United Nations Security Council | Be a Seed for Change

Happy New Year! We’re excited to be kicking off 2011 with the support of people like you.

You are the foundation of our organization. It’s because of your support that the Union of Concerned Scientists has been able to make great progress on some of the toughest environmental, health, and security issues of our time.

We’re very interested in what you, as a UCS supporter, think about what we’re doing. So please tell us what matters to you by taking our quick online survey.

As a science-based organization, it is anathema to us to make uninformed presumptions, so we rely on you to tell us what you think. We’ll use your answers to make better decisions about what to send you and how often to contact you. Please click here to give us your opinion today.

We also want to make sure you know about some exciting accomplishments that happened in just the last few weeks—each of which we worked hard to shape and deliver:

•Congress ratified the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and Russia. This critical pact will reduce each country’s vast arsenals of nuclear weapons and is a critical first step in a renewed global effort to reduce the nuclear threat.

•The Obama administration released its long-awaited scientific integrity plan to improve transparency in policy making, ensure that well-qualified individuals are appointed to science positions, and protect those who expose abuse of science.

•An historic agreement was reached at December’s U.N. climate convention in Cancún, Mexico, that will reduce tropical deforestation and protect forest peoples and biodiversity (contrary to the perception some have that only modest progress was made there).

These long-fought achievements would not have been realized if it weren’t for your actions and support. Thank you, and congratulations.

We look forward to the new year ahead and to continuing to work together with you, side-by-side, to promote science-based solutions to cut global warming emissions, develop clean energy alternatives, reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, and much more!

Don’t forget to take our quick online survey to tell us how our online communications are serving you.

Sincerely,

Kevin Knobloch

President

The facts are devastatingly clear.

Around the globe, we are on track to see the hottest year yet in 2010. From the flooding in Pakistan to droughts in Russia and landslides in China, the effects of this year’s extreme weather are catastrophic and undeniable.

The recent pattern of extreme weather events is consistent with what scientists have projected to result from climate change: temperature shifts, severe rainfall and snow in some parts of the world, and major droughts in others.

Check out Repower America’s fact sheet on extreme weather and share it with your friends.

Get the Facts: Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Despite the overwhelming facts, skeptics — like the now infamous Koch brothers¹, Massey coal² and Lord Monckton³ — will no doubt continue to spend big bucks to keep spreading misinformation about global warming.

But if we want to fight the skeptics, we’ll need a growing number of people to get informed. As the evidence mounts, leaders like Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are finally speaking out about climate change. President Medvedev spoke out at a United Nations Security Council meeting and said,

“What is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past. This means that we need to change the way we work, change the methods that we used in the past.”⁴

In Pakistan, nearly 1,600 people have died this summer from the worst monsoon-related floods in living memory. And around the world, 2000-2009 was the warmest decade on record⁵, and 2010 is on track to be the warmest year the world has seen in 131 years.

Extreme weather events are putting lives in danger all around the world. Make sure you get the facts and spread the word.

Learn more about the link between extreme weather and climate change today.

Thanks for getting involved,

Dave Boundy
Campaign Manager
Repower America