Come to Alaska this summer and join National Wildlife Federation’s Alaska affiliate, the Renewable Resources Foundation, for Salmonstock—a three-day music and arts festival celebrating Bristol Bay, wild salmon and the people who depend upon them! Held August 2-4 at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in the small fishing town of Ninilchik, Salmonstock blends a small-town country fair atmosphere with the amenities of an established music festival, against the backdrop of breathtaking Alaskan scenery. Ninilchik is a gorgeous two-hour drive from Anchorage.

With multiple stages featuring top musicians, arts and crafts from local merchants, artists-in-residence showcased throughout the festival, booths featuring some of Alaska’s best restaurants and an extensive beer garden featuring brews from throughout the state, this is a uniquely Alaskan event not to be missed. More than 5,000 people made their way to Salmonstock in 2012, and this year’s third annual festival is shaping up to be bigger and even better.

Threat to Bristol Bay Salmon in the Spotlight

Wild salmon are key to a healthy Alaskan ecosystem and a healthy Alaskan economy. Both are now threatened by the Pebble Limited Partnership (a joint venture of Northern Dynasty Minerals and Anglo American Mining), which wants to build one of the largest open-pit copper, gold and molybdenum mines in the world on top of the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the planet’s largest remaining wild salmon fishery. Salmonstock seeks to celebrate this renewable resource as well as educate, bringing people from all walks of life together to oppose the devastating threat posed by the proposed mine.

Photo: Tim Steinberg. 2012

Performers Join to Support Salmon Protection

The lineup of musicians looks quite impressive; superstar Brandi Carlisle just signed on to headline the show, bluegrass masters Trampled by Turtles, Minnesota rock and roll jam band The Big Wu, Americana favorite Great American Taxi and up-and-coming Colorado bluegrass band Head for the Hills will play at Salmonstock 2013. Other scheduled performers include Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, Moonalice, Si Kahn, The Coffis Brothers and Out Of Our Tree (featuring Tim Easton and Megan Palmer). More great bands will be announced in the coming weeks.

For tickets and more information, go to the Salmonstock website or the Salmonstock Facebook page. You can also contact RRF directly at info@salmonstock.org or 907-743-1900. See you in Ninilchik!

Dead vegetation in Lake Conway (flickr/Tar Sands Blockade)

The various state violations are subject to civil fines ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 a day, while the federal Clean Water Act violations carry fines up to $4,300 per barrel of oil spilled.  Depending on how these fines are assessed, they could be pretty hefty.  The complaint details the severe and long lasting water quality problems this spill has created to nearby streams and wetlands – impacts that will scar these waters use by people and wildlife for a long time to come.

These alleged violations come as no surprise from a company that is not a stranger to facing legal actions for spilling oil.  Exxon is the company that brought us the infamous ExxonValdez disaster.  And on its 2010 pipeline spill into the Yellowstone River, the company is now challenging the $1.7 million in penalties it was assessed for failing to take proper safety measures to prevent this massive spill that contaminated 70 miles of the iconic western river.  ExxonMobil is a company that earned almost $10 billion of profit last year.  Yet it unapologetically fights a relative slap on the wrist fine.  Clearly, Exxon’s leadership prioritizes money over people, and fails to see that these fines are meant to scold them into behaving responsibly.

Which brings us to the question of prevention:

Why doesn’t the Administration move to stop these tar sands pipeline spills from happening in the first place?  It could do so in at least two ways.  Here’s how:

First, transporting tar sands is simply too risky and current safety regulations are inadequate.  Not only can industry not be trusted to follow the law; the law doesn’t properly protect us.  Tar sands is a corrosive material with a higher acid number, and is more abrasive than conventional oil.  It needs to be transported at higher temperatures and pressures than regular oil, which studies have shown produce higher risks of spills.  And when it does spill, as we’ve seen in both Arkansas and the July 2010 Kalamazoo spill, it sinks to the bottom of waterways, proving nearly impossible and very expensive to clean up.

