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:
The Renewable Fuels Standard, as passed in the 2007 Energy Bill, is one more step closer to being finalized. Comments to EPA's draft regulation, released in the Spring 2009, were due September the 25th of 2009. The Environmental Community, including Friends of the Earth, wrote brief comments on this issue and were overall supportive with the general approach the EPA took to protect natural lands from biofuel, accounting for global warming pollution from biofuels, and applying sustainabiltiy standards to the fuels. However, we also made some specific recommendations for how EPA could improve the effectiveness of the rule.
As world leaders gather today at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, more than 125 groups representing constituents in over 100 countries delivered an urgent letter to President Obama requesting bold action to fight climate change.
The letter asks President Obama to set ‘a vastly higher level of ambition for the United States’ contribution to both greenhouse gas emission cuts and a package of finance and technology for developing countries.’
A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human rights, social justice, and environmental groups have composed and sent a letter to U.S. senators calling for energy and climate legislation that is much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy.
Many bad deals were made to help pass a major climate and energy bill in the House. Some of the most egregious were brokered on behalf of corporate agribusiness by Rep. Collin Peterson (D - Minn.) and his Agriculture Committee.
Now we have to pressure the Senate to fix the House's compromises.
In a recent blog post, Paul Krugman blithely dismisses concerns relating to carbon trading. The Nobel Prize-winning Krugman is one of the sharpest economists out there, and he’s often called attention to market failures, so his opinion is worth considering. Unfortunately, on this issue he dramatically underestimates the potential problems carbon markets can cause – and fails to note that better alternatives exist.
Congressional Leadership rewarded Representative Peterson for throwing a temper tantrum by eviscerating the climate and forest safeguards from the biofuels mandate in order to buy a handful of votes to pass the already flawed Climate Bill in the House. Environmental champions Chairmen Waxman and Markey caved to Peterson when threatened to hold key democratic votes from the climate bill. If the Senate passes something similar and this becomes law, biofuels that produce more global warming pollution than gasoline will be used to fulfill the biofuels mandate. Recap: In order to pass a "climate bill", provisions that help reduce global warming pollution were cut at the behest of corporate agribusiness.
In an era of green living we often overlook one of the simplest ways to fight global warming – critically examining the food we eat. An ideal low-carbon diet consists of plant-based foods that are locally and organically grown. Meat consumption, particularly from animals raised on factory farms, also known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), is a major contributor to a person’s carbon footprint.
Congressman Pete Stark took a courageous stand in voting against the American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009.
In response to House Appropriations Committee mark-up of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, ActionAid USA, Center of Concern, Church World Service, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends of the Earth US, Gender Action, Jubilee USA Network, and Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns issued the following statement:
We welcome the appropriation of $50 million for two United Nations climate funds—the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund—as a step in the right direction. However, we are alarmed that the amount designated for the United Nations is six times less than what is appropriated for the World Bank’s controversial new Climate Investment Funds. The $50 million is also far less than what developing countries urgently need in order to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Therefore, we urge the Senate Appropriations Committee to appropriate an additional $75 million for the LDCF, in effect shifting the House appropriation out of the Strategic Climate Fund.
Right now, the Waxman-Markey house climate bill is being debated in Congress. We would like to thank those members who took a courageous stand and vowed to vote against this bill. Below we have the statement from Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), who made an impassioned speech about the bill's flaws, including its enormous payouts to polluters.
