On May 22, National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Larry Schweiger, celebrity naturalist David Mizejewski and NWF’s staff in NYC were guests of NASDAQ; the world’s most dynamic stock market and home to such innovative companies as Google and Apple.  There have been a couple of historic numbers in the news recently; the American stock market hitting an all time high (good), the highest level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in human history (not good), which makes NWF grateful to NASDAQ for giving Larry such a special platform for discussing climate change, wildlife habitat loss and connecting children to nature.

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NWF’s message of environmental education, conservation and cooperation was shown in supersize across the jumbo-tron at “The Crossroads of the World.” This collaborative event is a great example of the business community teaming up with conservation organizations to forward social responsibility initiatives.  National Wildlife Federation is partnering with NYC corporations to promote post hurricane Sandy restoration work, tackling climate change and integrating sustainability into K-12 education with our Eco-Schools program.  It’s very encouraging to see so many diverse companies making environmental conservation a part of their business plan.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed the fact that after working as a market trader for over a decade, that when I finally got to ring the closing bell for the stock market it was to share the National Wildlife Federation’s mission of inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

“Gina McCarthy has already been approved once by the Senate and since then has only strengthened her record as a non-partisan voice for sensible reductions in pollution to protect America’s wildlife, clean air and water, and public health,”  says Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “The full Senate should give her a clean vote as soon as possible. We’ve already wasted enough time watching polluter allies play political games with her confirmation process.”

The protest by polluter allies on the committee didn’t win them any friends. Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, told Amy Harder of National Journal, “They looked like sore losers when they walked out the way they did.”

Learn more about Gina McCarthy and her work to protect wildlife and connect children with nature at StandWithGina.com.

Tell your senators you support Gina McCarthy to serve as America’s next Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

Watch Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of National Wildlife Federation, as he reacts to the vote from the Platte River in Nebraska–a vital stopover for hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes threatened by toxic oil spills from Keystone XL:

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At a time of record-breaking temperatures and increasingly devastating extreme weather events, our leaders need to stand up against dirty and dangerous energy projects. With your voice today, we can hold the senators accountable who sided with Big Oil over their constituents interests.

On Twitter?

Find your senators in the list below and remind them that Americans don’t want the Keystone XL pipeline by tweeting at them:

Protect caribou by telling the Obama administration to address Keystone XL’s impacts on wildlife, habitat and climate change.

Malcolm Barnard

Attending the Disney Kids and Nature celebration was one of the best times of my life. Two great opportunities from the celebration were really amazing for me. The first was the opportunity to speak in front of the heads of leading conservation organizations, and the second was meeting a lot of very important people that work with conservation and the environment. The speech was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because it gave me the chance to give my message to a huge audience. The other amazing opportunity was the chance to meet incredible people who have careers that I would love to pursue. I was able to meet Larry Schweiger, Disney leaders, and even Dr. Jane Goodall. I had the opportunity to have lunch with Joe Rohde, the Chief Imagineer for Disney, and Jackie Ogden, Director of the Animal Kingdom Park. Joe spoke to me about the importance of making opposition strengthen you and your goals and enabling you to make positive changes to make your project stronger. I was really happy to talk to him about the NWF demonstration garden at the Animal Kingdom. I also was able to have one-on-one conversations with Tony DeRose, head researcher for Pixar, and Starr Long, award winning game programmer and Disney Producer.

Meeting the other kids at the summit was a great inspiration. I was able to learn what they are doing in their community, which was very amazing as youth are doing such great things for the environment. For example, one of the kids, Eric Babb, organized an invasive plant removal for his community. Since I try to initiate empowerment in youth in my community, the 100 youth participants showed me the importance of becoming empowered at a young age. This experience makes me want to try to get all of the youth of Johns Creek involved in the community. It was also great to meet the other NWF youth representatives and hear about what they are doing in their communities. Imagine what a difference would be made if all of the youth in our country became empowered and were doing things like the kids at the conference.