Numerous groups, landowners and concerned current and former state officials have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency and Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration – the federal agencies charged with regulating pipeline operation and response – to implement rules that would adequately protect communities and resources from tar sands transit and spills.  Currently, regulations treat all tar sands and regular oil the same, despite the fact that EPA has acknowledged the challenges of dealing with tar sands spills have not been figured out.  Until we learn how to address tar sands safety risks, we shouldn’t be transporting more of it.

But the best way to stop tar sands spills is to stop tar sands development.  Tar sands pipelines spur tar sands development, which is extremely carbon intensive and puts our climate at risk.  While ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson might think of climate change as an “engineering problem,” the preview we’re getting of what’s in store looks more like a horror show.  Superstorm Sandy cost us $60 billion, we are entering yet another season of extreme and devastating wild fires in the West – something that may become a terrifying and expensive norm – and it’s a good thing the first game of the Stanley Cup finals went into triple overtime, because during the game the Midwest was experiencing a severe storm reminiscent of last year’s derecho that made conditions too dangerous for the fans to leave the arena and head home, not to mention the billion dollars of damages it caused.

Obama holds the opportunity to reject Keystone XL and choose a clean energy future (flickr/Rainforest Action Network)

He also is facing a decision as to whether to approve the expansion of a tar sands pipeline, the Alberta Clipper, which cuts through the Upper Great Lakes from 450,000 bpd to 880,000 bpd – something that would enable more tar sands to flow under treasures like the Straits of Mackinaw.

He is likely to face a decision to allow tar sands to travel through an existing ExxonMobil pipeline in New England that is about the age and size of the Pegasus line – a line that flows by Sebago Lake, one of the most pristine freshwater lakes in the U.S. and supplies 200,000 Mainers with drinking water, along with other treasured resources in Northern New England.

Tar sands pipelines are too risky.  They are a huge step in the wrong direction.  We can’t afford the massive climate impacts of tar sands development.  We can’t afford to put resources like the Great Lake, Ogallala aquifer, Mississippi River, Casco Bay and countless other resources.  President Obama needs to reject these pipelines.  It’s time to say no to dirty fuels and aggressively move to clean energy solutions.  The time for prevention is now.  The cost of cure is too expensive to bear.

Speak up against tar sands development today! Take a moment to urge the Obama Administration to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Teachers, parents and students attended a gardening for wildlife workshop, hosted by NYC Eco-School PS 6 in Manhattan, June 5, 2013. Photo: NWF

NYC Eco-School PS 6 is an NWF Certified Schoolyard Habitat. Photo: NWF

PS 6′s flowering plants, bushes and fruit trees attract a variety of birds and insects. Photo: Tara J. Eisenberg

Ms. Russell cautioned attendees that, “Any plant or tree that has the name of another country in its name – like English Ivy – means it doesn’t belong here.”  She explained that non-native species, including bamboo for example, can quickly overtake a garden and compete with more desirable native plant species. The latter usually require less maintenance and less water than their exotic alternatives.  Native plants also attract wildlife, serving an important role in the local ecosystem.

The workshop included lively discussion about garden design. Photo: Tara J. Eisenberg

Bronx Guild High School science teacher Bill Lynam attended the workshop with several of his students. Photo: Tara J. Eisenberg

Parent Simone Braga, volunteer garden coordinator at NYC Eco-School PS 166 in Queens, attended the workshop with her husband and young daughter Luiza. “I loved the workshop. It showed me that I am doing things right and I have a lot to do still,” she said. “We were very interested in the rain catching system and the compost tumblers, which we will look into buying for our school. The pond was such a special addition to the garden. The flowers, the water dripping inside vases, birds drinking from everywhere, and grapes too! I forgot that I was in a very busy city,” said Braga.

