YOUR NAME SIGNS "STATE OF THE CLIMATE" REPORT Message Urges President to Address Climate Change

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CITY, STATE, Jan. 24, 2008 – YOUR NAME today joined a prestigious group of U.S. leaders who delivered a "State of the Climate" statement to the White House on the eve of President Bush's final State of the Union address. The statement, which also was sent to Congressional leaders and presidential candidates, notes that the "state of the nation's climate policy is poor" and urges immediate action to reverse climate change. "We must recognize that climate change is the leadership issue of our time," it says.

The full statement can be found at www.climateactionproject.com.

In signing the statement, YOUR NAME joins Nobel Prize winners, scientists, elected leaders and the heads of major environmental organizations in urging the federal government to invest more in climate science, to seize the opportunity of an emerging global market for clean energy technologies, and to recognize that global warming is an economic, public health and national security issue.

Among the signatories are world-renowned environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody Williams and several leading American scientists, including officials of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Federation of American Scientists and experts from Yale, Harvard, Duke and Princeton.

"We can no longer talk about the State of the Union unless we consider the state of our climate," said William S. Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, which developed the statement.

It calls climate change "the most dangerous and difficult challenge of our time" threatening not only island nations and the Earth's poles, but the continental United States itself.

"Cities, towns, suburbs, rural areas -- every local community has a stake in recognizing climate change and the power to do something about it," said Michelle Wyman, executive director of ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability.  ICLEI, an international association of local governments that have made a commitment to climate protection and sustainable development, has urged all U.S. mayors to address climate change as an integral part of their agendas.

The Presidential Climate Action Project, headquartered at the Wirth Chair of School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, is producing a 100-day climate action plan for the next President. The project issued a preliminary plan on Dec. 4, 2007, and will provide presidential candidates with a final plan in September.

Becker said PCAP will continue accepting signatures on the State of the Climate statement to underscore the importance of the climate issue as the nation chooses its next President.  The full statement, the list of signatures and instructions on how others can sign can be found at www.climateactionproject.com.

 

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