Number: 2007-07
WHEREAS, climate change is already underway, as indicated by rising temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers, shifting ranges of plants and animals, and the earlier onset of spring; and
WHEREAS, global warming poses an unprecedented environmental threat not only to wildlife and its habitat but also to the security, safety and prosperity of people everywhere; and
WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that climate change will disproportionately affect the elderly, children, the infirm, and the urban poor; and
WHEREAS, our growing dependence on oil, which is a major contributor to global warming, is creating unpredictable swings in energy prices that have especially disruptive impacts on people with low income; and
WHEREAS, addressing the impacts of global warming and the effects of global warming policies on people with low income is important for the just and equitable treatment of all Americans; and
WHEREAS, climate change will disproportionately affect low-income people through deaths during heat waves and worsened air pollution and unemployment and economic hardships associated with climate change, and low-income people spend a significantly higher portion of their expenditures on direct energy purchases; and
WHEREAS, policies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions can also lower emissions of other pollutants, including particulates, ozone, nitrogen, and sulfur oxides and would create major health benefits, particularly for urban communities; and
WHEREAS, the most effective measure to combat global warming is to invest in energy efficiency, and a wide variety of energy efficient home products are currently available; and
WHEREAS, policies that reduce energy consumption will provide significant benefits to people with low incomes; and
WHEREAS, states are the laboratory of democracy and must act in the absence of federal leadership to protect citizens from the effects of global warming; and
WHEREAS, states that are imposing limits on global warming pollution and implementing market-based “cap and trade” programs face important decisions on whether major polluters should be allowed to freely emit a large share of their greenhouse gas emissions, or instead should be required to pay the government for the pollution they emit; and
WHEREAS, states and the federal government can generate substantial revenues by auctioning available permits to emit greenhouse gases under a “cap and trade” system for reducing pollution, or through other market-based climate policies; and
WHEREAS, revenues raised from climate policies can be used toward important public purposes related to global warming, including addressing the impacts of global warming and the effects of global warming policies on people with low income;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled March 30-31, 2007, in Washington, D.C. supports state and federal legislation that will:
- Increase funds for low-income energy efficiency programs that would provide energy audits, replace energy inefficient appliances, replace old windows, and insulate homes.
- Ensure that low-income residents have sufficient information on the long-term cost savings of joining a program that would allow them to invest in energy efficient measures.
- Ensure that any “cap and trade” program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions requires polluters to pay for emissions that endanger the public’s right to a safe climate.
- Ensure that revenues raised by the government from climate and energy policies are used to fund essential public purposes related to global warming, including measures to reduce any costs to people with low-incomes, to help communities prepare for and respond to damaging impacts of global warming, to provide assistance to workers adversely impacted by climate policies, and to improve the vitality of natural systems such as wetlands that help safeguard people from storm surges and other extreme climate events.