Teachers connected and shared ideas. Photo: Tara J. Eisenberg

Need some inspiration? National Pollinator Week is June 17-23 – a great time to turn your school garden into a wildlife habitat for bees, butterflies and birds.  Does your NYC school have a garden that could become an NWF Certified Schoolyard Habitat?  If so, email me at fanoe@nwf.org to let me know about it.  Better yet, join the NYC Eco-Schools Facebook group and post pictures of your school garden there!

Dry, hot weather is driving wildfires in the West. Flickr photo by Anthony Citrano.

A wildfire driven by drought, wind and record-breaking heat has killed two people, destroyed an estimated 360 homes and blackened at least 15,700 acres in rural subdivisions north of Colorado Springs. If  the preliminary numbers hold up, the fire will surpass last summer’s Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs as Colorado’s most destructive in terms of lost homes.

And it’s early in the wildfire season, which grows longer every year in the West. Wildfires erupted even earlier this spring in New Mexico and California. People and wildlife are still dealing with the fallout from last year’s wildfires — property losses, important trout waters choked by ash and erosion flowing down barren mountainsides.

A seemingly never-ending wildfire season has become the new norm in the West. The changing climate has unleashed  record-breaking heat and drought in the Rockies. The National Weather Service reported that on June 12, Denver recorded its earliest 100-degree temperature on record. The previous record was June 14, 2006.

Unrelenting drought, heat

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows that much of New Mexico is in extreme to exceptional drought. Colorado ranges from moderate to exceptional, portrayed as dark red blotches on the U.S. map. Climate change is already transforming the landscape, threatening endangered species, stressing fish and other wildlife and affecting hunting and fishing opportunities. Last summer, anglers across Colorado were urged to forgo casting their lines in some spots because of the pressure fish were under due to the extreme heat. The full impact of a wildfire that blasted through northern Colorado’s Poudre Canyon last year is still unclear.  State wildlife biologists are monitoring the effects of erosion on the Cache la Poudre River, a favorite trout fishery.

Hunters and anglers, who are on the ground, walking through the backcountry and wading through streams, are making the connections between what they see happening to the landscape and fish and wildlife habitat with our energy choices. Todd Tanner, founder of the sportsmen’s advocacy group Conservation Hawks, calls climate change “the biggest threat we’ve ever faced.”

Warmer water and erosion from wildfires are threatening fisheries in the Rockies. Photo by Lew Carpenter

Smoke from the fires near Colorado Springs,  Canon City in central Colorado and in Rocky Mountain National park hangs over the Front Range, obscuring the view of the mountains from Longs Peak in the north to Pikes Peak in the south.

And it’s not even summer yet.

Read more about the threats to wildlife in the report “Wildlife in a Warming World” and learn about ways we can confront the climate crisis.

Take Action

Speak up for wolverines! Tell Congress to pass legislation that will preserve habitat for wolverines and other wildlife>>

Tongue River Valley in southeastern Montana. Photo by: Alexis Bonogofsky

Well, it will not be a surprise to any of you that southeastern Montana is my place, and I want it to be yours too. It is a place worth protecting. It is beautiful, remote, rugged and amazing. And it needs your help.

If you are looking for a way to help stop the largest proposed coal mine in the country that will devastate important wildlife habitat and exacerbate climate change, there are two great documentary projects that need your social networks and your money.

Bill McKibben recently stated,

“There are a few crucial choke points on this planet where we have some chance of stanching the endless flow of carbon into the atmosphere. On that list, none may be more important than Montana.”

Clint and Wally McRae, ranchers whose land would be crossed by the Tongue River Railroad. Photo courtesy Sierra Club

1. Things of Intrinsic Worth

Filmmakers Carly Calhoun and Same Desperaux visited my friends Clint and Wally McRae last winter and put together a moving video of their struggle to protect their land and water from leaking coal ash ponds from the nearby Colstrip coal-fired power plant. The video is expertly done and a testament to the filmmakers commitment and dedication to the region.

During their visit to the McRaes ranch they learned about the proposed Otter Creek coal mine and Tongue River railroad.

