Unprecedented levels of pollen have been measured across the Eastern United States this April. On April 7, the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic in Georgia saw a near-record-breaking concentration of 5,733 particles per cubic foot. And in mid-April, Kansas City, Mo., recorded a pollen level of over 8,000 particles per cubic foot, the highest ever seen at that station.

To put that in perspective, 15 particles per cubic foot can cause sniffling and sneezing in those with bad allergies , said Jay Portnoy, the chief of allergy, asthma and immunology at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo. At 100 particles per cubic foot, everyone with allergies gets sick. April’s record levels went even further.

“The sheer number of particles in the air was enough to trigger symptoms even in patients who didn’t have allergies, just because of the irritant effect,” Portnoy said.

The culprit for this year’s bumper crop of pollen is the weather, according to Portnoy. Temperatures stayed cool throughout February and March, preventing flowering trees from beginning their annual pollination ritual. Instead of a gradual, species-by-species release of pollen, the trees stored up until the weather got balmy. Then they all released at once.

For the 40 million Americans who have indoor/outdoor allergies, the pollen explosion translated into runny noses, scratchy throats and itchy eyes. Many of Portnoy’s patients complained that their usual medications weren’t working, but that wasn’t quite true, Portnoy said.

“The exposure to the pollen was so great that it overwhelmed the medicine,” he said.

A rising trend The tree pollen burst has settled down somewhat, and allergists aren’t yet sure how severe the grass pollen season, which starts in a few weeks, will be. Nonetheless, people with allergies might want to stock up on tissues.

Research suggests that the overall trend for pollen is up, and global warming could be to blame.

Both warmer temperatures and carbon dioxide trigger plants to grow faster and larger — and to produce more pollen. A 1995 study in the journal Grana found that birch pollen in Europe gradually increased over the previous 30 years. And a 2003 study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that ragweed growing near carbon-dioxide rich cities grew faster and denser than ragweed growing in the countryside. The urban ragweed also produced more pollen, said lead researcher Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Global warming lengthens the growing season, Ziska said, pointing to evidence that trees in carbon-dioxide rich cities flower earlier than those in the countryside. That could be good news for some farmers, but bad news for allergy sufferers.

“The combination of both increasing CO2 and, of course, warmer temperatures is likely to exacerbate both weed growth and pollen production from those weeds,” Ziska said.

Halting hay fever Allergies develop when pollen or another allergen triggers the immune system to produce an antibody called IgE. The tiny, y-shaped IgE antibodies then attach to large mast cells in the mucous membranes of the nose, throat, lungs and digestive system. When these primed mast cells encounter more pollen, they burst, spewing forth granules full of histamines and other chemicals. The result is the sneezing, sniffling mess of hay fever.

What scientists don’t know is why something as ubiquitous as pollen makes so many of us sick. Allergies could be a byproduct of the way our immune system evolved: annoying, but not so detrimental that natural selection deletes the genes responsible. Another theory, dubbed the “hygiene hypothesis ,” notes that people in areas rampant with parasite infections have low allergy rates. IgE antibodies help defend the body against parasitic worms, the theory goes, so perhaps by curing ourselves of parasites, we’ve freed IgE to run amok, overreacting to every grain of pollen.

The hygiene hypothesis is far from proven, but that hasn’t stopped some online entrepreneurs from selling parasitic worms to allergy patients desperate for a cure. Fortunately for the squeamish, there are other, more reliable options.

Allergists have an arsenal of antihistamine sprays, pills and eye drops, and corticosteroids can soothe swollen airways. In some cases, allergen immunotherapy — better known as allergy shots — can help people control their allergies. In fact, scientists have a slew of tips for allergy sufferers .

The important thing, said Rebecca Piltch, M.D., an allergist in San Rafael, Calif., is that patients figure out which types of pollen set off their allergies. That way, they can prepare for the season by developing a treatment plan in advance.

“For most people with allergies, it is possible to achieve good control over symptoms, and it is possible to have a good quality of life, including outdoor activities,” Piltch said. “So many people suffer for years or sometimes even decades, and that isn’t necessary most of the time.”

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The Award recognizes outstanding environmental protection and conservation projects created and developed by Illinois students.

“If you have recently participated in an environmental or conservation project, I encourage you to submit an application for a Governor’s Green Youth Award,” said Director Scott.

“Teachers who support these projects reinforce the value of helping to protect environment to Illinois’ youth.”

Classrooms or individual students currently enrolled in K – 12 school, scouts, 4-H or others, and who have participated in an environmental project started no earlier than 2008 are eligible for the award.

The project must involve one or more of the following categories:  waste reduction; prevention/reduction of pollution in the air (climate change/global warming), land or water; restoration, preservation or enhancement of natural areas; and energy or water efficiency.

An application and additional information about the program are available from the Illinois EPA Web site at:  epa.state.il.us/green-youth/index.html, or by calling Deirdre McQuillen at 217-558-0073 or email Deirdre.McQuillen@illinois.gov.

