Photo of the Audubon president (a Red Shafted Flicker) --
Posted on 02/02/2007 11:31:34 AM PST by Froufrou
The National Audubon Society has no doubt that global warming is caused by human activity, and therefore, it argues, humans must do something about it.
A report summary issued Friday by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "should erase any doubts, even among the most dedicated skeptics, that the time for action to combat global warming is now," said National Audubon President John Flicker.
"This is a wake up call not just to those who love birds, wildlife and the natural environment, but to anyone who cares about the future that our children and grandchildren will inherit," he added.
The National Audubon Society described the IPCC summary (the full report will follow in a few months) as "the most reliable and comprehensive statement of what scientists know about global warming...This report leaves no room for doubt, and it has never been clearer that Congress has no time to waste."
As for those who question the latest scientific consensus on global warming -- ignore them, Flicker suggested: "The clarity and completeness of the IPCC's global warming findings permanently relegates skeptics to the fringe," he said.
Flicker urged lawmakers to quickly adopt mandatory measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He also stressed the need for energy efficiency and renewable-energy legislation.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued three reports on the science of global warming since 1990. The National Audubon Society noted that each report is more certain than the last about the human impact on climate change.
The report summary released on Friday called it "very likely" (more than a 90 percent certainty) that human activity is raising global temperatures. The previous IPCC report, issued in 2001, called it "likely."
Established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, the IPCC assesses the "risk of human-induced climate change."
Corporations diving in
A number of businesses are jumping on the climate-change bandwagon.
DuPont on Friday issued a statement calling climate change "a serious global issue that must be addressed through concerted global action."
DuPont's Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Linda Fisher said the company believes the science on global warming is strong enough -- and the potential risks are serious enough -- to prompt quick action.
"We believe that voluntary [greenhouse gas reduction] measures, while constructive, are not sufficient to address an issue of this magnitude by themselves. The challenge is global and requires broad and coordinated action across all sectors of the economy," Fisher said.
She said it's time for the federal government to act on climate change legislation, and she said that's why DuPont -- and a number of other corporations -- have joined the United States Climate Action Partnership, which hopes to force changes in federal global warming policy.
DuPont says it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions more than 70 percent since 1991, saving more than $3 billion in the process.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a leading critic of those who insist that humans are causing global warming, contends the science isn't settled, and he says major policy changes should stem from fact, not consensus.
Critics like Inhofe say media hype and leftist political agendas -- not science -- are steering the national discussion on global warming.
"This is a political document, not a scientific report, and it is a shining example of the corruption of science for political gain," Inhofe said on Friday.
"The media has failed to report that the IPCC Summary for Policymakers [the document released on Friday] was not approved by scientists but by U.N. political delegates and bureaucrats," he added, noting that the IPCC will release the actual scientific report until May 2007.
The UN said it so it must be so.
NOT
Global warming is caused by all the hot air emissions from the MSM and "scientists" with a leftist political agenda.
The "we caused it so we have to fix it" arguement is sort of bogus, too, isn't it?
IF we followed liberal logic, and left Iraq to sort out their own mess, why wouldn't they likewise have a do-nothing approach to global warming? I don't understand how they think [thank the Lord!]
Well, then, there is only one thing to do: Start pushing nuclear power.
I propose a massive program to combat global warming by building nuclear power plants.
They just concluded that it's all hopeless.
Sorry Grandkids. Hope you grow gills!
Photo of the Audubon president (a Red Shafted Flicker) --
Unfortunately the econazis will simply dust off the old objections to nuclear power as well.
That's like the media saying "It's very likely that Halliburton has been running US foreign policy these past 6 years."
Where's my nuclear-powered car?!
Global Warming is an excuse for a power grab by national and international government bodies.
Why else is it that the only proposed "solution" to global warming is higher taxes?
If they really wanted to improve our lot, they would be looking for real solutions, not just making life as a whole much more expensive. And that assumes, of course, that global warming is real, and that it is a real threat (which I don't believe).
Nuclear is actually not a bad idea. Although if we don't get it just right our grandkids very likely may grow gills.
There is nothing new in this report that changes anything about the debate. The 'report' is just spin by a big UN agency with a purpose of creating more power and more revenues for itself.
The rising ocean will only wipe out places that vote for liberal Democrats, so what's the problem?
Superb picture. However, keep them away from your siding otherwise they will perforate it for you.
Drown a demonRAT, save the planet.
Agreed.
Certainly they will. Nothing short of a return to a prehistoric lifestyle will satisfy them. (And by that I mean that you and I should return to a prehistoric lifestyle; Al Gore and his ilk will still fly around in jet aircraft.)
Fortunately, we do not have to convince the econazis, but the general public and the policy makers.
If the "climate-change" prophets are right, it would be the height of irresponsibility not to develop nuclear power. Keep repeating that line and force them to tell us why global warming is not that dire.
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