Outdoorsmen heed call to support proposed global warming bill
by Jeff Leonard
Friday, June 6, 2008
Global warming is a hot topic in the media right now, but it’s even hotter in the United States Senate.
A major piece of conservation legislation is being considered. The Climate Security Act (S 3036) proposes important pollution cuts while providing a large source of funding to assist wildlife and habitats in combatting the effects of global warming.
The bill would generate resources to carry out activities (including research and education) that assist fish, wildlife, plants and associated ecological processes in adapting to and surviving the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification caused by global warming.
The wildlife funding in this bill would amount to more than any other dedicated source of funding for wildlife and natural resources in history, according to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). While there have been other votes in 2003 and 2005 on Senate global warming bills, the Climate Security Act of 2007 is the most comprehensive bill ever proposed, they said.
NWF, a conservation group with more than 4 million members, sponsors and supporters, works to combat the effects of Global Warming, which they claim is the most urgent threat to wildlife. They are asking for help from the 13 million hunters and more than 34 million anglers in America.
Sportsmen are answering the call, and as of June, more than 700 different hunting and fishing organizations from all 50 states have joined in urging the United States Congress to pass legislation targeting global warming and climate changes.
The legislation they support would cut the effects of global warming by 2 percent each year through a cap-and-trade system that includes the dedicated funding for wildlife conservation and restoration, according to the NWF.
“Sportsmen want America to lead on global warming solutions,†sportsman David Crockett said. “We have used cap-and-trade systems â€" and American ingenuity â€" successfully in the past to cut pollution. Now, similar measures will not only protect our heritage, but also bring new jobs to our cities and rural communities.â€
According to the NWF’s Web site, America’s fish and wildlife are feeling the heat of global warming quite literally. For example, trout populations are declining from increased water temperatures, wetlands critical to waterfowl populations are threatened due to increasing temperatures and in some areas, moose populations have plummeted due to warmer weather.
If the problem of global warming is not addressed, the NWF claims Missouri could see changes such as forestry composition changes from oaks and hickory’s to southern pines. Recreational fish habitat could be drastically reduced, harming species like smallmouth bass and trout.
By the 2080’s the NWF reports that drier climates could reduce up to 91 percent of the wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region, which is one of the most important waterfowl breeding grounds in America. This could lead to a 9 to 69 percent decline in the number of ducks breeding in the region.
Global warming will also affect the lives of many other Missourians, including farmers who will be faced with inconsistent crop yields and businesses that depend on wildlife tourism to exist.
The NWF quoted a study done in St. Louis that estimated that by 2050, heat-related deaths during a typical summer could increase 170 percent, from about 80 to more than 200 per summer. The effects of global warming are also projected to contribute to weather extremes and fluctuations in precipitation that will result in droughts and flooding, according to NWF.
“This is not a matter of liberal versus conservative,†Simon Roosevelt, sportsman and great-great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt said in an NWF press release. “And it’s not about being red or blue â€" or even green. It’s a matter of common sense. It’s about the future.â€
Outdoors correspondent Jeff Leonard can be contacted at npsports@npgco.com
by Jeff Leonard
Friday, June 6, 2008
Global warming is a hot topic in the media right now, but it’s even hotter in the United States Senate.
A major piece of conservation legislation is being considered. The Climate Security Act (S 3036) proposes important pollution cuts while providing a large source of funding to assist wildlife and habitats in combatting the effects of global warming.
The bill would generate resources to carry out activities (including research and education) that assist fish, wildlife, plants and associated ecological processes in adapting to and surviving the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification caused by global warming.
The wildlife funding in this bill would amount to more than any other dedicated source of funding for wildlife and natural resources in history, according to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). While there have been other votes in 2003 and 2005 on Senate global warming bills, the Climate Security Act of 2007 is the most comprehensive bill ever proposed, they said.
NWF, a conservation group with more than 4 million members, sponsors and supporters, works to combat the effects of Global Warming, which they claim is the most urgent threat to wildlife. They are asking for help from the 13 million hunters and more than 34 million anglers in America.
Sportsmen are answering the call, and as of June, more than 700 different hunting and fishing organizations from all 50 states have joined in urging the United States Congress to pass legislation targeting global warming and climate changes.
The legislation they support would cut the effects of global warming by 2 percent each year through a cap-and-trade system that includes the dedicated funding for wildlife conservation and restoration, according to the NWF.
“Sportsmen want America to lead on global warming solutions,†sportsman David Crockett said. “We have used cap-and-trade systems â€" and American ingenuity â€" successfully in the past to cut pollution. Now, similar measures will not only protect our heritage, but also bring new jobs to our cities and rural communities.â€
According to the NWF’s Web site, America’s fish and wildlife are feeling the heat of global warming quite literally. For example, trout populations are declining from increased water temperatures, wetlands critical to waterfowl populations are threatened due to increasing temperatures and in some areas, moose populations have plummeted due to warmer weather.
If the problem of global warming is not addressed, the NWF claims Missouri could see changes such as forestry composition changes from oaks and hickory’s to southern pines. Recreational fish habitat could be drastically reduced, harming species like smallmouth bass and trout.
By the 2080’s the NWF reports that drier climates could reduce up to 91 percent of the wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region, which is one of the most important waterfowl breeding grounds in America. This could lead to a 9 to 69 percent decline in the number of ducks breeding in the region.
Global warming will also affect the lives of many other Missourians, including farmers who will be faced with inconsistent crop yields and businesses that depend on wildlife tourism to exist.
The NWF quoted a study done in St. Louis that estimated that by 2050, heat-related deaths during a typical summer could increase 170 percent, from about 80 to more than 200 per summer. The effects of global warming are also projected to contribute to weather extremes and fluctuations in precipitation that will result in droughts and flooding, according to NWF.
“This is not a matter of liberal versus conservative,†Simon Roosevelt, sportsman and great-great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt said in an NWF press release. “And it’s not about being red or blue â€" or even green. It’s a matter of common sense. It’s about the future.â€
Outdoors correspondent Jeff Leonard can be contacted at npsports@npgco.com
