News Release

Global Warming Warning?

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ROSS GELBSPAN
Author of The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription, Gelbspan said: “This year in the United States, a 315-mile-an-hour tornado destroyed parts of Oklahoma City, one of the worst droughts on record is decimating crops in the mid-Atlantic states and a summer heat wave has killed more than 270 people in the Northeast. These extreme weather events represent an early stage of global warming — the heating of our atmosphere from the buildup of coal and oil emissions. To restore our climate’s stability requires us to cut those emissions by 70 percent — and that means a global transition to renewable energy sources. That transition, if handled correctly, could create one of the greatest economic booms in history, generating millions and millions of jobs all over the world.”
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WENONAH HAUTER
Director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project, Hauter said: “The powerful economic forces that benefit from the use and abuse of energy — whether for generating electricity or producing gasoline — are buying and selling public policy on climate change. Political inaction on this tremendous threat to our delicate balance of life is a direct result of the enormous political influence of the energy-intensive industries… Something is really backwards when the so-called conservatives are opposed to reducing emissions as a way of providing insurance against dramatic climate change… In the future, the impact of climate change will be so great that our descendants will be incredulous that our policymakers didn’t act decisively.”
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DAPHNE WYSHAM
Coordinator of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, Wysham said: “It’s like the old adage: Everyone talks about the weather, no one does anything about it. The problem is, by not doing anything, we are in fact changing the weather. It’s an awesome thought, but just as we have the power to change the climate, we also have the power to restore it to stability. It comes down to individual choices — our elected leaders, our cars, our power plants, our investments. If we continue to make those choices without climate change in mind, we will continue to see more record droughts, killer heat waves, and devastating hurricanes… Ironically, our denial of the problem of climate change and our continual grasping onto a finite resource — fossil fuels — to meet our energy needs means that we’re neglecting infinite resources — solar, wind, and small hydro — to our collective detriment. Fortunately for us, the infinite resources will still be around when fossil fuels run out. Unfortunately for us, the rest of life on this planet may not.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167