National Wildlife Federation Joins General Motors and Shell Oil in Call for Swift Action on Global Warming

Statement by Larry Schweiger
President & CEO National Wildlife Federation
On the organization joining USCAP
U.S. Climate Action Partnership

Washington, DC (May 8) – “We are delighted to announce the National Wildlife Federation has joined the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.

“USCAP is a powerfully growing voice uniting American business and conservation organizations in the call for swift action to confront global warming. Together, we are urging the federal government to quickly enact strong legislation to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“USCAP is advancing common sense solutions to an uncommon threat. Global warming is the defining issue of the 21^st century, and the number one priority of our work on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation’s four million members and supporters.

“We look forward to working with our new USCAP partners as we continue our work with America’s hunters and anglers and all conservation advocates to advance legislation that effectively meets the threat of global warming.

“USCAP is also the latest demonstration that global warming is a top priority in mainstream America. Leaders of business in America are responsible to shareholders, employees and customers across every shade of American political opinion. They cannot afford to made decisions on the future of their enterprises through any partisan ideological lens.

“Today, in addition to the National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy, USCAP announces a doubling of business members including new members General Motors Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Siemens, AIG, Alcan, Boston Scientific, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, John Deere, Marsh and Shell Oil.

“This group joins the organizations that founded USCAP earlier this year, including Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, FPL Group, Inc., General Electric, PG&E, and PNM Resources along with Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Center on Global Climate Change and World Resources Institute.

“USCAP members are united on the goal of prompt enactment of national legislation using market forces to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions over the shortest period of time reasonably achievable. USCAP’s “Call to Action” (available at www.us-cap.org) recommends that Congress establish mandatory emission targets to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas levels by 10-30 percent below today’s levels within 15 years, and a 60-80 percent reduction by 2050.

“We share that goal. We believe we all also share a moral responsibility to confront global warming to protect our children’s future. The fundamentally different planet that global warming threatens to create with severely diminished wildlife and radically altered habitats is not an alternative we can responsibly consider as a legacy.”

The National Wildlife Federation inspires Americas to protect wildlife for our children’s future.