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 19, 2010.

The Awards ceremony will be held on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.  Winners will receive a ticket to the Museum, in addition to their award.

Examples of past winning projects include:

• Waste Reduction: a school-wide recycling program that encouraged not only recycling but also waste reduction and environmental education
• Reducing Water Pollution: a storm sewer stenciling project
• Restoration/Preservation: the creation of a wetland area
• Energy Efficiency: school-wide energy audit and facilitation guide

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“While there’s no doubt that Congress must pass a comprehensive climate bill, our research shows that the states have delivered a down payment on the pollution reductions,” said Environment Illinois Staff Attorney and Clean Energy Advocate Brian Granahan.

The new report, America on the Move, released just days before world leaders convene in Copenhagen to negotiate an international agreement on global warming, found that state policies will reduce global warming pollution by approximately 536 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per year by 2020 compared to business as usual.

The emission reductions are significant.

They represent:

• More global warming pollution than is currently emitted annually by all but eight of the world’s nations;
• Approximately 7 percent of U.S. global warming pollution in 2007;
• Annual emissions from 104 million cars — about 42 percent of the nation’s motor vehicles;
• Annual emissions from 163 coal-fired power plants.

“America’s clean energy revolution – led by the states – shows that the nation is ready to tackle the challenge of global warming,” said Granahan.

“President Obama should take the next step by working to forge a strong agreement to address global warming during the international negotiations in Copenhagen,” Granahan added.

America on the Move reviewed more than 100 policies adopted by states, most of them enacted over the past decade, and estimated the emission reductions that will result from those actions.

For example, while the U.S. Congress has yet to adopt a binding national limit on global warming pollution, six U.S. states – California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey –  have adopted such limits.

Collectively, these six states have committed to reducing global warming pollution by approximately 13 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Including a regional cap on power plant emissions adopted by 10 northeastern states, mandatory emission caps will reduce U.S. emissions by approximately 270 million metric tons per year by 2020 – a level of carbon dioxide pollution comparable to that produced annually by the Netherlands or Turkey.

According to the report, additional reductions will result from a variety of clean energy policies adopted by multiple states, including renewable electricity standards adopted by 29 states, energy efficiency resource standards adopted by 22 states, and a variety of other policies.

In particular, Illinois has been a success story.  Illinois’s renewable energy standards, energy efficiency portfolio standards for utilities, and energy efficient building codes are among the nation’s strongest.

Collectively, these and other recently-passed laws cause Illinois to rank 3^rd among all 50 states in global warming pollution avoided from state laws.

“To preserve our environment for future generations and help create ‘green’ jobs now, Illinois has made a serious commitment to investing in green infrastructure and renewable energy technologies. We’ve made significant progress but there’s much more to be done,” said Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

“I applaud Environment Illinois for its hard work and for keeping this critical issue at the forefront of environmental public policy debates.”

Since President Obama’s inauguration in January, the federal government has implemented several policies initiated by the states nationwide – including limits on vehicle global warming pollution adopted by California and 13 other states, and debated by the Illinois General Assembly from 2007 to 2009.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in February, also supports a variety of state and local programs to save energy and reduce global warming pollution.

Environment Illinois urged the federal government to require reductions in global warming pollution in the United States consistent with the reductions science tells us are necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming – specifically, emission reductions of 35 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and at least 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050, with the vast majority of those reductions to occur domestically.

It also encouraged the federal government to implement the best clean energy policies in place at the state level, and urged states to continue to take leadership in adopting and implementing policies to reduce global warming pollution.

“States have been called America’s ‘laboratories of democracy,’” said Granahan.

“By taking strong action to address global warming, states like Illinois are showing the nation – and the world – that a clean energy future is within our reach,” he concluded.

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The report highlights the critical role states play in setting and leading U.S. environmental policy.

The report also estimates that states’ actions will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 536 million metric tons per year by 2020.

“To preserve our environment for future generations and help create ‘green’ jobs now, Illinois has made a serious commitment to investing in green infrastructure and renewable energy technologies. We’ve made significant progress but there’s much more to be done,” Gov. Quinn said.

“I applaud Environment Illinois for its hard work and for keeping this critical issue at the forefront of environmental public policy debates.”

Illinois has already taken significant steps toward greenhouse gas reductions, making it an environmental leader and pacesetter among the country’s 50 states.

Several of the report’s recommendations – such as adopting a state renewable electricity standard, a state energy efficiency resource standard and a statewide building energy code – have already been established in Illinois.

In addition, as recommended in the report, Illinois state government is leading by example by achieving LEED Silver standards for new construction and major renovation of state facilities, following Environmentally Preferable Procurement practices, and using only green cleaning products in all schools and state buildings.

A longtime environmentalist, Governor Quinn has made protecting natural resources a top priority.