The goal of the documentary, Things of Intrinsic Worth, is to follow the McRaes as they struggle to save their ranch and the Tongue River Valley from the coal companies who are trying to take their land so they can make billions of dollars in profits from Montana’s natural resources, leaving us with polluted water and devastated land.

Their Kickstarter site rightly states that the McRae’s ranch sits in the epicenter of a battle over the power of corporations, the governments role in protecting citizens and the environment, and the future of the climate. The film weaves together a story that travels from the grasslands of Montana, to the Pacific Northwest, to energy hungry Asian markets.

Click here to help fund Things of Intrinsic Worth.

Filmmakers Andy, Eric and Robin deep in coal country during the initial research trip

2. Momenta

A second important documentary proposal comes from Plus M Productions and Protect Our Winters and is about the proposed coal exports in the Pacific Northwest, where that coal is coming from in the Powder River Basin and our hopes for a clean energy future.

I met them when they came through the small community of Ashland, Montana, on the border of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, to interview Vanessa and Otto Braided Hair for their trailer.

They are committed to their project and I know they will produce a great documentary. Check out their well done and inspiring trailer for the film that features many dedicated advocates for for our land, water, wildlife and communities including:

• Ed Gulick - Northern Plains Resource Council, Billings, Montana
• Otto Braided Hair - Northern Cheyenne Tribal Member and ecoCheyenne founder, Montana
• Vanessa Braided Hair - Northern Cheyenne Tribal Member and ecoCheyenne founder and organizer, Montana
• Beth Doglio - ‘Power Past Coal’ Campaign Director, Washington
• Jason Shogren - Environmental Economist, Professor, Univeristy if Wyoming, member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Wyoming
• Jeremy Jones - Professional Snowboarder, Founder of Protect Our Winters
• Bill McKibben - Environmentalist, Scholar, Author, Founder of 350.org
• LJ Turner - Cattle Rancher, Wyoming

Click here to help fund Momenta. 

Both documentaries will tell different angles to the same important story. Please help them today and spread the word!

Ranger Rick’s Tree House App Takes Home the Gold

June 7-National Wildlife Federation is pleased to announce that its Ranger Rick’s Tree House app for the iPad has won the award for best Mobile/Wireless Learning Tool and the Gold Award for the Best Educational Innovation of the Year from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP).

“National Wildlife Federation has a proud history of entertaining and educating children about the wonders of animals and nature,” said Mary Dalheim, Editorial Director of Children’s Publications for National Wildlife Federation. “From our beloved children’s magazines like Ranger Rick to our new apps, our products make reading and learning about wildlife fun for kids of all ages. We are thrilled to be recognized by AEP for our achievements in educational publishing.”

To learn more visit nwf.org/treehouse.

Gray Wolves Not Ready to Come Off Endangered Species Act List

June 7-The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to remove all gray wolves outside of New Mexico and Arizona from the list of threatened and endangered species. The National Wildlife Federation opposes the proposed rule.

John Kostyack, vice president for wildlife conservation, had this to say:

“NWF has long supported Endangered Species Act de-listings when supported by the science, and we believe that the recovery of two gray wolf populations in the Western Great Lakes and Northern Rockies are historic ESA success stories,” said John Kostyack, Vice President Wildlife Conservation. “However, the job of wolf recovery in the U.S. is not yet complete.”

Learn more about Gray Wolves.

Turn the Family Cookout into a Campout for this Year’s Great American Backyard Campout

For more information on the Great American Backyard Campout, check out the website www.backyardcampout.org

Crop Insurance Accountability Act Closes Loophole in House Farm Bill

June 5-The National Wildlife Federation commends Congressmen Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) for their leadership in introducing The Crop Insurance Accountability Act today in the House of Representatives.

This important legislation would ensure the continuation of a “conservation compact” between taxpayers and farmers that has been in place for decades, whereby producers protect wetlands and reduce soil erosion on their land in exchange for taxpayer subsidies. The bill mirrors a provision in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version of the Farm Bill, which makes producers ineligible for crop insurance premium subsidies if they drain wetlands or fail to use a conservation plan on vulnerable land. This commonsense measure is supported by the major conservation, commodity, and crop insurance groups. Unfortunately, the House Agriculture Committee failed to include this important link between wetland and soil conservation and crop insurance subsidies in their version of the bill, despite overwhelming support.

