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Take Action to Protect
Public Lands and Waters from Global Warming!
Please ask your Congressional Members to ensure that global
warming will not devastate America's national parks, forests,
wildlife refuges, and marine sanctuaries.
Background
Although global warming will have serious impacts in every
region and state, its effects on public lands and waters
will be especially severe because these lands give shelter
to the majority of America's endangered species, unique
and biologically diverse ecosystems, and critical forest
resources.
Federal agencies, including the National Park Service,
Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have been legally
entrusted with managing and protecting these areas for the
American people. Unfortunately, their management strategies
are currently based on weather patterns of the previous
century. In order to truly protect these areas for future
generations, these agencies must immediately begin to analyze
the effects of global warming, and implement management
actions to mitigate these impacts.
To learn more about the impacts of global warming on public
lands and waters, check out Bluewater's report, Scorched
Earth, Global
Climate Change Impacts on Public Lands and Waters.
Please write to your Members of Congress today to voice
your concern for our public lands and waters. To find your
U.S. senator, visit http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm.
To locate your representative, visit http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html.
Learn
more about global warming!
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<<Date>>
The Honorable _____________
<<Address>>
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator/Representative ______________,
I am writing to express my concern about the devastating
impacts of global warming on America's national parks, forests,
wildlife refuges, and marine sanctuaries. Global warming is
the most pressing environmental issue facing these public
lands and waters, and will likely devastate entire species
and ecosystems over the next century.
According to the Bush Administration's 2002 Climate Action
Report, entire ecosystems such as alpine meadows in Rocky
Mountain National Park are likely to disappear due to global
warming. Barrier islands like Assateague Island National Seashore
are expected to disappear under rising seas. Coral reefs located
in America's marine sanctuaries are also threatened with extinction,
due to increased carbon dioxide concentration and warming
waters.
In addition, scientists predict that global warming will
cause all of Glacier National Park's glaciers to melt by 2030,
much of Everglades National Park to be submerged by 2100,
and native forests in parks like Yosemite to decline by as
much as 60 percent unless we take steps to reduce our greenhouse
gas pollution, the main culprit of global warming.
Federal agencies have been charged with protecting these
lands and waters for future generations. Please take action
to ensure that these agencies follow their mandates to protect
resources from harm by planning for and taking steps to mitigate
the impacts of global warming.
Sincerely,
<<Signature>>
<<Name>>
<<Address>>
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