The impacts of global warming are already being felt. If we don’t act now, the climate crisis will become much worse, dramatically impacting people around the world and causing irreversible damage to the environment. Friends of the Earth believes we can and must solve this crisis and do so in an equitable and responsible way, but the path ahead is not easy. It will require bold leadership and a broad transformation of our society.
Friends of the Earth is working for aggressive legislation in the United States that quickly reduces -- and eventually ends -- our country's emissions of heat-trapping gasses. We are also participating in Friends of the Earth International's efforts to bring the international community together behind a strong global climate agreement, without which this problem cannot be solved.
Read the latest news and updates from our Global Warming campaign:
When President Obama returned home to Chicago on August 4 and 5 to celebrate his birthday and fundraise, he was greeted by protestors concerned about a 1,700-mile pipeline that Big Oil is seeking his approval to build from Canada to Texas.
Friends of the Earth is fighting this proposed pipeline, the Keystone XL, because it would endanger our climate and communities in its path by pumping 900,000 barrels of tar sands oil -- the world's dirtiest source of crude -- into the United States each day.
This summer, pressure from Friends of the Earth activists and allies has succeeded in putting Big Oil on the defensive and forced the Obama administration to pay attention to our concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline. (You can support our campaign by sending a message to President Obama or making a contribution today.)
The EPA is finally trying to get it right as they finalized the Tailoring Rule on May 13, 2010. It outlines which industrial facilities will be required to obtain pollution permits for greenhouse gas emissions. Friends of the Earth, along with 90 scientists from the scientific community, have written to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to ask her to regulate the bioenergy industry under the Tailoring Rule.
By Erich Pica
Three months into the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, BP has finally capped the well and is now testing to see if it can withstand the pressure building underground until the well is permanently plugged. While the oil blow-out has been a largely unmitigated disaster for the Gulf Coast and its communities, the response is an important test for the future of the planet. Will April 22, 2010 become our declaration of independence from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, or will we succumb to political inertia?
By Caroline D’Angelo
The ongoing oil disaster has spurred debate on how to transition away from fossil fuels. Yet it’s a discussion that largely glosses over a crucial point– drilling for more oil is unnecessary. Even the most optimistic estimates for offshore drilling in America account for less than three years of the U.S.’ energy needs. Expanded drilling – which the Kerry-Lieberman bill calls for – is a wasteful and dangerous pursuit of more profits for oil companies, not a necessity. There are clean energy and transportation alternatives available now that can wean us off of our oil addiction.
By Kelly Trout
Catastrophes like the drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico don’t have to happen. We have a surplus of existing solutions that can propel us toward an oil-free and climate-secure future.
Because the federal government has a vital role to play in catalyzing this transformation, Friends of the Earth continues to push Congress to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation. Unfortunately, the latest proposal, the American Power Act, more closely resembles a polluter wish list.
The Friends of the Earth Biofuels team went down to the Capitol South Metro to debunk the false advertising of the ethanol lobby. Growth Energy, a powerful ethanol lobby, bought out all the ad space in the Metro to try to convince Congress to extend billions of dollars in subsidies for the ethanol industry. Click through to watch our video, get images and fact sheets for your use, and read more about it!
Special interests representing the ethanol industry are lobbying congress to extend the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit until 2015 through passage of the 2010 Green Jobs Act. Extension of the credit would lead to over 30 billion dollars in taxpayer money going to Big Oil over the next five year as well as failing to increase ethanol production.
Last week, BP's "top kill" effort, in which mud and other objects were forced into the blown-out oil well in the gulf to try and stanch the flow of oil, failed. Now, BP engineers are attempting to stop the gusher on the ocean floor by cutting the breached riser pipe on top of the well and placing a cap over the top of the newly-cut pipe. This strategy, if it fails, will most likely increase the flow of oil coming from the well.
As the failures pile up, attempts to plug the well become riskier and more desperate. And yet, the government doesn't have any better ideas to stop the spill. For years, officials have been lax on enforcing safety standards and protecting against disasters because they bought oil company assurances that offshore drilling wasn't dangerous.
The first major UN climate talks since December's Copenhagen summit ended in failure are taking place in Bonn, Germany from May 31 - June 11, 2010. The Bonn talks are an opportunity to get negotiations back on track and make progress toward a just and effective global agreement to address the climate crisis.
Unfortunately, the position the United States is taking to Bonn promises to undermine the existing framework guiding global cooperation.
Bioenergy, including biofuels and bioelectricity, has long been touted as sustainable, ecologically beneficial, and carbon-neutral. Unfortunately it has become clear that bioenergy has the potential to cause ecological damage through unsustainable agricultural practices. It also creates competition with other land uses such as food production, forests, and natural carbon sinks. The draft American Power Act contains several provisions that encourage unsustainable bioenergy production while also weakening current law to prevent unsustainable bioenergy production. In doing so, the draft American Power Act, if enacted, would encourage deforestation and ecosystem destruction, resulting in global warming pollution and biodiversity loss.
