Remember These 12 Facts November 2nd

12 Environmental Facts to Keep in Mind on Election Day

389 – The concentration in parts per million of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, in the earth's atmosphere today.

38 – Percent increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration since the industrial revolution.

18 – Number of countries that have set all-time heat records so far in 2010.

82 – Percent decline in U.S. corn, cotton, and soybean production possible under current warming scenarios.

1 – Rank of 2010 so far as the hottest year on record (tied with 1998).

16 – Estimated number of Exxon Valdez-sized spills it would take to equal the amount of oil spilled into the Gulf after the BP Blowout.

4,342 – Total number of oiled birds collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Gulf Coast region.

$68.5 million – Amount spent by Big Oil and its special interests allies this year on TV ads designed to elect pro-polluter candidates.

$514 million – Amount spent on lobbying and advertising by big polluters to stop the Senate from passing global warming legislation.

23,000 – Number of Americans whose lives will be saved in 2010 alone because of the Clean Air Act, according to EPA estimates.

232 – Number of toxic chemicals found in the umbilical cord of tested newborn babies in the U.S.

1 – The number of votes it takes to decide a close election. 

Please remember to vote on November 2, and please – vote your planet!

Sources:

• http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
• http://co2now.org/ 
• http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.
  html?entrynum=1659 
• http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/08/hl-full.htm 
• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618143950.htm
• http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/crop-yields-could-wilt-heat/
• http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global&year=2010&
  month=9
• http://www.nwf.org/Oil-Spill/Effects-On-Wildlife/Compare-Exxon-
  Valdez-and-BP-Oil-Spills.aspx 
• http://www.restorethegulf.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/
  Consolidated%20Wildlife%20Table%20102710.pdf
• http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2010/10/
  bigoilmoney.html
• http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/08/31/
  the-changing-climate-for-environmental-legislation.html 
• http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/
  legislating_for_a_new_climate/pdfs/SavetheCleanAirAct.pdf 
• http://ewg.org/minoritycordblood/home

SUMMER FROM HELL

FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND

As Charles Dickens may have written of the summer that ended last week, "It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times."

There is brutal irony in the Senate's failure to take up a strong climate and energy bill during a summer when the world baked, melted, flooded, and burned.

Below is a summary of some of the most tragic and ominous climate impacts from this summer. We offer this list not to scare or depress you, but to:

1. Emphasize what's at stake and make it clear that the consequences of climate inaction are not theoretical – they are frighteningly real.
2. Inspire us all to stay in this fight and keep urging our leaders and our networks of friends, family, and colleagues to treat this environmental crisis seriously.

Afterall, the polluters aren't giving up -- not for a second. Even now, they and their well-heeled lobbyists are working overtime to secure Senate votes to limit the EPA's authority to cut climate pollution.

We must stop them. Please take this opportunity to email your Senators and urge them to oppose efforts to limit the EPA's authority to address the climate crisis.

Even if you have already emailed your Senators, email them again. Make sure they understand that the polluters may have the money and the lobbyists, but we have the numbers and we will stay in this fight for our planet's future.

Thank you!

Here are some of the most tragic and ominous events from this year's "Summer from Hell." Please forward this to everyone you know and urge them to get involved in this fight.

Summer from Hell: Our New Normal on a Warming Planet?