Shortly after taking office, Governor Quinn signed an executive order to reduce the environmental impact of state government operations and an agreement to purchase 100 percent wind power for all Springfield state buildings managed by the Department of Central Management Services.

• Governor Quinn’s Commitment to Environmental Protection – 2009 Highlights

“Investing in green jobs and clean technology will strengthen Illinois’ economy in the face of the national economic recession,” Gov. Quinn said. “Standing up for our environment is the right thing to do, and also the smart thing to do.”

Governor Quinn was joined at today’s event by Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Doug Scott, Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), Ald. Manny Flores and Environment Illinois Staff Attorney and Clean Energy Advocate Brian Granahan.

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The comments of David Archer, Professor in Geophysical Sciences, and Pamela Martin, Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences, came Nov. 19 at hearings on the EPA’s proposed “Tailoring Rule,” which would require industrial facilities that emit at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse-gas pollution annually to obtain permits covering their emissions.

Permit recipients would have to demonstrate their use of the best-available control technologies and energy-efficiency measures to minimize emissions when facilities are built or significantly modified.

The complete statements of Archer and Martin appear below.

David Archer’s statement:

My name is David Archer, and I am a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences. I’ve published 80-some peer-reviewed papers and five books on the carbon cycle of the Earth and its interaction with global climate.

I teach a class as part of our core science curriculum about the physics and chemistry of the global warming forecast. It has become the most popular class on campus, even bigger than the class about pirates, which shows the concern that young people have about what business-as-usual is doing to their futures.

One of the books I have the students read is called Six Degrees, Our Future on a Warmer Planet, by Mark Lynas.

The first chapter describes potential impacts of one-degree centigrade average global warming, all the results taken from the mainstream, peer-reviewed climate impacts literature.

Chapter 2 is about two degrees, and so on up to six degrees, the high end of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projection range for the year 2100. It’s a good book, well-researched and clear.

The Earth today is already deep in Chapter 1, one degree. In my opinion, the most profound climate impact of global warming in this country is the ongoing drought in the Southwest.

The climate impacts in later chapters of the book get truly horrific, including droughts and desertification that make the Dust Bowl seem mild. Nebraska used to be a dune field in a warmer climate a few thousand years ago; now we grow wheat there, but it could go back to how it was.

You can imagine mass migration of people, and wars about water and other resources, and failed states. The population of the Earth depends on the infrastructure of our complex society, and if this breaks down, the carrying capacity of the Earth could collapse.

This happened to the Mayans, the most advanced civilization of their day, as a result of extended droughts during the medieval warm time. How many of us would survive if there were no food in the grocery stores?

I come away from the book thinking that ultimately, humankind is better than this. Humans have done amazing things, and this challenge, technologically, isn’t even really all that hard. Coal is by far the most abundant fossil fuel, and the future of climate depends on what we decide to do with the coal.

If hypothetically there were no more coal in the ground, we wouldn’t be going back to the Stone Age, we’d figure out another way to keep things running, no problem. And if the climate starts to bite harder in the future, humankind will figure out ultimately how to leave the coal in the ground.

Since dangerous climate changes are already under way, really fixing the climate means preventing the Earth from getting any warmer than it already has. Our understanding of the physics of Earth’s climate tells us that to do this would require an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 350 parts per million.

The atmosphere already has more CO2 than this, 387 ppm. Even if the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere stopped rising, the Earth would continue to warm for a few decades as the oceans warm up.

This is what they call committed warming. Avoiding that committed warming is where the target CO2 concentration of 350 ppm comes from.

My optimistic opinion is that ultimately, humankind, in the coming decades, will begin to actively scrub CO2 from the atmosphere, as part of an effort to get back to 350 ppm.

Someday someone will clean up the mess. In the larger scheme of things, this wouldn’t be that hard to do. But if this is the ultimate tide of history, there is an easier way to get there, and a harder way.

As with many environmental messes, it would be much cheaper in the long run to avoid emitting so much CO2 to the atmosphere in the first place.

Climate change is more difficult than other challenges humans have faced, only in that it is global, and the tragedy of the commons effect is particularly strong. The people who benefit from using coal are not the same people as pay the price, mostly people in the future and in the developing world.

Will humankind plan intelligently for our collective good, or are we just another out-of-control weed species like so many others in Earth history, doomed to bloom and collapse? This is the decision you’re making.

Pamela Martin’s statement:

My name is Pamela Martin. I am an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. I teach classes in past climate change ― “paleoclimatology” ― chemical oceanography and the science of sustainability.

Looking back into the paleorecords, the records of past climate change, we see abrupt changes, tipping points, changes we can’t fully explain or don’t fully understand. We must look back millions and millions of years to find carbon dioxide levels as high as we have today.

This past fall I have been participating in a seminar with other scientists such as David Archer, who is here today and one of the top experts on the carbon cycle, climate dynamicists who study interactions among components of the climate system, atmospheric chemists and biologists who study the nitty-gritty of photosynthesis.

