We're Not Done Yet!

It's been a whirlwind in Copenhagen. World leaders are close to concluding two weeks of intense climate negotiations in Copenhagen today, resulting in a political agreement that has fallen short of an ambitious or legally binding climate pact. With public protests in the background and police blockades preventing observers from witnessing the talks in person, negotiators for nearly 200 nations laid the foundation of a climate agreement that left major gaps still to be filled. President Obama’s last-minute breakthrough with China salvaged the talks and set into motion a renewed effort to develop a comprehensive agreement in 2010.

I talked to Larry Schweiger, and here's what he told me:

“This agreement keeps the process moving forward to a more effective agreement in 2010. But we will need far more ambitious global cooperation to fill in the missing pieces next year. The Senate needs to get busy and deliver the stalled climate and clean energy bill to the president to create jobs and do our share to reduce global warming pollution. And I urge President Obama to continue his consistent leadership on climate change by moving forward with action under the Clean Air Act."

I have to agree. While the climate negotiations have produced some steps forward, the work is far from done. We have a long way to go in order to get a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement among developed and developing nations, and not a lot of time to do it.

We still don’t have a domestic policy in place to reduce global warming pollution or to unleash private investments for clean energy. Without that, we will not regain our global competitive edge and we will continue to be a stumbling block to a binding global climate agreement.

The lesson I learned was that we seriously need to step up our efforts at home to produce legislation that sets the U.S. on an ambitious path to aggressive limits on global warming pollution.

I say we should make Earth Day, 2010 our goal to pass a strong climate and clean energy bill in the U.S. Senate. Anyone who feels an obligation to leave behind a better world for their family and safeguard wildlife for our children’s future should join our fight to change the forecast for people and wildlife.

New Poll Reveals Broad, Deep Support for Climate Action

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals some amazing numbers about support for clean energy & climate legislation. Two-thirds of Americans support federal limits on global warming pollution.

The poll also reveals a deep division between rank-and-file Republicans and their members of Congress. While just eight GOP House members voted for the American Clean Energy & Security Act in June, half of Republicans want national carbon pollution controls.

Do you think the federal government should or should not regulate the release of greenhouse gases from sources like power plants, cars and factories in an effort to reduce global warming?

• All: 65% support action

• Democrats: 79% support action

• Independents: 64% support action

• Republicans: 50% support action

The poll doesn't just reveal remarkably broad support for climate action across the political spectrum. It shows surprisingly deep support. While estimates show climate action would only raise costs about a postage stamp a day for the average household, Americans would be willing to pay significantly more if necessary:

What if that significantly lowered greenhouse gases but raised your monthly energy expenses by ...

... $10 a month?

• Should still take climate action: 60%

... $25 a month?

• Should still take climate action: 55%

As the National Wildlife Federation's Jeremy Symons pointed out earlier this week, reporters writing up these polls tend to focus on day-to-day movement in poll numbers rather than the big picture. But as the Senate begins winding down its health insurance reform debate and clean energy & climate legislation takes the on-deck circle, Americans are rallying behind climate action.

The Grinchiest of Grinches

It takes a special someone, a special kind of Grinch, to steal clean energy jobs and refuse to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Here in Michigan, like in most states, we need investment in clean energy technology to bring good jobs to families this Christmas and in the New Year. We need climate and clean energy legislation to protect our Great Lakes and protect our children’s future from the effects of climate change.

Reasons for good cheer abound: the clean energy industry is creating jobs in Michigan – and clean energy plans would create 42,000 jobs in the state.

But the Grinch and his friends are up to no good – and want to steal good-paying American jobs and wreak havoc on our children’s future.

Today, the Grinch made a special visit to Michigan and gave the Grinch of the Year award to Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers– a man after the Grinch’s own teeny-tiny heart.

Climate Pranksters Again Target US Chamber

It's been a rough year for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A series of companies have dropped out of the Chamber over its anti-clean energy stance. Those pro-polluter positions also prompted the Yes Men to target the Chamber for parody.

