Stopping Global Warming
If we want to spare our children and grandchildren the worst consequences of global warming, we must dramatically reduce the carbon pollution that we pump into the atmosphere. And, as most scientists agree, we better do it soon. Yet Washington is not doing enough, deterred by the influence of Big Oil and the coal industry, and short-term partisan politics in Congress. But our staff and members are proving each day that there is a way forward on global warming. And it starts in the states.
The consequences: stronger storms, severe droughts, and more
Global warming is the one of the most profound threats of our time — and we’re already starting to feel the effects.
In the past few years we’ve seen stronger, more frequent storms. Historic flooding from Vermont to Iowa. Snowmaggedon on the East Coast, increasingly destructive wildfires in the West.
Extreme weather could become “the new normal” as global warming wreaks havoc on our climate. Read our report, Global Warming and Extreme Weather, to learn more.
These dangers are cause for immediate action. But political posturing, partisan gridlock and the influence of powerful polluters has paralyzed our leaders in Washington.
States lead the way
Despite the lack of action in Washington, D.C., there is a way forward on global warming — and it starts in the states.
State and local governments from Maryland to Colorado have adopted clean energy and climate policies projected to cut over 500 million tons of carbon pollution per year by 2020 — nearly 10% of our current emissions.
And we have the potential to go even further. In 2011, Environment America’s Energy Program Director Rob Sargent unveiled a study showing that states can cut global warming pollution 20% by 2020 through clean energy and transportation policies.
Read our report, The Way Forward on Global Warming, to learn more.
Defending global warming laws, from California to New Hampshire
Unfortunately, the more progress states make toward limiting global warming pollution, the harder oil and coal companies fight to stop them.
In 2010, Valero and other oil companies sponsored Proposition 23, a ballot proposal to overturn California’s landmark global warming law. Environment California and its allies spoke to hundreds of thousands of Californians to build opposition to Prop. 23. Thanks to their effort, California voters overwhelmingly rejected the attack.
At the urging of polluters, in 2011 state leaders in New Hampshire, New Jersey and Maine moved to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program, also known as RGGI, cuts global warming pollution from power plants in the Northeast, and invests in clean energy and efficiency programs.
Working with our members, veterans groups, businesses and other allies, our staff defeated the RGGI rollbacks in Maine and New Hampshire. In New Jersey, we’ve launched a major campaign to reverse Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to withdraw from the program.
In states from Maine to Colorado to California, we’re making real progress toward stopping global warming. But there’s still much to do. If enough of us speak out, we can convince more of our local, state and federal leaders to pass the policies that will reduce our global warming pollution.
Key Facts
- Average U.S. temperatures have increased by more than 2° Fahrenheit over the last 50 years. Temperatures are projected to rise by as much as an additional 7° F to 11° F on average by the end of the century, should emissions of global warming pollutants continue to increase.
- Sea level along the East Coast has been rising at a rate of nearly 1 foot per century due to the expansion of sea water as it has warmed, and due to the melting of glaciers.
- By adopting clean energy policies at the local, state and federal levels, the United States could curb emissions of carbon dioxide from energy use by as much as 20% by 2020 and 34% by 2030.
Latest Reports
- Too Much Pollution: State and National Trends in Global Warming Emissions from 1990 to 2007
- The Way Forward on Global Warming
- A Program that Works: How the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Is Helping the Northeast Shift to Clean Energy and Reduce Pollution from Fossil Fuels
- Summer Gas Prices: Beating the Heat with Clean Cars
- Global Warming and Extreme Weather: The Science, the Forecast, and the Impacts on America