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
China and India Join Climate Accord
The New York Times reports that China and India formally agreed to join the international climate change agreement reached last December in Copenhagen.
According to the article, the two countries ” join more than 100 countries that have signed up under the accord, which calls for limiting the rise in global temperatures to no more than [...]
Moderates Warming to Climate Bill?
The new climate bill that Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman are drafting will be released soon. And with expectations high, the senators are in a final push to convince fence-sitting Democrats and Republicans to sign on.
“Earlier this week, the senators indicated that their bill would take a hybrid [...]
Another Massive Iceberg Breaks Away From Antarctica
Climate Progress recently reported that a 78 km (48 mi) long section of Antarctica’s Mertz Glacier has broken away due to an iceberg that collided with it, sending the seaward part glacier away from the continent.
According to the article, these two icebergs–the calved portion of the Mertz Glacier and the and the iceberg that collided [...]
Chicago Tribune answers questions about climate change
Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne responds to readers’ questions about climate science and the effects of climate change.
Read the article in the Chicago Tribune.
Senate Considering A Carbon Fee On Transportation Fuels To Encourage Consumers To Make Fuel-Efficient Choices
http://nyti.ms/cDtVhv
From coal to clean energy: an Iraq war veteran?s next fight
Jon Gensler, A veteran of the Iraq war writes about the damage the coal industry has inflicted on his native West Virginia, and the importance of clean energy to our national security.
” I came home to an America full of cars with ?Support our Troops? bumper stickers. Real support would entail sacrifices, because so [...]
Senate Climate Talks Intensify With New Carbon Pricing Draft Expected This Week
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) plan to present their draft proposal of a climate and energy bill this week.
“The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman draft to be circulated this week starts with an overall goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gases by 2020 in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels,” reports the [...]
President Reagan?s Model on addressing climate change
In a letter to the Washington Post, Republicans for Environmental Progress makes the point that acting to fight climate change is not a partisan issue. Conservatives values seek to protect our resources and safeguard our future prosperity.
“In the 1980s, scientists were sounding the alarm about ozone depletion. Just as today, there were skeptics claiming [...]
National Farm Groups Support Climate Legislation
At a recent summit on energy and agriculture, Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union, and Rick Tolman, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, discussed their organization’s positions on clean energy and cap and trade and the opportunities and challenges these issues present farmers.
Read the article in Wisconsin Agriculturalist
Climate Change Science Passes the Test of Time
Op-ed in the Kansas City Star backs up the science of global warming.
“the National Academies of Science of 13 nations and our leading scientific societies call for action based on a consensus of conclusions from almost 200 years of research. We ignore this knowledge at our great peril.
read the full op-ed