The summit was a great educational experience. I developed many new skills including:

1. Ways to brainstorm and set goals (in a way I never did before) towards what you want to get accomplished.
2. To make negative feedback a positive force toward improvement.
3. Have a greater sense and need for flexibility as requirements constantly change while you are working on a project.
4. Involve more youth in volunteer opportunities – I plan to implement this in the Johns Creek community.

Attending the Disney Kids and Nature Celebration was an inspirational experience that strengthened my love of stewarding conservation programs. Thank you so much for the inspiring opportunity to be a NWF Youth Ambassador for this great event.

Renee Whalawitsa

Reneee provided the following photos and captions:

From the Chaperones

Margaret Lee – Grandmother of Renee Whalawitsa

It was an awesome time!  My granddaughter, Renee E. Whalawitsa, and I invited people to watch the movie, Chimpanzee starting today.  They are amazed when we tell them we were at the premiere with Jane Goodall!  I (Margaret) had my picture taken with her but photo is poor quality but I am proud of this unforgettable moment.  She asked me to contact her “Roots and Shoots.”  Renee and I are working on a display for her school which will be presented at my work also.  We will entitle Renee’s project, “Disney Loves Mother Earth.”  We will wear our t-shirts.  Nature is very in line with our culture.  Thank you very much (Ahehee).

Lesa Redhouse – Mother of Daveishena Redhouse

The greatest highlight for me was getting to take a flight with my daughter to a place that would make a big difference in our lives. We have never flown on a plane so just planning to the days of departure was exciting for the both of us.  I enjoyed the speeches we had on Saturday and watching my daughter get inspired by the employees of Disney, this showed my daughter and me anything is possible especially if you have the passion for nature. I believe my daughter learned a lot because when we got home she told everyone that would listen that not only was she saving the planet there were others kids out in the world that were too and asked family and friends to please consider recycling and taking care of mother earth. My daughter inspired her aunts and uncles to take their kids out on nature walks and enjoy long talks, along with listening to their kids. Her friends at school were so excited for her. Just seeing my daughter talking about our experience along with the purpose of the trip is the greatest inspiration ever.

The inspirational moment for me was when I got to see my daughter, Daveishena take the stage on Saturday and be able to talk about their group project and at the end her team won. She told me later she couldn’t believe she got her team to win, and teamwork did make a difference. I forgot the gentleman’s name but he was the one as a kid that got to stop child labor and made a big difference. This speech was a great moment because Daveishena has a thing about child labor. For her, just knowing that someone had made a difference for kids was satisfying enough–to know that as kids they make a difference if you put some effort into it and just ask for help for the right people. The one thing I took with me from this trip is that just listening to our kids makes a tremendous difference, taking our nature drive/walks/strolls or just sitting out on the desert hilltop on our reservation is something that people all over the world do.

We thank you so much for inviting us to your Youth Summit and we will continue to take what we learned to our local chapter to start small by cleaning up near parks and river banks where we see kids playing so they can enjoy litter free nature. We have started a cleaning crew near our home for the litter problem and we also decided to do this again in the summer.

Margie Jenkins – Chaperone for Brandon Dykes

The most inspirational moments were just being there to experience the Disney family and to see the movie Chimpanzee.  The ENTIRE trip was magical beyond belief and inspirational. The highlight of the trip was going to ANIMAL Kingdom because I was able to see, smell and experience the animals.

First, let’s take a step back & look at how skyrocketing oil prices have made Canadian tar sands oil more profitable, flipping conventional oil wisdom on its head. Oil analyst Philip Verleger explains:

In the past, Midwestern refiners paid more for oil than their counterparts in Texas and Louisiana because oil had to be shipped north.

Recently, though, these refiners have gotten a break as Canadian output has increased. Oil now flows south, not north. Midwestern refiners can save significant sums, savings that ultimately get passed on to consumers.