 “Taxpayer dollars should not be used to underwrite the risk of draining wetlands or foregoing good conservation practices” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “We are at risk of repeating the mistakes leading to the Dust Bowl, if we do not close the loophole that would allow farmers to receive crop insurance premium subsidies without being held accountable for practicing good stewardship on the land.”

For more information visit our Farm Bill webpage.

Great Lakes Coalition Names Todd Ambs as Director

June 3-The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition today named Todd Ambs as its new director. Ambs previously served as president of the national conservation group River Network, a job he assumed after serving as chief of the water division for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

“Todd Ambs is a champion of the Great Lakes and will help keep restoration efforts on track,” said Lynn McClure, Midwest Regional Director at the National Parks Conservation Association and co-chair of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “The Coalition will be in good hands under his leadership.”

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

Duck coated in Exxon Pegasus tar sands oil in Mayflower, AR, April 2013 (Photo: Lauren Ray)

In the days following the disastrous pipeline rupture, Exxon rushed to take control of the spill site and wildlife cleanup. But as Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (sub. req.) reports, that urgency hasn’t carried over to Exxon’s safety investigation:

More than two months after an aging pipeline cracked open, spilling more than 100,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into a Mayflower neighborhood and a cove of Lake Conway, Exxon Mobil still has not provided federal regulators with even a preliminary cause for the break and has not requested approval to resume transporting oil through that pipeline.

Before Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. can reopen the 850-mile-long Pegasus pipeline, which was built starting in 1947, it must comply with several corrective measures ordered April 2 by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Exxon Mobil has neither updated its April 26 accident report filed with the federal agency nor asked to reopen the pipeline, which spilled an estimated 147,000 gallons of oil March 29, leading to the evacuations of 22 homes, dead and injured wildlife, several lawsuits, and federal and state investigations.

Exxon’s “before” & “after” photos of the Pegasus tar sands oil spill in Mayflower, AR

“These photos aren’t before and after – they’re mid-disaster and mid-cleanup,” says National Wildlife Federation South Central Representative Geralyn Hoey. “What does Exxon plan to do for wetland restoration? Are they going to try to recreate what was a thriving habitat for waterfowl, beavers, and other wildlife?”

Exxon’s celebratory news release doesn’t say. Exxon has released few details about exactly how it conducted the cleanup. When Geralyn and I visited the Exxon command center and offered the National Wildlife Federation’s assistance, we were told we would not be allowed anywhere near the spill site and were told to stop taking photos of the spill by an Exxon contractor (we moved to another location and kept taking photos). Especially since this was heavy, toxic tar sands oil, it’s impossible to say for sure if the oil is gone without taking samples several feet below the surface.

“These photos are a horrible reminder of what the people and wildlife in Mayflower have gone through and the high price to America of serving as the middleman as oil companies pipe Canadian tar sands to the international market,” says Geralyn. It’s not just Arkansas – spills of toxic tar sands have fouled communities, waterways and wildlife habitat from Michigan to Missouri. A National Wildlife Federation-led coalition has asked two federal agencies to set stronger safety standards for tar sands pipelines.

Now the tar sands industry wants to build a massive new tar sands pipeline in Keystone XL. Spills are only part of Keystone’s threat – all of us would be on the hook for its massive amounts of climate-disrupting carbon pollution.

But just last week, officials with British Columbia’s government told national authorities that the province wants nothing to do with the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline that would bring tar sands west for export. Officials said the tar sands industry has failed to answer questions about the impact of spills on clean water and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.

“If Canada doesn’t want to accept the risk of transporting Canadian tar sands, why in the world is Arkansas suffering for it?” asks Geralyn.

