered that this letter along with five others purportedly sent from different organizations were all forgeries. It was a fraud that corrupted the very heart of America’s democracy—the connection between members of Congress and their constituents.

In reality, the NAACP recently joined in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation to support passage of the legislation. During their Centennial Convention in July, NAACP delegates recognized the economic opportunities that will flow from global warming solutions, stating in a resolution that “solving the climate crisis can create 5 million ‘green’ jobs that will be in places where they are needed most.”

The fake NAACP letter and other phony messages sent to lawmakers were products of outright deception created by companies such as Bonner & Associates, a lobbying group known to create “strategic grassroots”—an artificial version of grassroots lobbying known in Washington, D.C., as “Astroturf.”

In recent years, large corporate interests have successfully deceived Congress and the public by paying for such Astroturf campaigns. Here is how it’s done: Corporations hire firms like Bonner & Associates, which in turn make up fake organizational names or borrow real organizations’ letterheads, hire professional callers who improperly identify themselves with made-up groups and urge unsuspecting residents to call their members of Congress to oppose important reform legislation that they misrepresent as bad. Bonner & Associates refused to reveal its corporate clients that funded their deception, but the firm has represented a number of big energy companies in the past. Congress is now investigating their activities.

This is merely the latest fraud by the major energy companies to mislead the public. On a recent visit to Prince William Sound in Alaska, I saw scientifically-collected samples that demonstrate much of the oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill remains where it went when it was washed off the surface of the rocks. It continues to damage fish and wildlife habitat and contaminate our food chain. The oiled sound is no longer the pristine place it once was and most of the canneries in the town of Cordova are gone.

When the pipeline and port in Prince William Sound were built, the oil industry promised President Nixon they would have a response team, oil booms and other equipment ready to address any spill that might occur. They didn’t.

In the days after the accident, as the oil spread more than 800 miles through the sound and along the Alaska Coast, Exxon promised to clean it up and make the 30,000 people living in the region’s fishing villages “whole.” They did neither. Instead, Exxon cheated innocent people of their livelihoods. For the next 20 years, the company fought bankrupt fishermen, cannery owners and other innocent victims all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the end, Exxon paid only pennies on the dollars lost. Many of the original victims died waiting; others lost everything dear to them.

There is an often-repeated quote, first attributed to President Abraham Lincoln, that says, “You may fool all of the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Well, the executives of big oil along with the dirty coal industry believe they can fool all Americans all the time.

Oil companies will do everything they can to stop the clean energy and climate legislation passed in the House from advancing in the Senate. Once again, we expect a close vote. Call your two U.S. Senators, tell them that you are a real constituent and urge them to pass the bill to protect our world, create millions of new jobs and restore a strong economy built on a domestic energy future. Let’s work together to prove President Lincoln right.

This is the most important conservation vote in a generation. Thanks to all who worked to ensure passage of this bill to invest in a clean energy economy, reduce global warming pollution and protect America’s wildlife and natural heritage. Now we take this cause to the Senate with the winds of change at our back.

There are two quick, but critical actions you can take right now to help ensure that this unprecedented legislation reaches the finish line today:

1. Even though you’ve already emailed your Congressmember, making a direct phone call to his/her office right now will ensure s/he hears just how important this legislation is to you as a constituent: http://online.nwf.org/site/R?i=023FjFbuoQgaKt45RWeCZQ.

2. For your friends, family members and followers online, encourage them to speak up today for one of the most critical pieces of legislation of our time: http://online.nwf.org/site/R?i=eedetTiY-RoSPVxxQAp33w.

Thank you for the critical role you’ve played in conservation history by helping get this legislation across the finish line today.

The Obama administration is planning to make next week “energy week” to rally support for the bill. Reports Politico, “The White House plans to dispatch Cabinet officials to push the administration’s energy agenda and urge Congress to pass climate legislation currently under siege from skeptical Democrats in the House.”

The admin started its push this week, with the release of a new government report on climate science that warns of dire effects across the country. The report’s authors have been holding briefings on the report on Capitol Hill this week to light a proverbial fire under legislators and their staffs.

If you love wildlife, the single biggest thing you can do to help them is to fight global warming. Our climate is simply changing too fast for many of the species we care about to adapt.

Put the power of your voice (and your vote) behind clean energy & climate legislation. Please take a moment right now to tell your U.S. Representative to pass the ACES Act.

Photo courtesy Flickr’s issuez

He wants to know why he’s not hearing from you:

Today, we asked that National Wildlife Federation’s online community to send their messages to Congress. We’ve got three weeks to make sure the U.S. House of Representatives hears from us, and votes YES for the American Clean Energy and Security Act– a bill that will protect wildlife by giving as much as $1.7 billion per year to wildlife management programs across the country, as well as reduce the global warming emissions that threaten up to 30% of plant and animal species with extinction.

We all have our reasons why we care about global warming. Whether it’s your kid’s future, your desire to do right by Planet Earth, or the knowledge that if you don’t act soon, it may be too late.  For me, it’s the 30%– how can I stand by and let 30% of plant and animal species go extinct?

But even more so, it’s the knowledge that Congress is waiting for us. I believe in citizen action, but I had no idea Congress was actually hoping to hear from us. I guess everyone needs some encouragement and a nod of approval. Your representative is asking for a gentle nudge, a reminder that Americans are committed to a clean energy future, committed to protecting our natural world.

I’m willing to give my representative that word of encouragement.  Will you send one too?

House leaders have reportedly reached a tentative deal on a climate and energy bill—and in the absence of details, speculation is rampant about how the bill has been weakened or otherwise changed.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the bill’s coauthors, had wanted to start markup of the legislation two weeks ago, with the aim of passing it out of committee by Memorial Day. But it’s taken longer than expected to reach agreement with moderate Democrats, who requested a lot of changes to the bill.

Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee are scheduled to meet Tuesday night to hammer out the final details; then text of the revised bill is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday, and debate is to begin on Thursday.

We’ll keep you updated on the bill. In the meantime, tell your member of Congress to support strong clean energy & climate legislation this year!

A White House aide said Obama plans to meet with the lawmakers Tuesday to discuss two of his key domestic priorities – legislation to cut the emissions linked to global warming by requiring cleaner sources of energy and efforts to overhaul health care.


House Energy and Commerce Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., unveiled a draft bill in March that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with a proposal Obama called for in his campaign.

Learn more about how you can ask Congress to pass strong clean energy & climate legislation at our Climate Action Center!

While Democrats bicker over a sweeping climate change bill, Republicans are going rogue, crafting an alternative hearing stacked with people they agree with. [...]


Thirteen other Republicans, including a number of members of the Energy Committee, will join Pence in the new Capitol Visitor Center for the mock hearing.

The “mock” hearing will reportedly take place next Tuesday.


The lesson: hearings are a lot more fun when you don’t invite people who disagree with you! I’m sure the Founding Fathers would be proud. (Sorry, this mocking thing must be more catching than swine flu.)