We have been studying the details of the fate of carbon dioxide that we have emitted into the atmosphere, looking for the natural “sinks” of the CO2 that has cycled through the air. One of the clear sinks for this carbon dioxide is in the oceans, where carbon dioxide acts as an acid and lowers the pH. Some of the other sinks and effects of elevated CO2 are not so clear.

While understanding the sinks of carbon dioxide requires detailed sleuthing, understanding the anthropogenic sources, the major emissions sources, does not. A relatively small number of polluters emit over half of the point-source greenhouse-gas pollution.

And, by starting with the biggest polluters, the EPA is taking an important first step inaddressing greenhouse-gas pollution under the Clean Air Act.

I commend the EPA’s commitment to hold the big polluters responsible first, but I also urge the EPA to work quickly to address the emissions from facilities that emit less than 25,000 tons per year.

I urge the EPA to shorten the proposed timescales of five and six years to address the sources under 25,000 tons.

The longer we wait to take action, the more we are committing to future warming and the more it will cost to address the problem.

University of Chicago Climate Scientists Share Concerns About Global Warming at EPA Hearings | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

“When it comes to global warming, time and money are of the essence and nuclear power will fail America on both accounts,” said Brian Granahan, Staff Attorney and Clean Energy Advocate with Environment Illinois.

“With government dollars more precious than ever, nuclear power is a foolish investment that will set us back in the race against global warming.”

Environment Illinois new report released today, Generating Failure: How Building Nuclear Power Plants Would Set America Back in the Race Against Global Warming, analyzes the role, under a best-case scenario, that nuclear power could play in reducing global warming pollution.

Some key findings of the report include:

• To avoid the most catastrophic impacts of global warming, America must cut power plant emissions roughly in half over the next 10 years.

• Nuclear power is too slow to contribute to this effort. No new reactors are now under construction in the United States. Building a single reactor could take 10 years or longer. As a result, it is quite possible that nuclear power could deliver no progress in the critical next decade, despite spending billions on reactor construction.

• Even if the nuclear industry somehow managed to build 100 new nuclear reactors by 2030, nuclear power could reduce total U.S. emissions of global warming pollution over the next 20 years by only 12 percent — far too little, too late.

• In contrast, energy efficiency and renewable energy can immediately reduce global warming pollution. Energy efficiency programs are already cutting electricity consumption by 1-2 percent annually in leading states, and the U.S. wind industry is already building the equivalent of three nuclear reactors per year in wind farms. America has vast potential to do more.

• Building 100 new reactors would require an up-front investment on the order of $600 billion dollars – money which could cut at least twice as much carbon pollution by 2030 if invested in clean energy. Taking into account the ongoing costs of running the nuclear plants, clean energy could deliver 5 times more pollution-cutting progress per dollar.

• Nuclear power is not necessary to provide clean, carbon-free electricity for the long haul. The need for base-load power is exaggerated and small-scale clean energy solutions can actually enhance the reliability of the electric grid.

“We can spend $600 billion on nuclear power and fail to make a difference until it is too late,” said Granahan. “Or we could spend the same money on energy efficiency and clean energy, and achieve twice the carbon reductions at a much faster pace.”

Granahan cited recently passed Illinois legislation on energy efficiency standards for natural gas utilities and building energy codes as steps in the right direction.

In addition, Illinois is gaining a foothold in renewables, with over 1800 megawatts of installed wind power expected online by year’s end—up from only 100 megawatts of installed wind power as recently as 2006.

“Nuclear energy remains as flawed an idea today as it was in the 1980’s — the last time it was rejected by the American public,” said Dave Hamilton, Director of Energy Programs at the Sierra Club.

“Today we have cleaner, cheaper, faster solutions s that we should be investing in before we seriously consider reviving the nuclear dinosaur.”

The report, which stresses the need for immediate emissions reductions from existing power resources, comes within days of scheduled U.S. EPA hearings on a proposed rule to curb emissions from large polluters such as oil refineries and coal plants.

One of two national hearings on the rule will take place this Thursday in Rosemont.

“As we work to clean up our old, dirty coal plants, the emphasis must be moving forward to a cleaner future, not turning the clock back,” said Granahan.

“But by diverting resources away from energy efficiency and renewable energy, investments in a fleet of new nuclear plants would do just that, setting us back many years in the battle against global warming and setting us up to fail.”

“New nuclear power investments would actually worsen climate change because the money spent on nuclear reactors would not be available for solutions that fight it faster and at lower cost,” said Peter Bradford, a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner.

“Counting on new nuclear reactors as a climate change solution is no more sensible than counting on an un-built dam to create a lake to fight a nearby forest fire.”

MEDIA CONTACT:

Max Muller, 312-291-0696

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If the United States does not significantly curb heat-trapping emissions, global warming will seriously damage Illinois’ climate and economy, according to a new peer-reviewed report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The report found that a combination of clean energy policies—such as those currently under consideration by the U.S. Senate—would help blunt the extent and severity of global warming in Illinois and across the country.