Now climate activists with Greenpeace have pranked the Chamber, putting up "global warming crime scene" tape around its DC headquarters:

Greenpeace has organized some great climate stunts this year, including one at September's G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

Clinton Announcement "Sets Up an Important Moment for the World"

Big news from the international climate treaty talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the United States will contribute to a $100 billion fund to help developing nations deal with climate change -- provided that an effective international climate agreement is reached.

Jeremy Symons, the National Wildlife Federation's senior vice president, is monitoring the talks from Copenhagen. Here's what he had to say:

Secretary of State Clinton’s announcement today sets up an important moment for the world that for the first time offers a clear path forward to cut pollution, protect tropical forests and provide humanitarian aid to those in harm’s way. As the world’s leaders converge tomorrow, they have an historic opportunity to break through years of stalemate. President Obama continues to show his leadership on climate change at every opportunity. His personal engagement is needed now more than ever, and he is coming to Copenhagen at just the right time.

One great resource for keeping up on the latest climate treaty talks: Grist in Copenhagen.

Photo via Flickr's Andy Revkin

COP15 Update: The Answer is in the Forest

Posted by Christine Dorsey, National Wildlife Federation Communications Director

With deforestation responsible for roughly 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, we have an opportunity to bridge a significant gap between what science tells us is necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change and the amount of reductions nations like the U.S. are willing to put on the table.

Our own U.S. House legislation lays out an aggressive plan to cut 720 million tons of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by financing forest restoration efforts. But because that legislation is not law, our own U.S. negotiating team has refused to use it as a negotiating tool.

The Bellona Foundation, an organization that graciously sponsored most of NWF’s side events, has been covering activities. They offer some good coverage to follow.

Photo via Flickr's AidJoy

Double Trouble for Polar Bears

When it comes to polar bears, the Department of Interior can't seem to decide whether it wants to help or hurt the species. One day the agency takes dramatic steps to protect polar bears by proposing 200,000 square miles of critical habitat. The next, DOI is recklessly handing out oil and gas leases in prime polar bear habitat. 

A new report by the National Wildlife Federation and Northern Alaska Environmental Center details how these threats from oil and gas development, combined with near-record Arctic sea-ice loss, spell Double Trouble for Polar Bears. 

The first of two maps in the report shows the overlap of approved energy leases and proposed polar bear critical habitat.  Imagine what would happen to polar bears if a major oil spill were to occur in this area. 

The second map shows where sea ice in prime polar bear habitat areas has declined significantly over the past 30 years, especially during October and November, when polar bears return to these areas where seals are most common. This global warming spurred melting is happening faster than previously projected.

If we are to give polar bears a fighting chance, we need strict oversight as required by the Endangered Species Act of oil and gas development and other proposed disturbances in polar bear critical habitat. NWF is also advocating for DOI to expand the area proposed for polar bear critical habitat to include the entire coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Beaufort Sea from Alaska’s Northern coast out to 200 miles.

NWF's Dr. Doug Inkley offered up this perspective: “The plight of the polar bear highlights the plight of our planet,” said Inkley. “The news coming out of the Arctic increases the urgency for world leaders gathered in Copenhagen to agree on a plan to reduce the pollution that threatens wildlife and our own future.”

Groups to Obama: Invest in a Sustainable Future

Just in from Copenhagen -- a letter from a coalition of conservation organizations to President Obama:

We write to you on behalf of the businesses and millions of Americans we represent to urge you to lead at this historic moment and secure a fair and ambitious plan for global cooperation to combat climate change. In particular, we ask that you reprioritize American policy to phase out the sizable taxpayer subsidies we provide the fossil fuel industry and instead significantly increase the U.S. investment in global efforts to protect tropical forests, provide humanitarian assistance to protect vulnerable communities from climate impacts, and speed the deployment of clean energy technologies. With strong leadership and new proposals in the coming days, the United States can and should secure additional financing commitments from other nations as part of a broader agreement from major emitters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A Copenhagen agreement should include a landmark global plan to protect tropical forests from the destruction that causes approximately 15% of the emissions that contribute to global warming. Backed by a broad coalition of businesses and conservation groups, many in Congress have already supported measures to finance global efforts to protect tropical forests in climate legislation. The House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act includes strong financing for efforts to reduce emissions from global deforestation by 720 million tons annually by 2020 – emission reductions that are above and beyond the emission standards in the bill. Similar provisions are included in the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act that has been approved by the Senate Environment Committee. You have an opportunity to offer this as a supplemental commitment here in Copenhagen and ask other nations to match it.

