{news} GP RELEASE Greens urge massive conservation effort to curb global warming

Fri Apr 13 16:47:36 EDT 2007

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Friday, April 13, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene at gp.org

Greens call for a massive national, global
conservation effort to curb global warming

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders, on the eve of
'Step It Up' events <http://stepitup2007.org>
scheduled on April 14 to address the growing threat of
climate change, spoke out in favor of a massive
conversion of the US economic system to curb the
threat of global warming in the coming decades.

. Carl Romanelli, Pennsylvania Green Party, 2006 US
Senate candidate: "We can only curb global warming by
drastically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases
that we're emitting.  We need to stop burning oil and
coal.   The Green Party has called for the U.S. to
sign on to the Kyoto accords and to take the lead on a
70% reduction of CO2 emissions, with public and
private initiatives at every level to support the
Global Climate Treaty signed at the Earth Summit in
1992, committing industrial nations within a time
framework to reducing emissions to 1990 levels.  This
will require a massive investment of resources,
similar to the effort we put into World War II.  But
this is exactly what we need to do to protect the
earth and the future of numerous species -- including
humans."

. Starlene Rankin, Lavender Green Caucus delegate to
the Green Party of the United States: "We need to
develop clean and safe alternative forms of energy,
such as wind and solar power, but alternative energy
sources cannot sustain our way of life as global
warming progresses and fossil fuel use is dramatically
limited.  We must learn to conserve energy.  We can
start with a massive investment in trains, electric
trains, and various forms of electrified mass transit,
to replace car traffic and curb sprawl.  We need to
consume locally grown food, instead of relying on food
driven hundreds or thousands of miles across the US in
trucks and grown with petroleum-based fertilizers and
pesticides.  We need to enact carbon taxes, and to do
so without placing the major burden on working people.
 We can use conservation projects, as well as
alternative energy development, to generate new jobs
all across the US."

. Mark Dunlea, co-founder of the Green Party of New
York State, active in pushing for a stronger Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the northeast:  "Phasing
out our addiction to fossil fuels is a matter of
national and global security.  In the short term, our
reliance on oil and the power of oil companies have
entangled us in Middle East conflicts.  The proposed
Iraqi 'hydrocarbon law' will give US and UK energy
firms control over Iraq's oil resources, which will
inflame regional tensions and require indefinite
military occupation of Iraq to protect corporate
investments.  In future decades, we will see growing
resentment from developing countries in Asia, Africa,
and Latin America over the high consumption of energy
resources by western nations and attempts to maintain
our high standards of living.  Global warming, if not
interrupted, won't just lead to climatic devastation,
it will also result in global wars over water, food,
and other resources.  If we want to offset such
conflicts, the US must lead the world in conserving
energy and reducing consumption, and must do so now. 
We can begin with a recommitment to the Kyoto Accord
and an expansion of the Kyoto protocols."

"US lags on plans for climate change"
By Beth Daley, The Boston Globe Staff, April 5, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/05/us_lags_on_plans_for_climate_change/

"Poor Nations to Bear Brunt as World Warms"
By Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, April 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/science/earth/01climate.html

. Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York
(under Green leadership, New Paltz uses solar and
purchases wind energy and is expanding 'green'
transportation): "The greatest obstacles we face in
the climate change crisis are official misinformation
and censorship of scientific data.  Democratic and
Republican politicians under the influence of
corporate lobbies are promoting nuclear power and caps
on industrial carbon dioxide emissions with a
credit-trading system, but the dangers of nuclear
power are insurmountable, and market-based solutions
are proving severely inadequate.  The Bush
Administration has censored and tampered with
scientific reports on global warming, and has placed
gag orders on government scientists, prohibiting them
from discussing climate change publicly.  President
Bush's reckless and irresponsible policies on global
warming are a threat to public health and the
environment, and should be counted as impeachable
'high crimes and misdemeanors.'"

"Global Warming: Bush is doing to World what he did to
New Orleans; Greens call Bush's tampering with
scientific research on global warming an impeachable
offense"
Green Party press release, February 5, 2007
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_02_05.shtml

"Smoke alarm: EU shows carbon trading is not cutting
emissions"
By David Gow, The Guardian, April 3, 2007
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2048918,00.html

"Memos Tell Officials How to Discuss Climate"
By Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, March 8, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/washington/08polar.html

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

"Meltdown: Running out of time on global warming"
By Bill McKibben, The Christian Century, February 20,
2007
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=2978

~ END ~

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20070413/f0efe08f/attachment.html>