“The Midwest climate is already changing. Over the past 50 years, we’ve seen higher average annual temperatures, more frequent downpours, longer growing seasons, and fewer cold snaps,” said Don Wuebbles, a climate scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a co-author of the report. “The likely changes documented in this report are sobering. The good news is that we can avoid the worst of them if we substantially cut global warming emissions and start doing it now.”

The report, “Confronting Climate Change in Illinois,” describes how the state’s climate could change under two scenarios: one assumes a business-as-usual increase in heat-trapping emissions from continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels, and the other assumes substantially lower emissions due to an increased reliance on clean energy sources.

The report compared the two scenarios with a baseline period between 1961 and 1990.

The report found that toward the end of this century, under the higher, business-as-usual emissions scenario:

CLIMATE: Average summer temperatures in Illinois would be as much as 13°F higher than the baseline period. Over than 30-year stretch, Chicago experienced only 15 days per summer when temperatures topped 90°F and about two days with temperatures over 100°F.

Unchecked global warming would force city residents to endure more than 70 days per summer with temperatures higher than 90°F and more than a month with temperatures over 100°F.

Chicago residents also would face at least two summer heat waves every year like the one that killed hundreds in the city in 1995. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heat waves already kill more people in the United States each year than hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and lightning combined.

Agriculture: The Illinois agriculture sector would suffer from substantially more heat stress, which would impair livestock productivity. Illinois hog producers—whose hog sales reached $800 million in 2007—already lose $20.5 million annually due to heat-stressed animals.

By the end of the century, nearly permanent heat stress would plague hogs, dairy cattle and other livestock unless they are kept cool, for example, in costly air-conditioned barns.

Crop yields would also suffer. Illinois has 67 percent of its land in crop production and ranks second among the states in crop value.

A 1988 heat wave that cost the United States $40 bil­lion—mostly due to crop losses—reduced Illinois corn and soybean yields by more than 75 percent of their average annual yields from 1978 to 1997. By mid-century under the high­er-emissions scenario, all Illinois summers are projected to be hotter than 1988.

Warmer winters and a growing season as much as six weeks longer than during the baseline decades would enable pests, such as the corn earworm, to expand their range.

Between 1961 and 1990, conditions favorable to the corn earworm occurred once every 15 years in the middle of the state and once every three years in southern Illinois. With unchecked global warming, by the end of this century corn earworm infestations could happen nearly half the summers in the state’s midsection and nearly every summer in the south.

Crop production also would be threatened by changing rain patterns, ranging from wetter springs—which delay planting and increase flood risk—to nearly 15 percent less rain during increasingly hot summers. Crop-damaging three- and seven-day heat waves would occur at least every other summer toward the end of the century.

During the report’s baseline period, three-day heat waves occurred only about once a decade, and seven-day heat waves occurred once out of 30 summers.

Extreme Weather: Heavy rains would become more common throughout the year, leading to a greater incidence of flash flooding. Winters and springs, when the flood risk is already high, would become 30 percent wetter than during the baseline decades.

Health: If tailpipe and smokestack emissions continue at today’s levels, Illinois would experience more severe smog due to more extremely hot days. That would have serious consequences for public health, including a greater incidence of asthma attacks and other respiratory conditions.

For example, ground-level ozone—the main component of smog—increases at temperatures higher than 90°F. That is particularly bad news for the 12 counties in and around Chicago and St. Louis where ozone levels already are higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s ozone standard.

Great Lakes: As average temperatures jump more than 7oF under the higher emissions scenario toward the end of the century, Great Lakes water levels are projected to decline. This primarily would be the result of increased evaporation caused by higher temperatures and a decrease in winter lake ice.

Compared with the baseline period, Great Lakes water levels are projected to fall 1 to 2 feet by the end of the century in the higher emissions scenario. Under the lower emissions scenario, little change is projected because precipitation increases would balance increased evaporation caused by higher temperatures.

In June, 13 federal agencies released a comprehensive national report using the same methodology as the UCS report released today. Like the UCS report, the federal report concluded there is still time to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Shortly after the national report came out, the House of Representatives passed “The American Clean Energy and Security Act,” a landmark bill that would help build a new clean energy economy and launch the first national plan of action to address global warming. The Senate is currently considering a similar bill.

“The science is clear. We have to get started now so that our children and grandchildren don’t suffer from deadly heat waves, and our farmers don’t have to battle more extreme droughts and floods, and more pest and weed infestation,” said Ron Burke, UCS’s Midwest office director. “Our report shows how critical it is for Illinois’ congressional delegation to support a bill that will get America running on clean energy.”