The letter (PDF) was signed by National Wildlife Federation President & CEO Larry Schweiger, along with leaders of Alliance for Climate Protection, American Council On Renewable Energy, Center for International Environmental Law, Ceres/BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy), Clean Economy Network Inc., Environmental Defense Fund, Evangelical Environmental Network, Food for the Hungry, Inc., League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, The Wilderness Society, Union of Concerned Scientists, World Resources Institute, World Wildlife Fund, and 1Sky.

Photo via Flickr's SolarGeneration

COP15 Update: Limited Access, Tenuous Talks

Posted by Christine Dorsey, National Wildlife Federation Communications Director

While the world awaits the outcome of climate negotiations in Copenhagen, most of the global observers who registered to participate in COP15 have been shut out of the process. Despite issuing credentials to thousands of people from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who have come from all over the world to participate in the talks, the UN Secretariat decided this week to severely limit access to the Bella Center, forcing most to stand out in the cold.

The Climate Action Network International has a film crew following daily developments and you can watch it each day on YouTube.

We at the National Wildlife Federation were not immune to the lack of access – some in our delegation spent more than 5 hours in line for registration, only to get turned away. This morning, Friends of the Earth and other groups were blocked completely from entering – their entire delegations were rejected.

Only a few NWFers were able to get inside today. Jeremy Symons led a discussion about the status of U.S. climate and clean energy legislation. Negotiations hinge in large part on what the United States ultimately decides to do to control its global warming pollution. Meanwhile, Eric Palola attended a speech by Sen. John Kerry, who assured those inside the Bella Center that the U.S. will pass comprehensive climate legislation. And Joe Mendelson worked the U.S. delegation, President Obama’s team of negotiators.

Outside the Bella Center, observers began protesting the unprecedented actions to block access to the talks. What began as a peaceful march to the entrance had moments of violence as police set up blockades.

The talks themselves are very tenuous at this point. Major disagreements remain between rich and poor nations regarding how to pay for what is sure to be an expensive climate tab.

As Jeremy described it for Politico, the U.S. negotiators in Copenhagen are suffering from ADD: Ambition Deficit Disorder. It seems there is a wide gulf between what we have heard from President Obama in terms of a fair and effective climate deal and the hard-lined negotiating stance from the U.S. negotiating team.

Stay tuned for more...

Lemurs in the 'REDD'

Last week, as global leaders joined together in Copenhagen to start negotiations for a landmark agreement on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), I took leave from the National Wildlife Federation to travel to a remote fragment of rainforest in northeastern Madagascar.

I embarked on this journey in search of a remarkable species of critically endangered lemur, and the team of local researchers who are striving to protect it and its forest habitat.

Hauntingly beautiful and one of the world's 25 rarest primates, the elusive silky sifaka lemur Propithecus candidus, is only found in a few remaining rainforest fragments on the island Madagascar. In this remote part of the world, forest loss for slash-and-burn agriculture threatens silky sifaka survival and jeopardizes the ecological services local forest-bordering communities depend on.

Following the period of political instability that resulted in a government coup earlier this year, Madagascar's fragile natural resources have become more threatened than ever. Recent increases in the illegal logging of hardwoods from National Parks and Protected Areas to meet international demand for rosewood and ebony, has been concentrated in the very forests that provide the last remaining habitat for the silky sifaka.

The current environmental crisis in Madagascar highlights the great tragedy today that our world’s tropical forests are, in fact, 'worth more dead than alive'.

Until international mechanisms are put into place that assign value to the ecological services tropical forests provide in safeguarding ecological services and regulating our global climate, deforestation rates will continue to increase. And our own future, and that of critically endangered species like the silky sifaka, will continue to be in the 'REDD.'

Further resources:

• Download the new Global Witness - Environmental Investigation Agency Field Investigation into Illegal Logging
• Information on Silky Sifaka research and conservation
• More on Marojejy National Park, Madagascar
• Information on local conservation and development projects in the Marojejy region of Madagascar

By Rachel Kramer, National Wildlife Federation.