Recent surveys commissioned by the Pew Environment Group demonstrate overwhelming support from voters across party lines for reducing global warming pollution in a way that creates clean energy jobs and boosts energy independence.
One of the most promising recommendations from Governor Pawlenty's Climate Change Advisory Group, adopting the Clean Cars standards would result in significant reductions in asthma-causing smog and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, and would save consumers money and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Fourteen states have already adopted these more protective state-based vehicle emissions standards, and Minnesota should add its voice the pressure being put on automakers to deliver the cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks we all want to drive.
Fresh Energy's J. Drake Hamilton spoke candidly with the Minnesota Valley Business press about Minnesota's opportunities for kick-starting the new energy economy with federal stimulus dollars. Hamilton's interview covers the best ways to create good Minnesota jobs, further develop our renewable energy industry, support state policy such as stricter tailpipe standards for vehicles, and other global warming solutions.
The road toward cleaner cars and trucks just got a little shorter yesterday, as President Obama announced he's directing the EPA to reconsider California's waiver request to implement standards that would require greenhouse gas emissions reductions in new cars and light-duty trucks. Former EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson previously denied California the necessary waiver to implement this important phase of their clean cars policy, despite the recommendations of many EPA staff that the waiver be granted. Obama said it's time for the federal government to "work with, not against, states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
As we launch into the 2009 Minnesota state legislative session, talks of the budget crunch continue to dominate. However, last week's Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP) legislative forum provided a number of key legislators the opportunity to talk about some important policy issues that have a good chance of finding their way through the capitol and to the Governor's desk this year:
More than 40 public health and environmental organizations, including Fresh Energy, have signed and sent a joint letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson regarding the urgent need to begin regulating global warming pollution under the Clean Air Act. The letter highlights the rising costs of delaying action on global warming, and calls for the EPA to issue a finding that U.S greenhouse gas emissions cause or contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health and welfare. Based on sound science, the letter points out that there is "no lawful or reasonable basis for EPA to avoid making such a finding."
Posted by: Carin Skoog in global warming on
Oct 23, 2008
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a published author or photographer? Do you have a compelling story or image to share that illustrates your concerns about global warming and how it is impacting a place you love? Well thanks to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and literary publisher Penguin Classics, now is your chance to put those thoughts or images on paper and help inspire action on global warming. Following in the great tradition of nature-writers such as Henry David Thoreau, UCS and Penguin Classics are encouraging YOU to submit essays and images about global warming for publication in a new online book, Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming.
While the financial crisis on Wall Street has spurred Congress and the White House to take action in a matter of days, the known threats of global warming and the damaging economic and environmental impacts associated with a changing climate have yet to create a sense of urgency among policy makers. Where's the rescue plan for the millions of people who will be inundated with water from the melting of Greenland? What about the drought that will be caused by the melting of glaciers that provide drinking water for billions of people? What about the generations to come that will face species loss, increasing severe and expensive weather events, and greater health impacts?
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