Illinois and Climate Change: New Report Projects More Extreme Heat, Flooding and Lower Ag Productivity Unless Emissions Curtailed | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

The analysis comes as Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer and Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry plan to release their energy bill on Wednesday, which will be the starting point for the Senate debate and is expected to follow the framework of the House bill.

The report concludes that passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act – even with the compromises made to secure passage in the House – would be a significant step toward a clean energy future for the United States and would represent a ground-breaking political achievement.

“It’s time to unleash the power of clean energy to transform our economy and reduce global warming pollution,” said Environment Illinois Clean Energy Advocate Brian Granahan. “While we need to do more to capture the potential of clean energy, the House-passed bill is an essential step forward to get us where we need to go.”

The ACES Act Moves America in the Right Direction

The ACES Act includes strong provisions to improve the energy efficiency of the American economy, as well as the nation’s first-ever mandatory nationwide limits on emissions of global warming pollutants. In addition, the bill establishes a framework for the future expansion of renewable energy in the U.S.

“The race to transform our energy system and avoid the worst impacts of global warming has begun, and we will consistently pick up speed from here,” said Granahan.

The ACES Act Has Some Major Flaws

To improve the bill from an incremental reform to a transformative policy, the Senate has to fix several key problems.

The House-passed bill contains the following major flaws:

• The bill removes EPA’s current authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants.

• The bill relies heavily on offsets – global warming emission reductions that take place overseas or in areas of the economy not covered by the emission cap – the effectiveness of which is highly uncertain.

• The ACES Act misses out on important opportunities to modernize our energy system, reduce pollution, and create new clean energy jobs.

• • The renewable electricity standard in the bill is much too weak.
  • The bill leaves vast untapped potential for energy efficiency.
  • The bill gives away far too many of the valuable emission allowances to polluters for free.

“The Senate has the opportunity to make this bill the fundamental game-changer that the science of global warming calls for,” added Granahan.

The ACES Act Deserves Strong Support

Despite its flaws, passage of the ACES Act would be an historic achievement, for both substantive and political reasons.

• The ACES Act is a clear step in the right direction of reducing pollution, promoting energy efficiency in our buildings and our communities, and stimulating clean energy.

• Passage of the bill would represent a legislative breakthrough demonstrating that this issue is a winner and should be revisited regularly.

• The ACES Act requires periodic scientific review that creates a pathway for the bill’s goals to be strengthened over time.

• Passage of the ACES Act would send a message to the world that America is serious about dealing with our energy challenges.

• This debate presents an historic opportunity to educate the public about the need for a clean energy future and to build momentum for future battles to come.

Granahan concluded: “The ACES Act must be understood as part of a longer-term strategy to achieve a clean energy future for the nation – a strategy that builds momentum among policy makers and citizens across the country. The opening act doesn’t need to inspire a standing ovation as long as it sets the stage for great acts to follow. This bill can help lay the foundation for clean energy, green jobs, and reduced global warming pollution.”

To view the report, click on the link below:

environmentillinois.org/reports/energy

America Poised to Turn the Corner on Global Warming: New Report Sets the Stage for Senate Unveiling of Federal Energy Bill This Week | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

America’s heartland will suffer the greatest jump in temperatures from climate change over the next century – with some states potentially heating up more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit – threatening the nation’s agriculture industry and food security, according to a new analysis by The Nature Conservancy.

The scientific analysis, which looked at likely temperature changes across the United States over the next 100 years, found that Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa would heat up the most if emissions continue to rise unchecked.

Next were South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois, all of which would experience more than a 9.5 degree F increase in their average annual temperatures.

“To many, climate change doesn’t seem real until it affects them, or their backyards. From the food we put on the table to the animals that make our country unique, this study shows that none of us is immune if temperatures continue to rise as projected,” said Jonathan Hoekstra, Director of Climate Change for The Nature Conservancy. “In many states across the country, the weather and landscapes could be nearly unrecognizable in 100 years.”

Among the impacts Americans could see over the next 100 years:

• America’s $200 billion agriculture industry could face serious threats as higher temperatures dry out soil and shift production patterns. Weeds that wreak havoc on crops also become more difficult to combat as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere.
• The dairy industry could suffer serious declines, since dairy cow productivity starts decreasing above 77°F.
• Many states could lose their official birds as they move out of state in search of cooler climates — including the Baltimore oriole of Maryland, black-capped chickadee of Massachusetts, and the American goldfinch of Iowa.

Even under the lowest emission scenario – which assumes strong actions successfully lower global emission rates over the next century – nearly every state in the US is projected to experience temperature increases well above the 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) threshold many scientists say will cause irreversible impacts to the Earth’s lands, waters, wildlife and human communities.

The state-by-state temperature projections are part of a new tool called ClimateWizard that, for the first time ever, allows people to use an interactive map to explore past and projected climate change data on their computers. With ClimateWizard, users can zoom in on any state or country to quickly see how temperatures and precipitation may change by month, season or year under different emission scenarios.

