From Sierra Club Action Alert:

Yesterday President Bush did an abrupt U turn on controlling carbon dioxide from power plants, breaking one of the few pro-environment campaign commitments he made.  In his budget he also broke the promise on increasing funding for the National Parks, now robbing other valuable under-funded Park programs to provide funding for Park maintenance.  It's time for environmentalists nationwide to expose these early anti-environmental actions and hold him accountable early in his Presidency.

 The American people need to learn about these anti-environmental positions through letters to the editor in your local papers.  Please take the time to send in a letter on this topic this week so we can hold the President accountable and warn him that any future attacks on the environment will be noticed.

 Here are the details:

        President George W. Bush has broken the campaign promise he made to the American people to curb carbon dioxide pollution, the primary gas causing global warming. This promise to reduce carbon emissions was one of the few environmental pledges Bush made during his campaign. His about-face is a betrayal and proof that Bush is a typical politician who can't be trusted.

        The President reneged on his campaign promise to curb carbon dioxide pollution under pressure from the coal companies and power plant owners 

        Polluters pumped massive campaign contributions into the Bush-Cheney campaign and Bush's u-turn on emissions is evidence that Bush owes and will side with the industries that funded his campaign.

        In a Sept. 29, 2000 campaign speech in Saginaw, Michigan, Bush pledged to curb carbon dioxide pollution:

        "As we promote electricity and renewable energy, we will work to make our air cleaner. With the help of Congress, environmental groups and industry, we will require all power plants to meet clean air standards in order to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide within a reasonable period of time."

        Yet, on March 13, 2001 Bush wrote "I do not believe...that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions for carbon dioxide."

        Carbon dioxide accounts for about 70% of the global warming problem.  The U.S. is the world's biggest global warming polluter, spewing 25% of the planet's global warming pollution; one-third of our emissions come from power plants.  So the President's refusal to impose mandatory carbon dioxide cuts will have severe consequences on our nation and the world.

        Already the 1990's were the warmest decade on record; record heat waves killed hundreds in the Midwest.  Further global warming will trigger:

-       More severe and frequent killer heat waves in our cities,

-       Sea level rise, inundating coastal areas,

-       Spreading infectious diseases as disease-carrying insects and rodents bring diseases to new areas,

-       More severe storms as rainfall patterns change and warming leads to more energy in the atmosphere, and

-       More severe droughts as increased heat leads to more rapid evaporation.

        Some regions of the world have already warmed by as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit.  Physicians at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins medical schools have issued grim assessments that global warming may already be causing the spread of infectious diseases and increasing heat-wave deaths.

        At the same time, during the campaign George W. Bush committed to increase funding for the National Park Service to deal with the backlog of maintenance from old neglected infrastructure.  He highlighted this issue in his first address to Congress and got a round of applause.  Now it is apparent that he is robbing Peter to pay Paul, shortchanging other under-funded Park programs such as research and ranger interpretation programs to steer money to the maintenance budget line item.  He is also using the need to fund the existing Park's as an excuse to attack the new National Monuments, claiming that President Clinton's actions to establish new parks has caused the problem.

        Two environmental campaign promises, two broken promises.  This is a reckless start for the Bush Presidency.

        Please let the American people know you care about this through a letter to the editor today.

From World Wildlife Fund Action Report.

        Despite new scientific findings that global warming is already having a serious impact on species and their habitats, President Bush recently reversed a campaign pledge and decided not to seek reductions in the carbon dioxide emissions of the nation's power plants.  He has also said he will not support the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that calls on industrialized countries to reduce their carbon pollution in order to curb global warming.  His decision means the spectacled bear of the Andes, the mountain gorilla in Africa, the resplendent quetzal of Central America, and many other species of mammals, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and insects will remain at risk from our overheated atmosphere. 

        More than 100 governments represented on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently endorsed a report that states that climate change is already having a "widespread and coherent impact" on the planet, and that it is occurring in all environments and on all continents.  President Bush's decision not to seek emissions reductions flies in the face of dire warnings about the irreparable damage global warming is causing and is at odds with the position of his administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  His change of heart came after heavy lobbying from the oil and coal industries and congressional Republicans. 

        Let's show President Bush there is tremendous support for protecting our living planet. Please follow the simple steps below to send a free message urging him to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and support the climate change protocol.

From Union of Concerned Scientists:

(1) An increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system.

* Since 1860, global average temperatures have increased by 0.6 +/- 0.2 degrees Celsius (>1 degree Fahrenheit). While the warming record shows significant spatial and temporal variability, the global upward trend is unambiguous. Most of the warming in the 20th century occurred from about 1910 to 1945 and since 1976.

* Twentieth century warming is likely to be the largest during any century during the past 1,000 years for the Northern hemisphere, with the 1990s the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year.

* There has been a widespread retreat of mountain glaciers in non-polar regions during the 20th century.

* The rate of sea-level rise during the 20th century was about 10 times higher than the average rate during the last 3,000 years. Global ocean heat content has also increased since the late 1950s.

* Other climate variables have also markedly changed, including an increase in average precipitation (up to 1% per decade in the 20th century over the northern mid- and high latitudes), a likely increase in extreme precipitation events over the same region, and more frequent, persistent and intense warm phases of the ENSO phenomenon.

(2) Emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols due to human activities continue to alter the atmosphere in ways that are expected to affect the climate.

* Since 1750, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have increased significantly. Percentage increases since 1750 are given below for the most important GHGs:

    CO₂ - 31%

    CH₄ - 250%

    N₂O - 16%

* Atmospheric concentrations of halocarbons, gases of solely anthropogenic source, are either decreasing or increasing more slowly in recent years. However, concentrations of their substitutes are increasing rapidly

* Present concentrations of CO₂ are the highest in the past 420,000 years and likely in the past 20 million years, and the rate of increase is unprecedented in the past 20,000 years.

