March 22, 2007

Yesterday was an incredible day on Capitol Hill.  I had the privilege to attend, along with many others, the special hearings held by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on the climate crisis.  Al Gore’s testimony prompted a media frenzy and inspired many lawmakers in the room. Americans across the country who saw or heard the hearings were given new hope that Congress might finally act to stop global warming by putting policies in place to get our country to a bright energy future. 

Key members from both parties showed leadership yesterday.  And they stepped up because our voices are being heard.  Vice President Gore went to the Hill with over a half million letters and emails of support for action on global warming.  Millions are speaking out along with the Vice President on this issue.

Al Gore’s testimony in the House of Representatives

Al Gore’s testimony in the Senate

This issue is finally being recognized as one that affects each of us.  Arctic summer sea ice may be gone as soon as the summer of 2040, dramatically altering one of the key cooling systems of the planet as reflective ice is replaced with heat-absorbing ocean water.  This past winter – December through February – was the hottest winter on record, with temperatures 1.3 degrees F above the 20^th century average.  And my grandson may never know polar bears except maybe in the zoo because they are drowning in the Arctic due to global warming.

Yesterday we made progress.  But we’re not over the line yet.  We need to continue to speak out, to demand action, and to support each other.  I encourage each of you to sign up and attend the Live Earth Concert – Save Our Selves, on July 7, 2007.
This concert will be heard around the world by 1 billion people. 

Live Earth

Our voices together are waking up America to global warming. Together we will win this fight.

NWF Statement:

Al Gore’s Warning of Planetary Emergency

Demands Congress Act on Global Warming

Statement by Larry Schweiger

National Wildlife Federation

President and CEO

On Al Gore’s Congressional Testimony

Washington, DC
(March 21) – “In 1992, Al Gore wrote Earth in the Balance and called for a Global Marshall Plan to stop global warming. At that time then-Senator Gore stated his belief that moving our world to a sustainable energy path must be the central organizing principle of an emerging 21st century economy.

            “Each passing day brings more and more alarming evidence that we are now facing an unprecedented planetary emergency – a climate crisis that demands immediate action to sharply reduce global warming pollution worldwide to stabilize the earth’s thermostat and to avert catastrophe.

“Many scientists are now warning that we are moving closer to several tipping points that could – within as little as 10 years – make it impossible for us to avoid irretrievable and catastrophic damage.

“Obfuscation of the scientific consensus has recklessly delayed action and consumed many years when we should have been acting to curb our fossil-fuel appetite and leading the way toward a sustainable energy future. During these lost years, the world has been plunging deeper and deeper in a perilous journey threatening to take us where no human has ever traveled before.

“Today, Al Gore presented a convincing case that global warming is the defining issue of the 21st century and must be addressed.

“We can meet the challenge. By reducing global warming pollution two percent each year, 20 percent each decade, we can overcome the threat by mid-century. We can do that, and by doing it we can create a new generation of American jobs in developing the innovations and technologies of renewables and alternatives.

“Delay is not an option. Congress must act to meet our moral responsibility to confront global warming to protect our children’s future.”

The National Wildlife Federation inspires Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

For Immediate Release: March 21, 2007

Contact: Ben McNitt 202-797-6855

So, what does Rush Limbaugh have against polar bears anyway? Poor Rush. He's now reduced to calling weathermen liars and people who care about the plight of the polar bear wackos. Next he'll be stealing candy from babies.

I suppose it was inevitable that Rush would start to lose it by accusing ABC's Sam Champion and the National Wildlife Federation's John Kostyack of "lying to their audiences" when discussing the science showing that global warming is threatening the future of polar bears in the wild.

His rambling segment on Thursday’s radio show reminded me of someone who likes to shut his eyes tight, stick his fingers in his ears and yell "La la la la la lal a! I can't hear you!!" at any mention of actual facts he doesn't want to accept.

To read his latest rant about polar bears, click here. Without using any actual scientific evidence, he just called the overwhelming scientific evidence linking polar bears and global warming wrong, wrong, wrong.

Well, actually, Rush, I have news for you.

- Current sea ice in the Arctic is declining at a rate of more than 23,000 square miles per year, or nearly nine percent per decade, and according to estimates provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder the Arctic ice melting will accelerate in coming years until there will be no ice during the summmer minimums in late summer, 2040.

- A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center discovered a "very dramatic" change in polar bear cub survival and estimated that only about 43 percent of the polar bear cubs in Alaska' Beaufort Sea are surviving their first year as a result of shrinking ice habitat. Cub survival is down from about 65 percent survival measured in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

- And just last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading voice among climate scientists worldwide, reported there is more than a ninety percent chance that global warming is being caused by manmade burning of fossil fuels.

Scientists never give absolute statements so getting about 2,500 of the world’s best scientists and more than a hundred nations to agree a lowest common denominator IPCC statement should be compelling to all but perhaps Rush and his ditto heads.