• 10 U.S. states had their hottest summer on record and all but 7 states were above normal. And summer nighttime heat records were set in 37 states.
• June-August global land surface temperature was the warmest on record, 1.80 F (1.00 C) above the 20th century average of 56.9 F (13.8 C) and surpassing the previous record of 1.66 F (0.92 C) set in 1998.
• For only the third time in the satellite record and the third time in the last four years, the Arctic sea ice extent fell below 5 million square kilometers (1.93 million square miles). This summer's Arctic sea ice extent fell more than 25% below the 1979-2009 31-year average.
• Arctic sea ice volume (extent and thickness) reached the lowest level ever recorded, prompting Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center to predict, "The Arctic summer sea ice cover is in a death spiral. It's not going to recover."
• A record Russian heat wave caused massive wildfires and drought and may have killed up to 15,000 people, cost the Russian economy $15 billion, and destroyed a third of the Russian grain crop, causing global wheat prices to nearly double. Peat bog and forest fires filled Moscow's air with carbon monoxide levels reaching 6.5 times more than the maximum allowable levels.
• Devastating floods inundated one-fifth of Pakistan, drove millions from their homes, and led to the deaths of more than 1,600 people. Up to a foot of rain fell in a 36-hour period and Ghassem Asrar, director of the World Climate Research Programme, pointed to climate change: "There's no doubt that clearly the climate change is contributing, a major contributing factor. We cannot definitely use one case to kind of establish precedents, but there are a few facts that point towards climate change as having to do with this."
• Hundreds of walruses on Alaska's North Slope were stampeded to death when they beached themselves on land because there were no sea ice floes available.
• This year's extreme heat is causing only the second known global bleaching of coral reefs. In oceans from Thailand to Texas, scientists fear this year's die-off may be as bad as or worse than in 1998 when an estimated 16% of the world's shallow water reefs were severely damaged. In the waters off the Philippines, 95% of the corals have died this year.

---

Sources:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2010-09-08-record-summer-heat-_N.htm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/37-states-set-nighttime-high-temperature-records-this-summer.php
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/hottestsummer/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100919104002.htm
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52896
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/ArcticSeaiceVolume/IceVolume.php
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/russia-may-lose-15-000-lives-15-billion-of-economic-output-in-heat-wave.html
http://www.economist.com/node/16994407
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100808/160116529.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7937269/Pakistan-floods-Climate-change-experts-say-global-warming-could-be-the-cause.html
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Map-of-Pakistan-s-flood-area/Article1-591497.aspx
http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2010/08/18/1
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39278191#39278191
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/earth/21coral.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0923-fidenci_coralbleach.html]

MAKE THE BASTARDS STOP!

The BP oil disaster continues to ravage fragile coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico.

Now we are hearing of an additional, grave threat. Sea turtles and other protected species may be victims of sea-surface oil burning, skimming, or other efforts to control the spill.

In addition, many animals exposed to oil at sea will die by drowning or poisoning without ever being counted.

We can find no official public record of the numbers of animals being caught up in the oil slick or injured during response efforts. Current wildlife casualty reports only include the captured and collected animals, not those animals exposed to oil and left to die in the wild.

We need your help. Please take action today. Urge the Unified Command and federal agencies to:

• Place qualified third party wildlife observers on "Vessels of Opportunity" responding to the BP oil disaster;
• Publicly report all wildlife observations in the oil impact areas;
• Postpone burns when protected species are present to allow for appropriate intervention and immediately implement measures to eliminate avoidable harm to all protected species; and
• Coordinate wildlife rescue interventions when necessary.

We also ask that the agencies charged with safeguarding wildlife and protected marine species systematically collect and publicly report field data on oiled wildlife, not just those animals captured and collected, so that the public can see the real toll of this disaster for wild animals large enough to be effectively counted.

More Background

In an effort to contain the oil, BP and the Unified Command have responded by applying chemical dispersants, skimming oil from the sea surface, and conducting a series of surface oil burns.

Local responders and conservationists are complaining that these activities may be burning, drowning, or in other ways harming or killing wildlife, including endangered sea turtles.

Mike Ellis, a Louisiana boat captain reportedly involved in rescuing sea turtles, has been quoted in news accounts complaining that:

"They drag a boom between two shrimp boats and whatever gets caught between the two boats, they circle it up and catch it on fire. Once the turtles are in there, they can't get out."

We urge a more accurate, public accounting of the wildlife death toll from this disaster and more aggressive and appropriate intervention anywhere that oil response activities are taking place.

Please take action today: Urge the Unified Command to place third party observers on the response vessels and on the ground, publicly report wildlife observations in the oil response area, and call for intervention when necessary.

Thank you for your activism and support,
Stacy Small, Ph.D.
EDF Conservation Scientist