* The increase is largely due to fossil fuel burning (about 75%), the remainder primarily from deforestation and other land use changes.

* The greatest warming effect currently stems from CO₂, followed by methane, halocarbons, and nitrous oxide.

* Cooling effects stem from the depletion of stratospheric ozone and generally from relatively short-lived aerosols. Indirect radiative forcing of aerosols through their effects on the structure of clouds remains uncertain

(3) There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.

* Since the Second Assessment Report (SAR) in 1995, which stated "the balance of evidence suggests a discernable human influence on global climate," significant progress has been made to reduce the uncertainty around human contribution to global warming.

* The TAR concludes, "there is now stronger evidence for human influence on global climate than at the time of the SAR" due in part to: longer data records, improved scientific understanding of natural climate variability, new estimates of climate response to natural and human forcings, new detection techniques, and more studies.

* The net radiative forcing of natural agents (variable output from the sun, amplification of solar effects, and aerosol emissions during volcanic eruptions) is small compared to anthropogenic forcings, and - over the past two, and possibly four, decades - negative (i.e., their net effect is a cooling effect).

(4) Trends of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities point further upward. Significant emission reductions would be necessary to stabilize radiative forcing.

* CO₂emissions from fossil-fuel burning are "virtually certain" to be the dominant influence on the trends in atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the 21st century.

* Although land and oceans currently are sinks for atmospheric CO2, their ability to take up CO₂ will decrease during the 21st century.

* CO₂ concentrations in 2100 could be between 540 and 970 parts per million (ppm), compared to 270 ppm in pre-industrial times and 367 ppm today.

* If further destabilization of the global climate system is to be prevented, significant reductions in GHG emissions and related gases that control their atmospheric concentration are necessary.

(5) Confidence in the ability of models to project future climate has increased.

* Understanding of climate processes and their representation in models has improved, including on issues such as water vapor, sea ice dynamics, and ocean heat transport.

* Some recent models produce reasonable climate simulations without non-physical adjustments, such as for heat and water fluxes.

* Several models can reproduce the observed warming trend in the 20th century when forced with both natural and anthropogenic forcing.

* Together with other improvement, the IPCC thus concludes that despite remaining uncertainties, there is now greater confidence in model projections than before.

(6) Global warming will persist for many centuries.

* Without significant reductions in GHG emissions, the Earth's surface temperature is predicted to rise 2.5° to 10.4° F between 1990 and 2100; the upper end of this range is of similar magnitude to the warming the earth experienced emerging from the depth of the last ice age 20,000 years ago to the warmth of the present interglacial beginning about 10,000 years ago.

* Global warming will mean higher maximum temperatures and more extreme heat events, higher average precipitation with more extreme precipitation events and more droughts in some areas, as well as a possible increase in tropical cyclone intensities.

* Most climate models show a weakening of the ocean thermohaline circulation, which would lead to reduced heat transfer to northern hemispheric high-latitudes and would have major implications for ocean dynamics, marine ecology, and climate variability in Europe.

* Emissions of long-lived GHGs have protracted effects on atmospheric composition and the physical dynamics of the climate system.

* Global mean surface temperature will continue to increase, and sea levels are projected to continue to rise for hundreds of years after GHG concentrations have been stabilized; the projected sea-level rise between 1990 and 2100 is 3.54 to 34.64 inches.

• Ice sheets will continue to melt due to climate warming, continuing sea-level rise for thousands of years.  

** REMAINING GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING

Very significant progress has been made over the past decade and more in our understanding of the climate system and its many interactions with the oceans, land, biosphere, and cryosphere (ice). In fact, IPCC assessment reports can be viewed as the milestones of one of the biggest communal efforts ever undertaken by the international scientific community to understand this essential component of the Earth system. The Working Group I report is testimony to our improved understanding of climate change science. By laying out the new research agenda, it also stakes out the current research frontier. Among the many areas needing further monitoring and research are:

* Estimates of future emissions;

* Patterns of long-term climate variability;

* Understanding and description of dominant processes such as ocean mixing, and feedback mechanisms (e.g., from sea ice and clouds) between the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and the deep oceans;

* Integration (nesting) of global and smaller-scale climate models to improve predictions of climate change and extreme events at the regional scale.

* Linkage of climate and human-system models

To make progress in these areas, IPCC experts call for the maintenance of existing climate observational networks and platforms, as well as the improved collaboration within and across the international scientific community.

*  The Third Assessment Report (TAR) is THE authoritative new benchmark of what we know about climate change science. It synthesizes what the global scientific community has learned in the past five years about our changing climate and its impacts on people and the environment.

* The TAR is the most comprehensive and balanced assessment of the science of climate change, the factors involved in change, the already evident and potential future impacts of global warming, and what we can do about them.

* The conclusions of the TAR represent an unprecedented consensus among hundreds of climate scientists from all over the world. The entire Third Assessment Report (including the three Working Group reports, SPMs, and final synthesis) is co-authored by more than 400 scientists and reviewed several times by approximately 1,000 experts.

* The IPCC does not produce original scientific results but rather presents a fair representation of the range of scientific opinion on climate change, based primarily on published and peer-reviewed scientific literature.

 The IPCC predicts that global temperature will rise from 2.5-10.4°F (1.4-5.8°C) over this century unless greenhouse gas emissions are greatly reduced.

* The TAR concludes that there is increasing evidence of a human influence on climate. The report says that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are likely to already "have contributed substantially to the observed warming over the last 50 years." The IPCC states that this human influence will continue to grow during the next century unless measures are taken to reduce GHG emissions.