It’s time to say no to tar sands. Tell President Obama to reject the climate-disrupting Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts Wind Energy Area (BOEM)

“This is history in the making as we mark yet another major milestone in the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy.  Today we are moving closer to tapping into the enormous potential offered by offshore wind to create jobs, increase our sustainability, and strengthen our nation’s competitiveness in this new energy frontier.”

- Secretary Sally Jewell, Department of the Interior

This announcement follows months of evaluation by BOEM, as well as the vision, leadership, and commitment of the state governments in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, to identify low-conflict areas for offshore wind energy projects and review potential impacts of development activities on marine life in the designated Wind Energy Area.  Looking ahead, National Wildlife Federation will closely examine the project proposals that come forward to ensure that wildlife protections are included as this process unfolds.

The Interior Department and BOEM took great initiative today, and now we need to ensure that this momentum inspires the necessary follow-through from Congressional and state leaders to make offshore wind a reality.

“As hurricane season begins with superstorm Sandy fresh in the minds of Atlantic Coast residents, the need to cut climate-disrupting carbon pollution is more urgent than ever. Offshore wind power is a golden opportunity to clean our skies and power our future with clean, locally-produced energy – all that’s needed is the political willpower to make it happen.  As the Department of the Interior moves forward with the nation’s first offshore wind lease auction, significant leadership from state governments as well as Congress is urgently needed to ensure we harness this massive clean energy resource sitting right off our shores.”

- Catherine Bowes, Senior Manager, Climate & Energy, National Wildlife Federation

Recent progress in New England gives more cause to celebrate, and suggest that the pieces of this puzzle are starting to come together.

New findings reveal puffins may be on the front lines of climate change (flickr/Billtacular)

Another first came last week, thanks to the leadership and innovation of the University of Maine.  The University’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center  launched a prototype of a floating wind turbine into the waters off the coast of Castine, Maine.  The first of its kind globally, this floating platform turbine is also the first offshore wind turbine to connect to the United States grid.  The Department of Energy acknowledged the significance of this small-scale inaugural project.  Director of the Energy Department’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, Jose Zayas, commented that “the Castine offshore wind project represents a critical investment to ensure America leads in this fast-growing global industry.”

The U.S. certainly remains far from claiming leadership on offshore wind, but getting a model turbine in the water offers a tangible symbol to the global community that we are getting serious.  Establishing the infrastructure to deploy more projects, and auctioning areas of the ocean, help strengthen the message that we do not intend to let this opportunity pass us by.

What’s next?

Middelgrunden offshore wind farm, Denmark (flickr/Kim Hansen)

State leaders along the coast also need to step up and ensure offshore wind power is part of our energy future. Now is the time for bold commitments to bring offshore wind energy on-line.

Today’s news from BOEM is just the latest sign of progress in America’s pursuit of this massive clean energy frontier.  Let’s make sure that we build on these successes, and gather them into a collected stride toward the clean energy future that is in everyone’s best interest.  Let’s send our thanks to Secretary Jewell, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and  the New Bedford leadership, Governor Lincoln Chafee,and the University of Maine, but most importantly, let’s make sure Congress and our state leaders know we expect the same from them.

Send a message to BOEM, thanking them for this step in the right direction and urging them to keep up the momentum on offshore wind energy!

Atlantic puffin by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Northeast Region)

The puffin is a robust little bird with sad-looking triangular eyes of a crying clown matched with its large triangular beak (which changes from gray to bright orange in breeding season) and its slick-backed cranial feathers that give it a don-like hairdo. Needless to say, this bird’s quite the looker and has become a fan favorite. The Atlantic puffin can do it all: they are excellent swimmers, sleek flyers, skilled hunters and whimsical waddlers. Even their name is endearing.

However, for the cute little round-bodied bird that has captured the affection of so many admirers, times are tough and their lives are increasingly perilous. A recent article by the Associated Press announced that puffin populations have seen a dramatic decline in the United States and other parts of the world as sea temperatures continue to rise.

