Climate Capsule Week of March 9

Monday, March 9, 2009

(National Wildlife Federation)

Week of March 9, 2009

Highlight of the Week

Better Energy Choices: Climate And Energy Package Expected This Year

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently stated he will bundle energy and global warming measures together into one bill for consideration later this year.

 

Sen. Reid plans to wrap a cap-and-trade bill together with separate bills establishing a nationwide renewable electricity standard and promotion of a modernized grid to improve energy efficiency and management.

 

Comprehensive climate and energy legislation in 2009 with a cap on carbon pollution will improve our economy, our security and our planet’s future.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed the strategy. "I would like to see one bill, which is the energy bill with the cap and trade and the grid piece…They're the three elements that we have to pass more fully. I'd like to see it as one bill."

 

Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee plan to collect comments this month on a draft energy and global warming bill as they take aim at their goal of marking up legislation by Memorial Day.

 

Obama Takes Bold Action to Restore Strength to the ESA

 

President Obama recently directed federal agencies to once again consult with independent scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.

 

This action will limit the damage caused by the midnight Endangered Species Act regulations put in place by the Bush Administration in December 2008.

 

President Obama's recent action demonstrates his commitment to protect our nation's endangered species as well as the habitats that people and wildlife depend on. After eight years of attacks from the Bush Administration, National Wildlife Federation welcomes President Obama's reinstatement of independent scientific review on the impacts of federal actions on endangered species.

 

"With just one stroke of the pen, President Obama has done more today to uphold the scientific integrity of the Endangered Species Act than President Bush did during his entire eight years in office," said John Kostyack, NWF's executive director of wildlife conservation and global warming.

 

"Members of the Senate should follow President Obama's lead and pass the 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill, which includes language making it clear that President Obama has the authority to immediately and completely reverse President Bush's last-minute Endangered Species Act changes."

 

Contact: Aislinn Maestas at 202-797-6624 or maestas@nwf.org.

 

Happening This Week

 

Tuesday, March 10: House Energy Hearing on "The Future of Coal Under Climate Legislation", 9:30 a.m., 2322 Rayburn House Office Building

 

Senate Energy Committee Hearing on Water & Energy Development, 10:00 a.m., 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

Wednesday, March 11: House Science Hearing on FutureGen, 10:00 a.m., 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

 

Energy Budget Senate Budget Committee Hearing on DOE's FY 2010 Budget, 10 a.m., 608 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

Thursday, March 12: Senate Energy Committee Hearing on Siting Electricity Transmission Lines, 9:30 a.m., 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

House Ways & Means Hearing on Protecting Low-Income Families While fighting Global Warming, 10:00 a.m., 318 Rayburn House Office Building

 

Senate Commerce Hearing on Climate Change, 10:00 a.m., Russell Senate Office Building 253

Quote:

"It is only by investing in environmental technology that we can end the dictatorship of oil, and it is only by tackling climate change that we create the millions of new green jobs that we need."


—In a speech before Congress, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the United States to lead the charge against global warming.


Economic Message of the Week

UN: Fishing Industry Vulnerable, Must Develop New Climate Change Strategies

 

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Oceana recently released two related reports on the worsening condition of the global fishing industry due to over-fishing and climate change.

 

Direct employment and jobs in related industries are important for developing nations—revenues from their fisheries exports earn have reached $24.6 billion annually.

 

Fishing-reliant communities in the developing world are extremely vulnerable to the effects of global warming, and authorities must do more to understand and prepare for the impacts, the reports warned.

 

Global warming and pollution have already modified the distribution of fish species. Sea-level rise, ocean acidification and changes in precipitation significantly affect wetlands, coral reefs and estuaries. Warmer water fish species are pushed toward the poles and are experiencing changes in habitat size and productivity.

Any decrease in the local availability of fish or increases in population instability pose serious problems for communities that are reliant on fisheries.

 

An estimated 43.5 million people are directly involved in capture fisheries and aquaculture, most of whom live in Asia.

 

Former Head Of American Meteorological Society Examines Global Warming

 

NBC4-Washington's chief meteorologist Bob Ryan holds a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's in atmospheric science, has published studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is the only TV meteorologist ever to serve as president of the American Meteorological Society.

 

Ryan is well suited to tackle a discussion on the subject global climate change. Recently the meteorologist unveiled a new online series of articles on the science of global warming.

 

In his six-part series, Ryan lays out scientific findings as well as societal implications of our warming planet, which marks a significant step toward providing viewers with an engaging and neutral package of climate change science. The new series came about from listening to his viewers, who are eager to learn more about global warming.

Some broadcast meteorologists are skeptical of climate science, and some present a politically biased view when the science is reported at all. "So much emotion and politics is tied up in the subjects that science sometimes falls by the wayside," Ryan says in his online introduction to the series.

Ryan fears the public is growing more confused about what scientists know about global warming, and what these findings mean for society, he told the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang.

"We all have political views on what should, or should not be done, but we should be able to keep that separate from what the science and current scientific research is telling us," Ryan stated.