ClimateWizard provides policy makers, land managers and the general public simple analyses and graphical depictions to understand how climate has, and is projected, to change where they live.

ClimateWizard was developed by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and the University of Southern Mississippi and maps historic and projected climate data from some of the top regional and global climate data and modeling centers.

To learn more about The Nature Conservancy and its projects:

• Visit Nature.org
• Friend us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter

About the Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide.

Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at nature.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Karen Foerstel, 917-652-2642
kfoerstel@tnc.org

New Analysis Shows America’s Heartland Hardest Hit by Climate Change with States Heating Up 10+ Degrees | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Illinois could heat up by 9.6 degrees from climate change by the end of the century – increasing the risk of heat-related deaths, leading to the disappearance of wildlife, changing Lake Michigan and its shoreline and threatening industries such as agriculture.

“From the food we put on the table to the animals that make our state unique, this study shows that none of us is immune if temperatures continue to rise as projected. We can now see that climate change will directly hit us here in Illinois, in our own back yards,” said Bob Moseley, director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Illinois. “If we do not act immediately, our children and grandchildren will live in a very different world than we do today.”

Among the impacts Illinois would feel under the temperature increases projected by the Conservancy’s analysis are:

• increased intense storm events will surpass the management capacity of municipalities and add pollution to streams and lakes
• arrival of new insect pests and pathogens will jeopardize Illinois’ native landscape
• warmer temperatures will lower lake levels in Lake Michigan reducing native species habitat, limiting use by people and facilitating the potential invasion of invasive species
• climate-induced mismatch between emergence of insects in the spring and the arrival of hungry birds migrating from the south will disrupt natural patterns and native species

The Conservancy’s temperature analysis looked state-by-state across the country at three emission scenarios based on low, medium and high rates of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere over the next 100 years. Under the highest emission scenario, which assumes carbon dioxide levels will continue to grow, Illinois’ average annual temperature would spike by 9.6 degrees F.

Even under the lowest emission scenario, which assumes the unlikely possibility that the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere each year will decrease, Illinois will heat up by 6.6 degrees F.

Scientists warn that a global temperature increase of the 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) or more will lead to irreversible impacts to the Earth’s lands, waters, wildlife and human communities.

“The impacts of climate change will jeopardize the investment society has made in land and water conservation in Illinois,” said Moseley. “Congress must act now to lower our emissions immediately while we still have time.”

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on energy and climate legislation this fall.

Moseley added that action can also be taken on the ground now to combat the impacts of climate change and protect Illinois’ communities and natural resources.

The Nature Conservancy is taking steps to protect the great state of Illinois by:

• leading efforts in the Great Lakes region to help the natural world adapt to a rapidly changing climate
• demonstrating the climate change-fighting value of natural area protection for sequestering atmospheric carbon in native prairies and forests
• reducing the impacts of increased flood frequencies by restoring the function of leveed floodplains
• encouraging households to make informed decisions about how they can help by managing their carbon footprint with the Conservancy’s carbon calculator.

To see projections on how monthly temperatures and precipitation may change for Illinois, visit climatewizard.org, a new web tool that, for the first time ever, allows people to use an interactive map to explore past and projected climate change data on their computers. With Climate Wizard, users can zoom in on Illinois to quickly see how temperatures and precipitation may change by month, season or year under different emission scenarios. The Climate Wizard was developed by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and the University of Southern Mississippi.

About the Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide.

Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at nature.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Julianne Beck, 312-580-2107

Illinois Faces More than 9.6 Degree Increase Over Next 100 Years, New Analysis Shows Climate Change Scenarios | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Champaign, IL — Global warming could cost corn growers in Illinois $243 million a year, according to a new report by Environment Illinois. Illinois ranks second in the nation for projected corn losses due to global warming. Nationwide, the estimated damage to America’s #1 crop totals more than $1.4 billion annually. Environment Illinois projects these losses to occur unless the United States Congress takes decisive action to repower America with clean energy and reduce global warming pollution.

“Corn likes it cool, but global warming is raising temperatures in Illinois and across the nation,” said Environment Illinois field associate Christine Del Priore. “Hotter fields will mean lower yields for corn, and eventually, the rest of agriculture.”

Despite conventional wisdom that global warming is good for agriculture in the United States, scientists expect that temperature increases due to global warming will hurt corn production. In fact, research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Carnegie Institution shows that temperature changes consistent with global warming are already harming corn production worldwide relative to a world without global warming.

“The character of the Midwest is changing,” said Dr. Don Wuebbles, Nobel-Peace Prize winning member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  “We can say with confidence that climate change is human induced; the opportunity to protect the future and avoid the worst effects of global warming is before us.”

Fortunately, the very solutions to global warming pollution—ramping up efficiency and transitioning to clean, renewable energy—are some of the most job-creating and economy-boosting measures our country could take, pointed out Environment Illinois.

“With clean energy such as wind and solar, agriculture has a huge opportunity to be part of the solution to global warming,” said American Corn Growers Association President Keith Bolin.