Scientists have recorded declining survival rates for puffin fledglings (as if they weren’t cute enough, baby puffins have an equally adorable title–they’re called pufflings!)in Maine’s two largest colonies. Furthermore, the largest puffin colony in the Gulf of Maine, which lies just 10 miles off the coast, has suffered increased health degradation amongst adult puffins. Emaciated birds have washed ashore by the dozens from Massachusetts to Bermuda and could signal a worsening future for the bird as well as other migratory birds facing similar challenges spurred by climate change.

Like the many migratory birds that have had to literally shift their way of life, the puffin is finding it more difficult to find its major food sources as fish populations are displaced causing mismatches in prey-and-predator relationships and shortages in the abundance of herring, their primary food staple. A marked deficit of roughly 5% annually has been recorded in the presence of herring in the diets of puffin populations. Many puffin populations are filling the void by hunting and feeding their young butterfish, now more abundant in the area as they too react to changing conditions, but this substitution is problematic for many puffin offspring which are simply unable to swallow these larger fish and die of starvation.

Low birth rates, high fledgling mortality, food supply disruption coupled with recent unprecedented die-offs, delayed breeding seasons, and rapid habitat destruction caused by more frequent and extreme ocean conditions could prove crippling for puffins and many more of our feathered friends.

A new report by the National Wildlife Federation details the effects rapidly changing climate is having on migratory birds across the country.  Shifting Skies: Confronting the Climate Crisis, goes into greater detail on the potential damage climate change can have on critical migratory bird habitat, their main food resources, and the timing and direction of their migration patterns.  Puffins are not the only birds in peril.

• Birds’ ranges are shifting and in some cases, contracting. 177 of 305 species tracked have shifted their centers of abundance during the winter northward by 35 miles on average in the past four decades.
• Coastal wetlands and beach habitats, home to birds like king rails and piping plovers, are disappearing, inundated by sea level rise.
• Global warming is exacerbating pests and disease, such as mountain pine beetle epidemics that have devastated many western forests resulting in mass losses of key habitat.
• Changing precipitation patterns threaten the Midwest’s prairie pothole region, known as “America’s duck factory.” Many ducks such as mallards and pintails face disappearing breeding habitat.

To learn more about how the climate crisis is affecting our nation’s migratory bird populations, check out the full report at www.nwf.org/BirdsAndClimate.

Their future is still in flux, but you can act now to help puffins and other animals and wildlife from the damage of climate change.

Hurricane Sandy crumbled coastal infrastructure and reminded us how expensive recovery efforts will be as storms intensify (flickr/U.S.Coast Guard)

Coupled with new energy efficiency standards for microwave ovens, finalized by the Department of Energy last week, the White House announced an important update to the values used to calculate the Social Cost of Carbon.  These values draw on the best available climate science, and therefore change with constantly incoming data.

What exactly does this update mean?

The SCC does more than just tell us how expensive carbon emissions are.  It also applies a monetary value to avoiding future emissions.  SCC models predict just how much money we can save ourselves by delivering comprehensive climate policy and effectively cracking down on polluters.

In the case of microwave ovens for example, the predicted net benefits of the new standards to go into effect in 2016 total $4.6 billion over the next 30 years.  Prior to the SCC update, estimated benefits were lower, at $4.2 billion.

This update was critical, but far more critical is that it helps the government’s number-crunchers more effectively evaluate the policies that our environment, our communities, our wildlife, and our economy so severely need.  It is certainly a step in the right direction in properly evaluating the economic benefit of standards intended to help stave-off the worst case scenarios of climate change.

We have heard the President’s commitment to address climate change, and on Friday we saw a step in the right direction.

Now that the SCC more accurately reflects the reality that the economic damages associated with climate change are only getting worse, there is even less space for inaction.  Updated impact assessments will echo what observations of wildlife and habitat loss have been telling us for years—that we cannot afford to wait any longer.  The truth is in the numbers.

Help keep up the momentum by urging President Obama to announce strong plans to limit carbon pollution.