Save the Poles. Save the Planet.
The polar regions of the world are home to an amazing variety of life. Seemingly desolate and vacant, these areas support vital ecosystems and are integral to regulating and maintaining world climate. The polar ice caps reflect heat energy back into space. As more ice melts, less energy is reflected creating a positive feedback loop, and melting more ice.
The North and South Poles play an in important role in cooling water in the global ocean conveyor belt. Home to the polar bear and penguin, these far away places are the front lines of Global Warming. The Himalayan glaciers on the Tibetan plateau are also endangered. They contain 100 times as much ice and more than half of the drinking water for 40% of the world's population.
While we are seeing the most dramatic changes in the Polar and higher altitude regions, Global Warming is an issue that affects us all. So much, in fact, that it has become the defining issue of our time. Yet despite overwhelming consensus on the causes, there is a substantial gap in implimenting solutions. We need to act now to reduce carbon emissions and help protect our planet for future generations.
Begin with One Step
Global Warming is a big problem that may seem like any singular effort is too insignificant to make a difference. Not true.
How are you doing? Use this simple checklist to determine your own steps:
Learn more about what you can do at home to protect the environment and save money! From the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy:
http://www.energystar.gov/
Carbon Offsets
While there is no substitute for conservation, carbon offsets provide a way to balance the carbon we produce in our daily lives with carbon reduction projects. Here's how it works:
- Each year, the average car emits about 10,000 lbs (three times its weight!) in carbon dioxide – a leading cause of global warming.
- You buy a TerraPass.
- TerraPass funds carbon reduction projects.
- Your TerraPass is third-party verified to reduce the equivalent of your carbon dioxide.
Calculate your carbon footprint »
Education Connection
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While we are seeing the most dramatic changes in the Polar and higher altitude regions, Global Warming is
an issue that affects us all. So much, in fact, that it has become the defining issue of our time. Yet despite
overwhelming consensus on the causes, there is a substantial gap in finding solutions. The Save the Poles
Global Warming Education program will engage K-12 students through a science-based multi disciplinary
curriculum and other hands-on resources. Upon completion, students will better understand the issues, science
and policies surrounding global warming, and ultimately, be stimulated to act.
- Climate Change Curriculum
- Wolf Ridge Climate Class blog
- Lakeville, MN Educators blog
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The Center for Biological Diversity
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As the effects of global warming eat away at our frozen poles, ice-dependent species are more and more threatened by profound
changes taking place in their native ecosystems. In the north, polar bears are fast losing the sea-ice habitat they need to hunt, breed, travel, and den.
And in the south, emperor penguins - the largest and most ice-adapted penguin in the world - now face grave threats to their long-term survival as their
prey base declines and ice formations change.
The Center for Biological Diversity has long been working to save Arctic and Antarctic species. In February 2005 we petitioned to protect the polar bear
under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming. In 2006, we petitioned to list 12 species of penguins, including Antarctica's emperor penguin,
under the Act due to the same threat, and the past two years have seen Center petitions to protect the bearded, ringed, ribbon, and spotted seals, Arctic
pinnipeds that also face destruction by climate change. Today, the polar bear has received federal protection, and penguins and seals are hopefully on
their way toward protection as well, but countless obstacles stand in all these species' way. Learn more about the plight of polar bears, penguins,
and seals, and find out what you can do to take action for all species on the Center for Biological Diversity's Web site.
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News & Information
Poi Dog Pondering Helps ELPC Fight Global Warming
The Environmental Law & Policy Center teamed up with Poi Dog Pondering frontman Frank Orral to create a public service announcement about the ways we can help to combat global warming. In the announcement, Poi Dog Pondering?s song ?Perfect Music? provides the soundtrack while Orral rides his bike through Chicago. Orral encourages viewers to take [...]
Heat Waves and Extremely High Temperatures Could be Commonplace in the U.S. by 2039, Stanford Study Finds
According to a group of climate scientists at Stanford University, the effects of climate change could be felt sooner than was possibly thought.
“Using a large suite of climate model experiments, we see a clear emergence of much more intense, hot conditions in the U.S. within the next three decades,” said Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor [...]
Hot Weather in a Warming Climate
Last winter, pundits said snowstorms on the east coast were proof that the climate wasn’t warming. With record heat waves gripping many parts of the world this summer, there’s a temptation to say these hot temperatures are proof global warming is underway. But climate science looks long term trends of the entire planet, not individual [...]
Review Clears Scientists in ?Climategate? Controversy
An independent report released Wednesday into the leaked “Climategate” e-mails found no evidence to question the “rigor and honesty” of scientists involved.
The seven-month review, led by Muir Russell, found scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) did not unduly influence reports detailing the scale of the [...]
Study Confirms Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
The work to promote clean energy and reduce global warming pollution has been based on the research of climate scientists, the vast majority of whom have found for decades that human activity is causing global warming. But there are climate scientists who disagree, and some skeptics have called into question whether this scientific consensus actually [...]
LA Times: The Country?s Behind a Climate Bill
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times says that polls by the Pew Research Center and others show strong public support for legislation that limits greenhouse gas pollution. The editorial writers are looking for leadership from President Obama to get that legislation passed. Read the editorial here.
BP Disaster a Sad Reminder of the Dangers of Oil Dependency
A recent article in Crain’s Chicago Business says we need to learn the troubling consequences of oil dependency from the BP disaster if we want to avoid another like it later on.
According to the article: “Mr. Obama has taken some steps, notably using his executive authority to ramp up mileage [...]
ELPC?s Howard Learner Discusses the Clean Energy Race: Why Is China Ahead of the U.S.?
A recent story by ABC News paints a troubling picture: the United States is falling behind other countries–particularly China–when it comes to the expansion and implementation of solar technologies.
A growing solar technology start-up based in Red Bank, N.J., holds the license to technology that makes solar panels cheaper, [...]
ELPC Explains Solar Power and Answers Consumer Questions
ELPC?s new online resource will help consumers understand how solar energy could power their homes and businesses. We?re working to give consumers the tools they need to tap into this clean energy resource.
Big Oil Can?t Get Beyond Petroleum
While Big Oil companies are beginning to adopt more environmental conscious slogans–such as BP’s “Beyond petroleum” and Chevron’s “Finding newer, cleaner ways to power the world”–they still have a long way to go before they implement cleaner energy solutions.
A recent article in the Washington Post summarily describes the problem:
“The industry’s enthusiasm for new [...]