Clean energy sources, including wind turbines and distributed generation such as on-site solar panels, can provide farmers an independent source of electricity or income while reducing global warming pollution. Wind developers, for example, are offering $4,000 to $8,000 a year per turbine to farmers that allow them to be installed on their land.

In today’s report, Hotter Fields, Lower Yields, Environment Illinois analyzed the expected future impacts of global warming on America’s corn growers. The analysis draws on a 2008 study by the United States Climate Change Science Program, a joint project of the United States Department of Agriculture and 12 other federal agencies. The report estimates the financial impact from global warming by pairing 1) government’s estimates of the relative loss in corn productivity in major U.S. corn-producing areas due to global warming, with 2) USDA data on the size of the corn industry.

The analysis considers the combined effect of increasing temperatures and increasing levels of carbon dioxide but assumes that crops get sufficient water and does not include other negative effects of global warming—such as more frequent extreme storms, higher levels of ozone, and the spreading of diseases, pests and weeds.

Later this week, the full U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on an historic bill to establish science-based caps on global warming pollution while laying the framework for a national transition to clean energy. The American Clean Energy and Security Act would require that the nation obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, like wind and solar power, by 2020.

An analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that a national renewable electricity standard could generate up to $13.5 billion in new income for farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners.

“Big Oil, Dirty Coal, and other polluters are fighting to maintain the status quo, but now is the time for change,” said Del Priore, “We need to unleash the power of clean energy to rebuild our economy and solve global warming.”

“Renewable energy is not a choice, it’s crucial,” said Jody Nord of Bauer Power, a solar and wind company with offices in Springfield, Dunlap and Bloomington. “Renewables create new industries, they’re clean for the environment, and they limit our dependence on unstable fossil fuels.”

Environment Illinois urged Champaign’s Representative in Congress, Rep. Timothy Johnson, as well as the rest of Illinois’s congressional delegation to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act to fend off global warming’s worst impacts and speed the transition to a clean energy economy.

Click here to vew full report: Hotter Fields, Lower Yields: How Global Warming Could Hurt America’s Farms.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Max Muller, 312-291-0696

Environment Illinois Report Suggests Global Warming Will Cost Illinois Corn Growers Millions | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Researchers representing 13 U.S. government science agencies, major universities and research institutes produced the study, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.”

Commissioned in 2007, it is the most comprehensive report to date on national climate change, offering the latest information on rising temperatures, heavy downpours, extreme weather, sea level changes and other results of climate change in the U.S.

The 190-page report is a product of the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is written in accessible language, intended to better inform members of the public and policymakers about the social, environmental and economic costs of climate change. It focuses on effects by region and details how the nation’s transportation, agriculture, health, water and energy sectors will be affected in the future.

During a news conference today, Don Wuebbles, the Harry E. Preble Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois and a contributor to the assessment, outlined the current and predicted effects of climate change in the U.S. Midwest.

“We well recognize that Earth’s climate varies naturally and has been warmer and cooler in the past,” Wuebbles said. “But we also know that the climate changes we are experiencing today are largely the result of human activities.”

Average temperatures have risen in the Midwest in recent decades, Wuebbles said, especially in winter. The growing season has been extended by one week. Heavy downpours are now twice as frequent as they were a century ago, he said, and the Midwest has experienced two record-breaking floods in the past 15 years.

These trends are expected to continue into the future, Wuebbles said. Average annual temperatures are expected to increase by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the next few decades, and by as much as 7 to 10 degrees by the end of the century, he said, with more warming projected for summer than winter.

Precipitation is expected to increase in the winter and spring, while summer precipitation will likely decline.

“More of the precipitation is likely to occur during heavier events,” Wuebbles said.

As temperatures and humidity increases, heat waves, reduced air quality and insect-borne diseases are more likely to occur. Pollen production and the growth of fungi will also be stimulated, he said.

Heavy downpours can overload drainage systems and water treatment facilities, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases, he said.

The Great Lakes, which contain 20 percent of the planet’s fresh surface water, will also be affected by the changing climate, Wuebbles said. Depending on the extent of climate change, average water levels in the Great Lakes could drop by as much as 2 feet in this century, he said. This would affect beaches, coastal ecosystems, fish populations, dredging requirements and shipping.

Some of the effects of the changing climate are inevitable and will require human and animal populations to adapt, Wuebbles said.

Other effects can be mitigated by limiting future emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, he said.

University of Illinois atmospheric sciences emeritus professor John Walsh and University of Illinois research associate Katharine Hayhoe, who is also a geosciences professor at Texas Tech University, were among the scientists who contributed to the report.

The full report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States” is available online.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Don Wuebbles, 217-840-0100
wuebbles@atmos.uiuc.edu

Most Comprehensive Report on National Climate Change Indicates Concerns for Midwest and Nationwide Impact | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.