Greenpeace's icebreaker-class research ship, the Arctic Sunrise, is currently on an expedition to document the impacts of global warming on Greenland's glaciers, polar bears, and native peoples.

But, as California burns and another major hurricane barrels toward the West coast, we can say with some certainty that we are already witnessing the effects of global warming in our very own backyard.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared states of emergency in several counties as eight separate wildfires continue to ravage The Golden State.  One of the fires in the mountains north of Los Angeles has exploded to more than triple its size since Sunday, scorching over 121,000 acres of forest and putting at least 12,500 homes at risk.

The governor has ordered mandatory evacuations in all of the affected areas as thousands of firefighters work to contain the wildfires.  Many have been injured and, over the weekend, the inferno claimed the lives of two men who were bravely battling the flames.

 

 

While the causes of the California wildfires remain unknown, their unrelenting ferocity is being blamed on recent temperatures, which have been in the triple-digits in some inland Los Angeles areas. Hundreds of thousands of acres have already burned this summer, the worst damage in years, and researchers expect that figure to rise well above average before the season is over.

California is also in the middle of one of its most active hurricane seasons in decades.  There have already been ten named storms this summer, seven of which have occurred during the month of August.  As thousands flee the wildfires, Hurricane Jimena is spinning its way toward the Baja California coastline.  The storm is currently listed as a Category 4, with powerful winds over 155 miles per hour, but some are predicting that Jimena will reach Category 5 before it hits land.

Scientists have been telling us that, as the planet continues to get warmer, we can expect an increased frequency and intensity of both summer forest fires and hurricanes.  It is now painfully clear that global warming is upon us, whether we like it or not. 

We have been warned that the only way to stop runaway climate change and prevent the worst impacts of global warming is with a new international climate treaty that would reduce global warming pollution 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

But, despite his inaugural pledge to “return science to its rightful place,” President Obama has put the full support of his administration behind a climate bill that gives billions to the coal industry – the number one source of global warming pollution in the U.S. – and only calls for a 4% reduction in emissions by 2020.

We now have less than 100 days until the U.N. Climate Convention in Copenhagen, where the new international climate treaty must be agreed upon.  Please TAKE ACTION now, and tell the President to become a leader in the battle against global warming.

I can't believe how crazy it sounds to hear that the nuclear industry is trying to build more plants and get more federal funding to do so.

The nuclear industry is actually trying to paint itself green! It is true that they don’t emit greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. But, do they think we’ve forgotten disasters like Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl? There is still no way to take care of nuclear waste that will remain dangerous for 240,000 years.

But this isn’t stopping the nuclear industry from trying to convince Americans and Congress that we need more nuclear reactors here in the U.S. Right now, they’re lobbying Congress for increased funding to build more and expand current nuclear power facilities. This is an outrage! Your taxpayer dollars should be invested in renewable energy sources like wind and solar, NOT towards dangerous nuclear power.

Take action now before the nuclear industry puts us all in danger! Tell your Representative that you don’t want nuclear power and that they should put an end to nuclear subsidies and support renewable energy instead.

This is just outrageous! I'm writing my Representative right now.

Get your popcorn folks - it's time for a presidential address.  Tune in tonight to hear about the state of our union.  Pay particular attention to how many paragraphs are devoted to our environment and, more importantly, think about how many of the statements are actually true.  No matter how good Bush is at naming his initiatives (healthy forests, clean air, etc.), the truth is he is the worst environmental president in history.

Rumor has it he may even be touting nuclear energy as the answer to our dependence on foreign oil!  And you can bet most of the speech will be devoted to the "war on terror."  Someone needs to explain to our fearless leader that nuclear plants = terrorist targets.  He can't have his cake and eat it too.

For a laugh, check out this mock State of the Union address. 

For 25 years, there has been a bitter debate about opening the Arctic Refuge to development. The oil industry may have finally gotten its way, not because it's the right thing to do, but because it backed drilling opponents into a corner.

The House of Representatives passed a bill allowing drilling in the refuge, but the bill also contained money for hurricane relief and bird flu preventive measures. Don't you just love politics?

Read more on the decision.

When our activists need a break from chasing whalers on the high seas, you can usually find them climbing dirty power plants. For two days, 20 of our German activists have been atop the most polluting coal plant in all of Europe. The owner of the plant is planning 10 new brown-coal power units, one of which together with the plant we've occupied will emit more carbon dioxide than the entire nation of New Zealand.

The dramatic action brings back memories of a similar action in Pennsylvania last year. Six of our activists scaled a 700-foot smokestack that Bush's own researchers admit is responsible for the premature deaths of 237 resident PER YEAR.

Read more on the "Smokestack Six."