Executives at Canadian oil companies want to end this discount. They propose building the Keystone line to go around Midwest refineries.

Build the Keystone XL pipeline to refineries on the Gulf Coast and suddenly oil companies don’t have to keep selling it at a discount to drivers in the Midwest – they can just put it on the global market and ship it to the highest bidder in China or anywhere else. Verleger estimates building Keystone XL would result in Americans paying $5 billion more every year, not just in higher gas prices, but in higher production costs for food and other goods. That’s why Cornell University researchers actually say Keystone XL would result in a net loss of American jobs.

National Wildlife Federation Senior Vice President Jeremy Symons broke it down in very simple terms in testimony to a Congressional committee last May. Skip ahead to 1:37 of this clip:

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That’s why oil prices falling in the wake of Keystone XL’s rejection was such a big tell, a tip of Big Oil’s hand. If Keystone XL was really about energy security as its supporters claim, wouldn’t its rejection create more insecurity and a rise in oil prices?

Between the Obama administration’s setback of Keystone XL and its rollout of new fuel efficiency standards, Big Oil faces two major threats to its massive profits. As National Wildlife Federation President & CEO Larry Schweiger testified in Detroit this week, the new fuel efficiency standards will cut our oil dependence by billions of barrels, saving consumers money, cutting America’s carbon pollution, and reducing the risk of oil spills that threaten people and wildlife.

The rejection of this Keystone XL permit is a major victory not just for conservationists but for the Nebraska families worried about their drinking water and landowners threatened with having their property rights stripped by TransCanada. “The National Wildlife Federation’s 4 million supporters from across the political spectrum believe that clean water, wildlife and the rights of American families should come before the power of big oil companies,” said NWF’s Larry Schweiger.

But while we’ve won this battle, you can bet this war isn’t over. Big Oil spent $110 million on lobbying in 2011 alone and its top lobbyist has already threatened President Obama with political payback.

Take Action

Tell President Obama to keep standing strong for wildlife against Big Oil.

I was heartened when visiting with my good friend David Orr in Oberlin, Ohio recently to hear about the Oberlin Project.  Similar to the transformative Adam Joseph Lewis Center envisioned and implemented by Adam Lewis, David and many others, the Oberlin Project is a bold initiative between the City of Oberlin, Oberlin College, and other partners that will “…revitalize the local economy, eliminate carbon emissions, restore local agriculture and forestry, and use the entire effort as an educational laboratory relevant to virtually every discipline.”[i]

Why is this initiative so important now?  As David highlights in his recent article What Do We Stand for Now, “…the era of cheap fossil fuel is over.  The era of rapid climate change is upon us.”[ii]

As we begin to accept these realities, we need to begin now to establish working examples of post-carbon communities that are fair and decent places to live, resilient to climate change and spikes in energy prices, and provide sustainable economic development opportunities.

Because the impacts of climate change will be pervasive, leaving no-one untouched, and because the solutions will be driven by changes in human behavior, the Oberlin Project’s inclusion of the psychology of climate change is an important dimension of the Project.  As Cindy McPherson Frantz, Associate Professor of Psychology at Oberlin College says, “The leaders of tomorrow need to understand psychological processes because both the problem and potential solutions to climate change have origins in human thought and behavior.”[iii]  As an example of how the Project is training students to be leaders in this area, a journalism student is developing communications pieces on energy that will maximize the potential to change attitude and behavior.

My mentor Ralph Abele once said “Be careful what you choose to be stubborn about, because you just might prevail.”  I’m grateful that David and all those working on the Oberlin Project are putting their “stubborn moral idealism” to work for the benefit of all of us.

This document is an important contribution for Christians seeking to learn more about climate change and act on it.

In the preface, Leith Anderson, President of National Association of Evangelicals, highlights the Christian imperative to care for the poor who are impacted by climate change:

God calls us to care for those who are poor, vulnerable and oppressed. It is the Christian thing to do.

