What's New
On Dec. 6, the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee passed important global warming legislation, the “Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007” (S. 2191). Environment Texas commended the committee, but urged the Senate to strengthen the bill by:
- Requiring the U.S. to cut global warming pollution at least 80 percent by 2050—the minimum reductions necessary to avoid global warming’s worst effects.
- Requiring the pollution targets in the bill to be tightened in the future if the science determines that such action is necessary to prevent the worst effects of global warming.
- Limiting the free giveaway of pollution credits to polluters by significantly increasing the portion of pollution credits that are auctioned.
These changes, as well as a downsizing of the offsets provision in order to protect the integrity of the pollution caps in the bill, are changes that Environment Texas pledged to push for as the bill moves forward in the U.S. Senate.
How You Can Help
Call your U.S. Representative and urge him/her to co-sponsor the Safe Climate Act to require nationwide reductions of global warming pollution. You can reach your Representative by calling 202-224-3121. If you don't know who your Representative is, that's OK. Just tell the operator your zip code, and they will connect you to the right office.Here's a sample message you can leave: "Hello, my name is ____ and I live in _____. I'm calling to urge Rep. _____ to co-sponsor HR 1590, the Safe Climate Act, to require nationwide reductions of global warming pollution."
Then, please report your call here so we can keep track of how many are being made.
Brief Summary
More and more Americans are becoming concerned about global warming. As power plants and cars spew out more global warming pollution, we will see rising sea levels along the Eastern seaboard, more intense storms in the Gulf, droughts in the West, and more dangerous heat waves across the country.
The good news is that if we act now and act decisively we can stop global warming and protect our children and future generations.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration is refusing to act, but we don’t have time to waste. The longer we wait, the more global warming pollution builds up in the atmosphere – and the worse the effects will be.
That is why Environment Texas is urging Congress to reject ineffectual proposals and set science-based targets for reducing global warming pollution from power plants, cars, and other sources.