The evidence for the polar bear’s future is so compelling, that even the the Bush administration is concerned enough to give the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the go-ahead to consider listing the polar bear as threatened because of global warming. You know Rush is hitting hard times when he starts going against the Bush administration. This nonsensical rant, from the transcript of yesterday's show, is where Rush really loses it. "Now, if the polar bears are disappearing and you're up there on their turf and you're drilling holes in their turf that they might fall into, and they come along and they don't like this -- and you're trying to protect them and the environment -- let them eat you! It's the least you can do."

Earth to Rush: Elvis is dead. Global warming is real and getting much worse, And you need to take a vacation - why not go to the Arctic while it's still there?

Here's a link to the original Good Morning America segment on polar ice: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/7Wonders/story?id=2648130&page=1

I am privileged to work with some of the most courageous and self-sacrificing leaders who are making a difference for wildlife and for our children’s future. Being a conservationist is not for the faint hearted. Early in my career, I was confronted at gun point by polluters who were trying to block state investigators from inspecting a polluting coal mine site and a toxic waste dump. One of my colleagues was thrown in a toxic waste pit and another had his car tires flattened and windows broken. In the nineties while working at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, we had one of our buildings on Smith Island burned and several of us were personally threatened because we stood up for scientific management of blue crabs.

Conservation leaders are now coming under personal attacks from desperate opponents who have lost the argument in the face of conclusive science concerning global warming. For example, Rush Limbaugh recently criticized National Wildlife Federation for standing up for polar bears. About global warming, Limbaugh says, "you are lying to your audiences" and that comes from a man who pleaded "no contest" to lying to his doctors about his drug use.

Let me tell you about two great "flag bearers" in the urgent cause of climate protection -- one is a Republican the other is a Democrat-- because they are both are being wrongfully attacked for their leadership.

First, there is Richard Cizik who as a very conservative evangelical who works for the National Associate of Evangelicals. A couple of years ago, Rich looked at the science of climate change and discovered that there are more than a hundred million people who will soon be flooded out of their homes from rising tides and many millions more innocent people in Africa and elsewhere who are suffering from desertification and famine. Cizik had the audacity to urge fellow evangelicals to stand up to stop global warming. For that courage and integrity, Richard has been attacked by misguided and uninformed conservatives who have banned together to issue a mean-spirited press release urging the NAE to fire Cizik.

The second victim of dishonest and outrageous distortions is our former Vice President Al Gore. Along with his wife Tipper, Al has worked for more than thirty years to stop global warming before it wrecks our planet. Gore was instrumental in finalizing the Kyoto treaty and he has given his slideshow, which was basis for the book and film, to over a thousand audiences all around the world.

He was the star in the Academy Award winning documentary film and wrote the companion book "An Inconvenient Truth" which has educated millions of people around the world. The Gores gave all their proceeds from the film and book to the cause. Together, they donated more than $1 million to an organization that I co-chair called the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Al Gore recently donated all the images in his slide show to over a thousand speakers who he trained to communicate this urgent message in the slide show. (NWF has been the educational partner on this important project.) The only thing that Gore asked in return from each of the trainees was that they give the slideshows in their respective communities to help educate people about the climate crisis.

Tipper also sells her wonderful photography with all proceeds going to fund The Climate Project. In addition, the Gores have taken many steps to reduce their personal carbon footprint, including owning and driving hybrid-electric vehicles, purchasing green power (solar, wind, and methane gas) to power their home. When I visited their home/office in Tennessee last year, they were retrofitting their historic residence and home offices by installing new floor radiant heating and solar venting systems, new efficient furnaces and windows, thermostats, and light switches as well as compact fluorescent bulbs, and solar panels. The Gores live a carbon neutral life by funding carbon offsets which support clean energy projects that will replace the unavoidable carbon uses that we all have.

No good deed goes unpunished but more than that, these attacks are become a distraction to Al’s important leadership. And that is the real point, detractors want to silence Al and prevent him from waking up America and the rest of the world to the truth about global warming. I found it particularly outrageous that the opponents of climate pollution control launched their smear campaign against Al right after the Oscars to reduce any positive coverage the issue might have gotten.

Al is the energizer bunny who despite the mean-spirited personal attacks never runs low. He finishes one project and moves on to the next taking the abuse in stride. Speaking of next projects, this July 7th, Al Gore, Kevin Wall and the Alliance for Climate Protection will be hosting a seven continent 24-hour long concert involving over a hundred different bands and singing groups. I checked this with my daughters; many cool performers will be taking part of this worldwide event that will attract over a billion viewers to be entertained as they learn more about global warming. To learn about this upcoming event, check: http://liveearth.org/

Al Gore and Rich Cizik deserve our support for their steadfast leadership. The best way to do that is to add your voice to millions who are now calling for action to stop global warming.