While others debate the science and politics of climate change, my thoughts go to the poor people who are neither scientists nor politicians. They will never study carbon dioxide in the air or acidification of the ocean. But they will suffer from dry wells in the Sahel of Africa and floods along the coasts of Bangladesh. Their crops will fail while our supermarkets are full. They will suffer while we study.

Download the document and read more here.

Reuters reports a decision on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will be delayed by at least a year:

The Obama administration plans to announce on Thursday it will explore a new route for a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, delaying a final approval beyond the 2012 U.S. election, sources briefed on the matter said.

The decision would be a victory for environmentalists, many of whom oppose the pipeline, and a setback for TransCanada Corp, whose $7 billion Keystone XL project is seen as the most important North American oil pipeline plan for decades. […]

If the administration explores a new route, “it’s a huge victory, and it would probably be the biggest environmental gift that President Barack Obama has given us,” said Tony Iallonardo, a spokesman at the National Wildlife Federation.

UPDATE 2:54pm: The State Department has just issued statement regarding the Keystone XL pipeline project review. It reads in part, “Particularly given the concentration of concerns regarding the environmental sensitivities of the current proposed route through the Sand Hills area of Nebraska, the Department has determinded it needs to undertake an in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes in Nebraska.”

It concludes, “Among the relevant issues that would be considered are environmental concerns (including climate change), energy security, economic impacts, and foreign policy.”

UPDATE 3:36pm: Dan Pfieffer, a White House spokesman, just tweeted reaction from President Barack Obama:

POTUS: I support the State Department’s announcement today regarding the need to seek additional information about the Keystone XL Pipeline.

UPDATE 4:34pm: Larry Schweiger, president & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, reacts to the delay for additional review:

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Learn more about the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline >>

I gathered with thousands of others around Barack Obama’s house on Sunday, urging the President to say no to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline that would carry millions of barrels of tar sands oil through America’s heartland, including the sensitive sandhill region in Nebraska. President Obama will be deciding whether or not to approve the dirty energy project in the coming months.

Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest and most energy-intensive forms of oil to produce. Oil companies are digging up pristine habitat in Alberta, Canada that provides habitat for lynx, moose, grizzly bears, and migrating birds.  Wildlife advocates joined with ranchers, faith leaders, sportsmen, environmentalists, tribal leaders, and many other Americans across the country to completely encircle the White House, sending a powerful statement to Mr. Obama: We will not back down.

Bill McKibben with 350.org and Tar Sands Action who coordinated the day, recalled the President’s promises to end the tyranny of oil and commit to curbing climate change.

Looking out over a sea of activists wearing orange “Stop the Pipeline” safety vests and waving “No Oil in Our Soil” cornfingers in the air, NWF President and CEO Larry Schweiger spoke to the crowd as well, calling on the President to make the right decision for future generations and the well-being of our planet.

Want to see more? Check out Tar Sands Action’s amazing photos capturing the event!

The Story Behind the Whooping Crane

It’s a chicken! It’s a swan! It’s an ostrich! Actually….it’s a whooping crane.  Aside from a couple polar bears, the endangered whooping crane was the only impacted animal seen at the White House.  The whooping crane has a lot at stake in whether the Keystone XL pipeline is approved. Although I’m sure the chickens, swans, and ostriches (nice guesses!) of the world don’t like the pipeline either.

The whooping crane (also known as NWF staff member, Sabrina Patel) donned white feathers speckled with oil and a characteristic red featherless patch near its beak.  Whooping cranes are one of the most highly endangered birds on the planet–only 74 breeding pairs exist in the core population found near the tar sands in Canada’s boreal forest.

Keystone XL would follow the bird’s migratory route and cross the Platte River in Nebraska where whooping cranes stop to rest and eat on their journey to Canada.  An oil spill in the Keystone XL pipeline (experts have predicted that 91 spills will occur in KXL’s lifetime) would harm the whooping crane’s migratory route and put the already endangered bird in even greater risk.

