Global Warming
Check out our Alaska Global Warming Library HERE.
Help Alaska, the environment, and the economy!
Over 150 members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently signed a letter outlining principles they believe should guide the development of federal global warming legislation. NWF shares these principles, especially reducing greenhouse gas pollution by 80% and investing in:
- Clean energy technologies and related domestic jobs;
- Natural resource impact assistance;
- Low income consumer assistance; and
- International assistance for similar greenhouse gas reduction programs.
NWF's top priority is enactment of federal "cap and trade" legislation to reduce global warming pollution and revitalize the economy with millions of new "green jobs." Nationally and here in Alaska, NWF is working with many groups and constituencies to build support for this federal legislation. You can be a part of the solution!
Contact Senator Murkowski and Senator-elect Begich and let them know they need to support this federal legislation for the future of Alaska. You can write an email, call their office, or even request a meeting to discuss these important issues.
To contact Senator Murkowski visit her website at murkowski.senate.gov
To contact Senator-elect Begich visit his website at http://www.begich.com/
Obama's surprise climate change video appearance
House Prepares to Develop Global Warming Legislation
October 2008 - 152 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter on October 2 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, identifying several key principles that should guide the House's upcoming deliberations on global warming legislation. The principles include:
- Cut greenhouse gas emissions 15-20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050;
- Require the U.S. to engage with other nations to reduce emissions also;
- Invest in the best clean energy technologies and efficiency;
- Assist wildlife and ecosystems threatened by global warming;
- Return revenues to consumers;
- Assist states, localities, tribes and developing countries in adapting to global warming.
NWF supports these principles and looks forward to working with both chambers of Congress and the next President to enact global warming legislation in 2009.
Climate Security Act Will Benefit Alaskans
June 2008 - The Climate Security Act, cosponsored by Senators Warner (R-VA) and Lieberman (I-CT), would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2050 and invest billions in clean energy technologies. It would also help states adapt to the impacts of climate change, providing over $50 billion to Alaska in light of the disproportionate impacts of warming that we experience in the north. Read more about the Climate Security Act HERE.
Polar Bear Awareness
 According to scientists, saving wildlife from the threat of global warming requires more than reducing global warming pollution. To help wildlife cope with the stress caused by climate change, natural resource managers must take action to reduce non-climatic stressors. In the case of the polar bear, this means that natural resource managers must limit oil and gas development in the polar bear's habitat. The Alaskan polar bear population relies heavily on the Arctic coastal plain for denning. It also relies on the ice on the Beaufort and Chukchi seas for both denning and hunting. Both of these habitat areas are threatened by increasing oil and gas development. Although the polar bear is now listed as a threatened species, the Secretary of Interior limited certain protections for the polar bear and will allow oil and gas development to continue in important polar bear habitat.
Check out Polar Bear Aware and NWF's Polar Bears and Global Warming to learn more.
Faces of Global Warming: Caribou
 Caribou in Alaska are feeling the heat from global warming. An amazingly resilient species, Caribou are capable of migrating hundreds or even thousands of miles annually to reach their calving grounds in the far north of Alaska. Increased global temperatures from the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation are having adverse affects on this iconic arctic species. Read more ...
Grassroots
The Alaska Natural Resource Center supports the efforts of the Anchorage Fights Global Warming / Step It Up grassroots group and the polar bear awareness campaign of Frankie Kangas.
|
|
Alaska Facts:
- Known as the Great Land, Alaska is the largest state in the union (570,373.6 sq mi), more than twice the size of Texas with only 1/33 its population — 1/5 the size of the contiguous 48
- 80% of U.S. National Wildlife Refuge land — 76 million acres — is in Alaska
- 64% of the nation’s National Park land — 54 million acres — is in Alaska
- The nation’s 2 largest National Forests are in Alaska
- 6-7,000 wolves roam Alaska, as do 98% of the U.S. brown bears (grizzlies)
- Alaska has nearly 2/3 of the nation's wetlands
- 4 major flyways converge in Alaska and 10 million ducks, 750,000 geese, and 80,000 swans nest here
- 12 species of waterfowl nest nowhere else in America
- 80% of the world's trumpeter swans and 50% of the world's tundra swans nest in Alaska’s wetlands
|
|
CONTACT US:
Alaska Regional Center
750 West 2nd Ave, Suite 200
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: 907-339-3900
Fax: 907-339-3980
http://online.nwf.org/alaska
|
|
JIM'S ALASKA TRAVELS
| |
