in the trenches/climate
3. Activist Groups
ENVIRONMENTAL WEBSITES
Among the activist groups, the Union of Concerned Scientists maintains the most comprehensive website on climate change. Here you will find answers to many of the most frequently asked questions about global warming, background material on the climate negotiations, and updates on the negotiations so far. UCS also organized the recent petition calling for a strong climate treaty, which has been signed by over 1500 scientists from 63 countries, including 99 of the 171 living Nobel Prize winners in the sciences.
The Environmental Defense Fund has several interesting features on its website, including a "virtual tour" of an exhibition on global warming, now on permanent display at the Biosphere 2, a timetable of the science and politics of global warming, a series of factual rebuttals to various global warming "myths," and corrections to the published inaccuracies of two prominent naysayers, Rush Limbaugh and Gregg Easterbrook. EDF's website also allows you to determine the energy sources of your electricity and its carbon dioxide emissions, according to your state and your monthly electricity bill.
The Environmental Information Center, now renamed the National Environmental Trust, has helped organize citizens who care about the issue of global warming. On its webpage, you can find out about some of the latest political news related to the issue, subscribe to the weekly e-mail newsletter Climate Countdown, and read about the expected impacts of climate change in your part of the country. The organization has also made simulations, both in stills and in video, of the effect a one meter sea level rise would have on various cities, including San Francisco, New Orleans, New York, and Detroit.
Greenpeace has done good work on climate, including helping alert insurance companies to the increased financial risks they face if the world's weather becomes more extreme, as predicted. Also posted on the website is the fascinating diary of the recent Greenpeace expedition to Antarctica that documented the continent's emerging signs of climate change, and a report on solar power, called "Plugging into the Sun: Kickstarting the Solar Age In Crete."
Ozone Action has been an effective advocate on the issue of global warming. One notable contribution has been its analysis of the corporate influence on the public debate, called "The Ties that Blind", which points out the large amounts of fossil fuel money that has flowed to some of the most prominent contrarian scientists. (See below) Ozone Action also helped organize the recent letter to President Clinton, signed by prominent scientists, and calling for action to slow climate change.
The Natural Resource Defense Council has posted a number of informative articles on its site, including a global warming issue brief, fact sheets on alternative energy, and a report on climate feedbacks .
The Sierra Club offers information on the expected impacts of climate change on ecosystems, a piece on America's love affair with the carbon dioxide-belching Sports Utility Vehicle an excerpt from Ross Gelbspan's book, "The Heat is On", and a report on the immense costs of inaction .
The World Wildlife Fund has an international climate scorecard, ranking the eight richest nations on their efforts to prevent climate change, a study of the impact of global warming on the world's national parks,, and information on how to solve the problem through improving energy efficiency and moving towards renewable technologies.
The Worldwatch Institute offers a summary of their report, entitled "Rising Sun, Gathering Winds: Policies to Stabilize the Climate and Strengthen Economies," which argues that new measures to control global warming would create billions of dollars of business in solar energy, micro-power, and low-emissions vehicles, which in turn would raise incomes, lower energy bills, and add new jobs. The website also offers summaries of the articles in a recent Worldwatch magazine on climate change.
CONTRARIAN WEBSITES
There is also no dearth of organizations that oppose action on climate change. The formidable coalition of business and labor groups that is sponsoring a 13 million dollar ad campaign on TV, radio, and newspapers, opposing the adoption of a climate treaty, called the Global Climate Information Project has its own website, which links to many of the other opposition groups. It is also a good site to check out if you're interested in reading the statements of the various members of Congress, including Sen. Chuck Hagel, (R-NE), Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI, ) who are actively working to impede any climate agreement.
The Global Climate Coalition (GCC), established in 1989, is the primary industry group lobbying on issues related to climate change, and represents many of the utility, mining, oil, and coal interests. (For more on the GCC, including an analysis of their lobbying tactics, see Ozone Action's "The Ties that Blind.")
The American Petroleum Institute's site features the oil industry's perspective on how a climate change treaty would affect the economy, criticizes the administration's approach to the issue, and includes the industry's view of the science, which highlights the uncertainties in the IPCC reports.
The Coalition for Vehicle Choice, a coalition of automotive, insurance, consumer, and farm groups, "created to preserve the freedom of Americans to choose motor vehicles that meet their needs and their freedom to travel," lobbies on issues related to automobiles, vehemently opposes efforts to tighten auto efficiency standards, and posts monthly updates on issues like climate change. It also reprints articles, like the recent piece by William Broad published in the New York Times, that dealt with the influence of solar variations on climate change. (For the shortcomings of this article, see October's New in the Literature .)
Another site which features contrarian opinion is the Science & Environmental Policy Project , run by Fred Singer, formerly of the University of Virginia. Singer maintains a steady drumbeat, with op-eds in The Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere, disputing the consensus on issues such as ozone depletion and climate change. His website features an attack on Ross Gelbspan, and points out how some environmental groups receive funding from some of same corporate sources that give money to contrarian scientists. Singer's organization has a board of directors and advisers primarily made up of semi-retired scientists, many of whom are also on the board of the closely linked conservative policy group, the George C. Marshall Institute, whose chairman is Dr. Frederick Seitz, past president of the National Academy of Sciences and former President of Rockefeller University.
More on Climate:
Table of Contents | Twelve Hundred Words or Less... | Web Resources
Activist Groups | Voices | New in the Literature | Hotspots
History of Climate Negotiations | Glossary of Negotiator Terms | On the Other Hand...
Policy Options | Technological Breakthroughs? | Want to Get Involved?
Real Time