Month: December 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2008  3:21 PM

Broad Coalition Works to Halt Egregious Midnight Land Sale in Utah

CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Erin Allweiss, 202-513-6254 or 202-277-8370 (cell)
Robert Redford, Members of Congress, and Broad Coalition Call on Administration to Halt Midnight Land Sale in Utah Environmental and Preservation Groups Take Legal Action against

WASHINGTON-December 17. Robert Redford joined members of Congress and a coalition of environmental, preservation and business groups to stop the Interior Department from auctioning Utah wilderness to oil and gas companies. Congressmen Baird (D-WA), Hinchey (D-NY), and Holt (D-NJ) are leading the charge on the Hill to stop the auction, which is scheduled to take place on December 19. At a press event today, the environmental and preservation groups–led by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Association, and Earthjustice–announced that they are taking legal action against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to halt the leasing of more than 110,000 acres of land near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2008  2:20 PM

CONTACT: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Aaron Huertas, 202-331-5458

Federal Science Agencies Release Annual Temperature Data, Highlighting Urgent Need for Action on Global Warming

WASHINGTON-December 16. Two leading federal climate science agencies-the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-today released temperature data, which indicate that 2008 is on track to be one of the 10 warmest years on record globally. Overall, the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1997.

Below is a statement from climate scientist Melanie Fitzpatrick at the Union of Concerned Scientists:

“This year’s data show that global warming continues to increase our climate’s baseline temperature. Even some moderate cooling effects from cyclical weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean failed to dampen the impact global warming had this year. Heat-trapping emissions from human activity have caused most of the increase in global average temperature since the middle of the twentieth century.

“Both ocean and land temperatures in Earth’s Arctic polar region continue to warm more quickly than the rest of the planet. The record decrease in Arctic sea ice seen each summer is a canary in the coal mine. This year, it shrunk to its second-lowest extent ever recorded.

“The incoming U.S. administration and Congress have committed to policies that would reduce emissions enough to help prevent the worst consequences of global warming. The scientific evidence shows that the window of opportunity to act is still open, but that further delay will only lead to excessive warming.”

For data from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies, go to: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2008/.

For data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climate Data Center, go to: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081216_climatestats.html.

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” … major changes are sweeping the Arctic, researchers say.”

“Five years ago, I was not sure it’s very serious, but now I’m
sure something is going on and we should warn people,” says
Igor Semiletov from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks…”
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Nature
Published online 17 December 2008
doi:10.1038/news.2008.1314

News

Arctic warming spurs record melting

Greenland and Siberia see rapid changes.

Rich Monastersky

Record melting in northern Greenland and the
widespread release of methane gas from formerly
frozen deposits off the Siberian coast suggest
that major changes are sweeping the Arctic,
researchers say.

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