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Climate Report Underscores Need For Clean Energy Jobs Plan

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Posted in Global Warming | Tagged Global Warming

Washington, D.C.–The Obama administration’s U.S. Global Change Research Program today unveiled a dramatic new scientific assessment of the likely impacts of global warming on the United States.  The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” warns of longer, more severe droughts, increasingly severe heatwaves, rising sea levels, and many other negative impacts as a result of unchecked global warming.  The Sierra Club offered the following comments in response. The Obama administration’s long-awaited scientific report on the sweeping and life-altering consequences of a failure to act on global warming - Global climate change impacts in the United States - is released today.

 Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

“This report confirms much of what we already knew, that there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is real, is happening now, and will have severe consequences if left unchecked.  What is new, is that it explains in exhaustive detail how runaway global warming will impact us and our children right here in the United States if we fail to act.

“This report is also further proof of this administration’s committment to putting science first, something that stands in marked contrast to its predecessor.  

“In view of this new and troubling assessment of the challenge we face, it is essential that Congress move without delay to pass a strong clean energy jobs plan.  Such a plan will not only rebuild our economy with millions of new clean energy jobs and break our dependence on oil and coal, it will help us avert the most catastrophic impacts described in this report.  

“Right now, Congress has the opportunity to solve both today’s economic crisis and the looming environmental calamity we face by passing a strong, comprehensive clean energy and climate bill that is up to the task before us.  We urge them to do so as soon as possible.”

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