 Speak up to keep oil out of whooping crane habitat.

1. Highlight of the Week: Science Solid, America’s Polar Bears on Thin Ice
2. Quote: Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
3. Economic Story of the Week: Speeding Towards Fuel Efficiency
4. Editorial of the Week: Climate Change & the Plight of the Whitebark Pine
5. Capps for Clean Air
6. Schweiger Says: Will Someone Ask If News Corp. Was Behind Hacked Climate Emails?
7. Preview: Study: Climate-Induced Weather Extremes and the Future for Indian Country
8. Debt Deal, No Deal for Climate
9. Happening this Week

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Highlight of the Week

Science Solid, America’s Polar Bears on Thin Ice

The Bureau of Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has reportedly placed on administrative leave Dr. Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist, pending an internal investigation into “integrity issues.” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has alleged the query is a “political attempt to impugn [Dr. Monnett’s] observations on polar bears’ vulnerability to retreating sea ice.”

Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, said:

“When it comes to science demonstrating the threat to polar bears posed by global warming, this study is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s a massive body of established scientific evidence showing receding Arctic sea ice is putting polar bears in greater danger with each passing year.

“The latest major study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey only deepened concern, documenting long swims to Arctic summer sea ice put polar bear cubs at risk of drowning and force mothers to burn needed calories. So far, 2011 is no exception – the Arctic’s summer sea ice is at record-low levels.

“The terrible plight of polar bears due to climate change is based on decades of outstanding science that is absolutely irrefutable. Should BOEMRE, the agency responsible for handing out Arctic drilling permits, conduct its own investigation into Arctic polar bear science?”

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Quote:

“The weather is getting worse and more violent. Catastrophic, in fact. The federal government needs to do more to be ready to protect federal assets and provide disaster assistance on an increasing frequency…We’ve stopped talking about this on Capitol Hill. We’ve decided that the debate over global warming is too contentious. I think it’s a big mistake.”

– Senator Dick Durbin, Chair, Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and Government.

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Economic Story of the Week

Speeding Towards Fuel Efficiency

President Obama has announced new fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks that would double the current requirement to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025, resulting in a dramatic reduction in America’s oil dependence and carbon pollution.

“Whether you’re a commuter in a compact car or a sportsman who needs a pickup truck, every American deserves access to the most fuel-efficient, technologically-advanced vehicles that save them money, cut pollution and deliver great performance,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “These rules are an important step toward reducing our billion-dollar-a-day addiction to imported oil, money that stronger fuel efficiency standards will keep at home to invest in job creation here in America.”

The new standards would raise car fuel efficiency standards 5 percent annually between 2017 and 2025, while light trucks would be required to reach an annual gain of 3.5 percent between 2017 and 2021, and 5 percent between 2022 and 2025.

“A broad range of interests – from automakers to unions to conservationists – has come together behind these new rules,” said Schweiger. “The technology is ready, the standards are achievable and poll after poll shows the American people strongly support getting the job done. We all benefit from robust standards to cut our oil dependence, create American jobs, and protect wildlife and public health, and we stand ready to defend these gains from extremist, politically-motivated attacks.”

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Editorial of the Week

Climate Change & the Plight of the Whitebark Pine

(NY Times)

For centuries, the whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, has grown on hundreds of thousands of acres across the West. It is a keystone species of an entire ecosystem — one now seriously at risk. Most of the whitebark pines in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks are dead. It has been declared an endangered species in Canada. And, last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the whitebark pine “warranted” listing as threatened or endangered, making it one of the very few species officially acknowledged as threatened by climate change. The tragedy is the ongoing demise of an ecosystem, one for which humans are culpable. What looks, from the air, like a plagued forest has been plagued by the choices we have made over the past century.

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Capps for Clean Air

A press conference was held on Capitol Hill last week in support of an amendment to the House Environment and Interior Appropriations bill that would protect people and wildlife by striking a rider in the bill that delays the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to limit mercury and other harmful air toxics emitted from power plants.

