Global Warming News

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Forty U.S. senators today sent a bipartisan letter to President Bush calling for stabilizing global warming emissions within 10 years, which leading scientists say is needed to avert the most devastating and irreversible impacts of global warming, such as a substantial rise in sea level that would inundate coastal areas.

“For a change, science is informing the direction of public policy on global warming,” said U.S. PIRG’s Clean Air & Energy Advocate Emily Figdor. “Forty senators took a stand today, supporting scientists’ calls for real reductions in global warming pollution within a decade,” she continued.

The senators’ letter, which was sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), states, “Today, we are writing to express our continuing concern about the threats posed by global warming and our support for a mandatory program that would reduce emissions from today’s levels within 10 years.”

Leading scientists, such as James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, have warned that we are nearing a climate “tipping point” and must stabilize emissions within 10 years to avert catastrophic changes to the climate. Hansen recently wrote, “We have at most ten years—not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions.”

Last week, U.S. PIRG released The Carbon Boom, a new analysis of Department of Energy data showing that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions almost doubled since 1960. Increased combustion of oil to fuel cars and light trucks and coal for electricity drove the steep rise in emissions. 

“When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. To protect future generations, we need to stop the trend of increasing pollution, and we have to do it quickly,” said Figdor.

Existing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies could substantially reduce global warming pollution, while saving consumers money, cutting our dependence on oil, reducing air pollution, and protecting pristine places from oil drilling and mining.

“We applaud Senators Durbin, Collins, Nelson, and Chafee for their leadership on this critical issue,” concluded Figdor.

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Click here to download the senators' letter (PDF)