Greens Respond to Climate Change Report

Green party leaders today said that a new climate change report to be released Monday proves the election of Green Party candidates into office is essential to enforce the immediate and drastic steps needed to combat global warming.

According to an Associated Press news article, the report to be issued
by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center
for a New American Security said that climate change could be one of
the greatest national security challenges ever faced by US policy
makers ("Think Tank: Climate Affects Security," by Arthur Max,
November 3, 2007
).

The report details numerous disastrous consequences of global warming,
including massive migration, health issues from drought, famine and
disease, and nuclear proliferation.

"Republican and Democratic officials failed to take the steps needed
to confront this global catastrophe for many years when they had the
chance, to the point that global warming is now a certainty," said
Ronald Forthofer, 2002 Green Party candidate for Governor of Colorado
and retired professor of biostatistics from the University of Texas
School of Public Health in Houston.

"They depend too much on corporate contributions to address global
warming aggressively," added Mr. Forthofer, who is also a member of
the Green Party's Speakers Bureau. "The frontrunners for the
Democratic and Republican presidential nomination are competing for
money from energy and nuclear producers, car manufacturers, water
privatizers, developers, and other corporations who have a vested
interest in preventing the efforts necessary to confront the problem.
Green Party candidates and elected officials take no corporate
contributions and can devote their attention fully to efforts to solve
the problem."

(See OpenSecrets.org's chart of oil and gas industry contributions to
2008 presidential campaigns
.)

Greens have called recent legislation on global warming, such as the
Lieberman-Warner bill, inadequate and corporate-friendly. The
Lieberman-Warner bill's free emissions allowances and the use of
carbon offsets to enable polluting companies meet emissions targets
will delay the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The European
Union, which grants and enforces carbon trading permits, has failed to
reduce emissions ("Smoke alarm: EU shows carbon trading is not cutting
emissions," The Guardian, April 3, 2007
).

Monday's report expects regional conficts to increase as a result of
competition for land, water and other resources, and predicts "the
collapse and chaos associated with extreme climate change futures
[will] destabilize virtually every aspect of modern life."

"As the highest consumer of energy and resources, the US must take the
lead in setting a good example with a short-term 50-70 percent
reduction of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions necessary to contain
climate change," said Deanna Taylor, co-chair of the Desert Greens
(Utah) and member of the Green Party's Eco-Action Committee. "Wars
for resources like the Iraq War will increase unless we take immediate
action. War financing will continue to steal dollars from human needs
and prevent us from promoting sustainable jobs from new energy
technologies, including energy efficiency and renewables, that will
address global warming."

The Green Party also strongly opposes the use of nuclear energy as an
alternative to fossil fuels, citing security risks, high costs, and
the difficulty of disposing huge amounts of dangerous nuclear waste.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193