Carbon Coalition asking citizens to act to reduce carbon pollution

CONCORD, NH (April 27, 2003)—The Carbon Coalition, an environmental call-to-action for New Hampshire citizens in the fight against air pollution, announced recently a campaign to “put global warming and the damaging health and economic effects of carbon pollution high on the political agenda.”

A non-partisan effort chaired by Republican State Representative Edward “Ted” Leach and former state Democratic Party leader Joe Keefe, the coalition was created by the state’s leading environmental groups, including the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Appalachian Mountain Club, Audubon Society of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group, and Clean Air – Cool Planet, a Portsmouth-based group specializing in solutions to global warming.

U. S. Congressman Jeb Bradley delivered the keynote address at the launch.

Citing the worldwide scientific consensus that global warming is real and accelerating, the Carbon Coalition advocates reduced dependence on fossil fuels, a cap on carbon dioxide emissions, and the “creation of an energy policy…founded upon energy conservation and the development of sustainable, renewable energy sources,” according to the Coalition’s statement of goals.

“We are here today to begin a process that will culminate in this country finally coming to grips with its air pollution problem,” said Leach. “This is a large-scale problem. And like any large-scale purchase, there will never be a less expensive time to close the deal than the present. Delay is going to be extremely costly for everyone. We cannot continue to suffer the profound health, economic, and environmental consequences of our dirty air when the answers lie right in front of us."

The answers, according to Keefe, are in “unified action by citizens, regardless of their political persuasion, to promote sound energy policies that will simultaneously cut air pollution, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and stimulate our economy.”

Keefe and Leach noted their bi-partisan presence in a non-partisan effort is intended to illustrate the need for all parties to do more in this vital effort.

“Make no mistake about this: We are all in this together,” Leach said. “The solution does not require new technologies, or some other undefined remedy, the only ingredient that is needed is commitment. When the grassroots is energized, things get done. And that is what this coalition is all about."

The new coalition “will take up the standard of the successful citizen’s campaign against acid rain,” said Master of Ceremonies Marcy Lyman of Manchester, who was active in that 1983 effort, which paved the way for sweeping Clean Air Act amendments in 1990—resulting in significant reductions in sulfur pollution—after “those New Hampshire Town Meeting votes catapulted acid rain onto the national agenda and into the spotlight during NH's first in the nation Presidential Primary.”

“Now we’re back,” Lyman said, “to stop global warming.”

Sharon Francis of Charlestown, who was coordinator of the Acid Rain 84 conference and project director of the NH-Ohio Acid Rain Partnership, voiced some of the frustration of having to return to fight for clean air more than 20 years later.

“Here we are, the richest nation on Earth, the richest nation in history,” said Francis, executive director of the Connecticut River Joint Commissions “and still American citizens have to fight decade after decade for the fundamental right to clean air."

Joining Francis at the podium was Rafe Pomerance, chairman of Americans for Equitable Climate Solutions, who was President of Friends of the Earth when it was the national partner of the Acid Rain campaign.

“The citizens of New Hampshire successfully brought the acid rain problem to the attention of the nation 20 years ago so that politicians had to respond. They can and must do the same starting today,” said Pomerance, who is former US Deputy Undersecretary of State for Environment and Development.

The Carbon Coalition, citing carbon pollution as “the greatest threat to our natural environment,” intends to ask candidates regardless of their party to support the goals of the New England Governors’ Conference and a national reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 15 to 20 percent below today’s levels by 2010.

Tufts University Professor Bill Moomaw, an internationally recognized authority on global warming, cited the dangers to the natural resources of New Hampshire, noting that the state has a great deal to lose from inaction.

“The generally agreed upon projections show that warming in New Hampshire
will be substantial,” he said, “and over the next 50 years could shift the average temperatures of New Hampshire to those currently found in New Jersey.” The signs of warming are already present, according to Moomaw.

“We have signs of a variety of trends, ranging from shifts in the location of plants, animals and insects to later winters and earlier springs that affect everything from flowering plants to maple syrup runs,” Moomaw said, noting that New Hampshire is particularly vulnerable.
“What New Hampshire has to lose in terms of its cultural traditions, tourism and its economy is enormous.”

Co-chairs Keefe and Leach reiterated that the new coalition “will mobilize and educate New Hampshire residents to act on solutions to the carbon pollution problem,” pledging an “intensifying state-wide campaign.”

To learn more, visit: www.carboncoalition.org

About Clean Air-Cool Planet
Clean Air – Cool Planet is an action-oriented environmental group working directly with corporations, communities, and campuses to develop and implement voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts. A 501(c)(3) qualified non-profit organization, CA-CP works throughout the Northeast to provide practical solutions that demonstrate the economic opportunities and environmental benefits associated with early actions on climate change. CA-CP works directly with a growing number of companies and institutions that exemplify leadership and social responsibility, including Shaw's Supermarkets, The Timberland Company, Tufts University, Middlebury College, and The University of New Hampshire. See www.cleanair-coolplanet.org

Contact: Clean Air-Cool Planet
Bill Burtis, Communications Manager, (603) 422-6464 ext. 105
bburtis@cleanair-coolplanet.org