The amendment, introduced by Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) would allow the EPA to set standards for dangerous air pollution that will save thousands of lives each year and reduce 90 percent of mercury that is emitted from coal-fired power plants. Mothers in Congress spoke at the event, including Rep. Lois Capps, Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), all expressing concern about the effects of mercury on children and women of child bearing age. Mercury is especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses; exposure affects a child’s ability to walk, talk, read, write and learn.

The American Lung Association is also using a nation-wide television campaign to urge Congress not to support policy that, according to Senator Harry Reid, would bring America back to “the robber-baron era where there were no controls on pollution from power plants, oil refineries and factories.”

The EPA is currently accepting public comments on a proposed rule to limit mercury and air toxics from power plants. Click here to take action.

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Will Someone Ask If News Corp. Was Behind Hacked Climate Emails?

Will the media finally start asking if Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. was connected to the illegal hacking of climate scientist emails?

It’s been frustrating that for all the rightful attention paid to The News of the World phone hacking scandal, virtually no journalist has been willing to ask if News Corp.’s lawbreaking extended into email hacking.

Given how quickly the stolen emails were handed to climate science deniers who were then immediately featured on Fox News, it’s a fair question to ask.

When the hacked emails were subject to independent investigation, climate scientists were vindicated. But given the clear as well as alleged connections between Scotland Yard and News Corp. in recent news, there’s been no similar independent investigation of who stole the emails in the first place. And as much as journalists were eager to report to the controversy on the emails, they’ve shown little interest in tracking down the thieves.

Read more from NWF CEO and president Larry Schweiger, here.

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Preview Study: Climate-Induced Weather Extremes and the Future for Indian Country

The National Wildlife Federation is releasing a new report on the disproportionate impacts of climate change on North American Indian Tribes. North American Indian Tribes are especially harmed by climate change, as more ecological shifts and more frequent, more extreme weather events occur. Because Tribes are heavily dependent on natural resources, severe weather events like droughts, floods, wildfires, and snowstorms make tribal communities particularly vulnerable and impact American Indians and Alaska Natives more than they impact the general population.

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Debt Deal, No Deal for Climate

Legislation to raise the debt ceiling and cut federal spending passed Congress today and was signed into law by President Obama. The deal imposes discretionary budget program caps, resulting in reductions for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies that focus on conservation and little chance of attaching a tax on carbon pollution to pay down the deficit. The Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House last congress and Senator John Kerry’s climate proposal were both deficit reducers.

According to Climate Progress there have been 110 anti-environmental votes taken since the 112th Congress began with 20 related to climate change, 28 on air and water pollution, and 22 on clean energy. Click here to take action and tell your Congressperson to stop the attacks on our health, wildlife and the nation’s national resources.

“The deal to resolve the Congressional debt ceiling crisis and avoid the catastrophe of a national default is clearly a relief for America,” said NWF president and CEO Larry Schweiger. “But moving forward, members of Congress must remember the heavier a burden our conservation programs are forced to bear in the short term, the higher a risk we face in the long term – not just in higher public health costs, but in jeopardizing the wildlife and special places that generations of Americans have protected and handed down to their children and grandchildren.”

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Happening this Week

Wednesday, August 3

Teleconference and Report Release: Climate Change Hurts Indian Tribes Disproportionately, 12 PM EST, email Weinmanna@nwf.org for more information

Hearing on energy tax policy reform, Ways and Means, 10:00 AM, 1100 Longworth

Hearing on five public lands bills, Energy and Natural Resources, 2:30 PM, 366 Dirksen

Thursday, August 4

Proposed DC Biodiesel Plant and the Environment, DC Environmental Network, 12PM, Global Green USA, 1100 15th Street NW, 11th Floor , RSVP for the August 4th DCEN Event Here!

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For more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.