We published a response to Congressman Cravaack’s amendment to cut funding for climate change education in the Duluth News Tribune.

Read the article…

If you pay attention to the rhetoric between climate change supporters and climate change deniers, you would think that it is a polarizing issue; that you could predict by political party affiliation which way the public will fall on climate and energy issues.

A new poll says this is not true. The majority of all people, regardless of political party, believe that global warming should be a political priority and they want their elected officials to do something about it.

According to Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication “when you look at a policy like should the nation make a major investment in clean energy, everybody supports that. I mean, in some cases, we found nine out of ten Americans support a national investment in clean energy….People come to support the exact same policy, albeit for very different reasons. The alarmed and the concerned, they support clean energy because they're worried about carbon emissions and reducing climate change. But the doubtful and dismissive don't believe in climate change, but they support those exact same policies because they resonate with their deeply held values and concerns, mainly that we are so dependent on fossil fuels and other countries for the energy that runs much of our modern society.”

Indeed, a majority of Americans from both political parties are ready for the "grand bargain,” an increase in taxes on old energy sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) in return for a reduction in income tax rates across the board. They are ready for a new national climate and energy policy to emerge. They are also ready to support new, cutting edge energy technologies and they recognize that climate change is starting to affect extreme weather events. In fact, 82 percent said they were personally affected by a climate-related extreme weather event of one kind or another last year and are ready to do something about it.

These are some of the key findings in a new poll released by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities in a project called "Climate Change in the American Mind." The survey looks at what Americans believe about new energy technologies as well as new or emerging climate policies.

For more information:

Listen on NPR

Download the full report:

Yale Project on Climage Change Education (PDF 2.1MB)

Earlier this week, the Obama Administration issued draft language to establish the first-ever carbon pollution protections for new power plants. Carbon pollution is the main contributor to climate disruption and is linked to life-threatening air pollution like smog – which triggers asthma attacks – making it a serious hazard to Americans’ health and future. Once finalized, these protections will ensure that new power plants will meet public health standards and protect Americans from dangerous pollution.

It is quite alarming to learn that The Heartland Institute, a conservative think-tank, is planning to create educational materials that contradict the established science on climate change.

Letter from the Executive Director

A few articles caught my eye in the Minneapolis based Star Tribune last month. Of course I was proud of Will Steger’s opinion piece on climate literacy, published on January 27th: Will writes “if the nation is to address climate change, it must begin with a public that is climate literate.” You can read the piece here.

Another article in the paper was the new plant hardiness zone map released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), used by gardeners to select plantings that will be compatible with temperatures in their area. The climate change deniers in the Bush Administration pulled a similar map from circulation in 2003 because of the clear northward trend of planting zones. USDA insists that this is not a climate change map but when compared to the previous map, issued in 1990, the warming trend is hard to miss.

Finally, the U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released its Annual Energy Outlook 2012 report, citing that the United States consumed less coal and imported oil in 2011 than it did in 2005. While current emission levels are not on target to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 17 percent by the year 2020, EIA’s forecast shows that new fuel-economy standards are helping Americans reduce their daily oil consumption. Locally, in Minneapolis, the city has experienced a 12.8 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions without cutting electricity use over the past six years. The reduction may be the result of cleaner energy such as wind and solar as well as more fuel-efficient cars. The city is currently revising a new Climate Action Plan.

Read more about our program highlights in this month’s e-newsletter.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rom, Executive Director