Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0706192124230.20718@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>,
Cyberculture <cyberculture@zacha.org>
Subject: Call Immediately to protect Arctic Refuge: Senate vote today or
tomorrow (fwd)
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:24:33 -0400 (EDT)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:23:26 -0400 From: Chad Kister <chadkister@gmail.com> To: chadkister@gmail.com Subject: Call Immediately to protect Arctic Refuge: Senate vote today or tomorrow Alaskan Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski are at it again trying to destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now, they are trying to change the name and designation of the coastal plain from a wildlife Refuge to a petroleum reserve. The Amendment, called the "Coastal Plain Strategic Petroleum Ready Reserve Act of 2007," would open the critical coastal plain, the biological heart of the Arctic refuge, to oil development. Please call your Senators (202 224-3121 for the Capital switchboard), and ask that they oppose the Stevens/Murkowski amendment to the Energy Bill (S. 1419). Please call ASAP, as voting is expected as early as today (Tuesday, June 19). You can also go to www.congress.org for more contact information and web forms. Adding an optimistic note to the climate change battle, my newest book, Against All Odds: The Struggle to Save The Ridges was released last month. It is an inspiring narrative about a so-far successful effort to protect 700 acres of land owned by Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I think the tactics used, and the gradual build-up of the campaign can be an example for nonviolent campaigns around the world. And it is just a good story. You can order a copy, with all proceeds going to the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign at www.arcticrefuge.org. I am hoping the book helps to inspire people to get active to protect lands and combat climate change. Also, I will continue the polar bear survival speaking tour this fall with the release of the second edition of my Arctic Melting book with powerful visuals of the dramatic impacts of climate change. To add a stop on the tour, email me at chadkister@gmail.com or call 740-707-4110. Note that if you do not hear back from me, please call, and make sure you reach me. Many emails are not getting through to me for some reason. The polar bear is the canary in the coal mine for climate change, and their rapid decline shows that we are in a serious crisis in desperate need of political action. With Arctic ice continuing to decline, the US Fish and Wildlife Service predicts that the polar bear could be extinct in the wild as early as 2040, when scientists say the Arctic Ocean will likely be nearly ice-free unless massive changes are made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I will be traveling nearly entirely by fuel efficient train, which gets up to 40 times better fuel efficiency per passenger mile compared to flying or driving, and a major solution to climate change. Despite the current threat, with the change in Congress, we have a unique opportunity to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness. You can sign a petition supporting Arctic Refuge permanent protection at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/251855330 Arctic champions in Congress have introduced legislation to protect the Arctic Refuge coastal plain as wilderness, and this tour is an effort to show them support, as well as showing the need for the USFWS to demand a mandatory reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to save the polar bear, and so much more. The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is by far the densest denning ground of polar bear in the world. The tour will help spread the word nationwide about the need to lobby for wilderness protection. The presentation shows the very latest of climate change's impacts to the Arctic and Alaska, after having just finished the second edition updates to my Arctic Melting book. The presentation shows the critical need to immediately begin reducing fossil fuel emissions and replace them with solar, wind, efficiency and other renewable resources. Polar bear live in 19 population groups across the circumpolar Arctic. All are expected to go into decline toward extinction with current trends of thinning ice. Ice has thinned 42 percent in the last 40 years, as measured by U.S. submarine data. Melting in Greenland has doubled in the last 5 years according to NASA senior Scientist James Hansen. He also said that sea levels could rise 80 feet, and that the melting is far more dynamic and fast than previously fast, and accelerating exponentially. While some might think a warming Arctic a good thing, nearly all of the impacts have been found to be very negative. The permafrost melting has caused billions of dollars of damage in Alaska, and is releasing more greenhouse gases. The melting ice and snow has allowed more of the sun's radiation to be absorbed, causing more warming. Shorelines are crumbling into the sea. And millions of acres of forests have died because of insect outbreaks caused by climate change, and are now burning. The list of negative impacts and their severity grows every year. Native American villages such as Kivalina and Shishmaref are crumbling into the sea. Millions of acres of forest have died in Alaska, directly attributable to climate change, and are now burning. My Arctic Melting book has a chapter detailing a 2004 Pentagon report that found climate change a more serious threat than terrorism, with future wars being fought for survival over food and water resources. Thus it is not just the polar bear who are at risk. Recent studies found that hundreds of millions of people are expected to die worldwide because of the impacts of climate change. See the first 5 minutes of Caribou People now online, and some of my Berkeley Arctic Melting presentation (now much improved), as well as the updates and action alerts at www.arcticrefuge.org and www.chadkister.com. My spring tour was quite successful, with venues at: April 10, 2007: 7 p.m. Urbana, Illinois April 12, 2007: Loyola College, Chicago April 14, 2007: Minneapolis, Minnesota Climate Crisis Rally April 18, LaCrosse Wisconsin April 21, 2007: LaCrosse, Wisconsin April 24, 2007: Bellingham, Washington April 27, 2007: Midpines, California May 2: Lincoln, Nebraska May 7: Saskatoon, Canada May 11: Portsmouth, New Hampshire May 13: Washington DC May 15: Tampa Florida May 16: Sarasota Florida May 22, 2007 Westerville, Ohio June 7: Athens Ohio 7 p.m. at the Community Center Kister is the author of Arctic Quest: Odyssey Through a Threatened Wilderness Area and Arctic Melting: How Climate Change is Destroying One of the World's Largest Wilderness Areas, both published by Common Courage Press. Kister is also the Producer of the 2006 film Caribou People. His third book, Against All Odds: The Struggle to Save The Ridges was released in May, 2007.