RE: Time for urgent action on climate change

Dear Senator ,

The new Congress has a great responsibility to take immediate and effective action to address vital issues that will have a profound effect on our future. Global warming is at the top of the list, and I strongly urge you to begin urgent efforts to introduce and pass legislation that will seriously and comprehensively set our nation on a path to address this enormous threat to our environment, our economy, our national security and our survival.

There is now virtual unanimity among the world’s leading scientists that global warming is well under way, is rapidly changing the earth’s climate, is caused primarily by human activities, is likely to be worse than earlier predictions, and threatens disastrous change to the ecosystems upon which human life depends. A review of the likely world economic effects of climate change, recently released by the British government, warns that if we don’t act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more. In contrast, the costs of action – reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change – can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year. At the November 2006 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Kenyan Environment Minister and conference president Kivutha Kibwana stated that "Climate change is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious threats that humanity may ever face.” The World Health Organization estimates that as of the year 2000, more than 150,000 deaths per year worldwide are attributable to global warming, and this number will continue to grow. Increasingly violent storms, increased weather variability such as droughts and floods, and higher temperatures are occurring in this country because greenhouse gas concentrations are now at their highest level in more than 650,000 years. If we do not greatly decrease greenhouse gas emissions, 33 percent of the world's species may be extinct by 2050.

Two bills introduced in the 109^th Congress constitute an excellent starting point. These are the Safe Climate Act, H.R. 5642, and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, S. 3698. Both of these bills would require very significant reductions in emissions by all sectors of the U.S. economy, rapid increases in energy efficiency requirements, and other steps to move toward an 80% reduction in 1990 emission levels by 2050. While even these steps may not be sufficient, they would be a great start and would let the entire world know that our nation, which produces at least 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions, is finally taking climate change seriously. Please take immediate steps to help introduce similar legislation at the very beginning of the 110^th Congress and do everything in your power to move it quickly towards passage and enactment into law.

Climate change poses a more serious and definite threat to our future than any other national security issue. Americans and the entire world are depending on the U.S. Congress to address this great crisis and to give our children and their descendants a chance for a decent future. I will join many of your constituents as well as citizens the world over in closely following your actions on this most vital matter.

Sincerely,

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