Petitions Urge Corzine To Pledge To Reduce Global Warming Emissions
As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.
TRENTON—After
knocking on tens of thousands of doors across New Jersey, educating the
public about global warming, canvassers from New Jersey Public Interest
Research Group (NJPIRG) made a personal visit to the Governor’s office
today. The canvassers, from offices across New Jersey, hand -delivered
over 4,000 signed petitions to the Governor, urging him to pledge to
reduce global warming emissions.
“People
in New Jersey are smart – they know global warming is real and that we
can’t wait for Washington,” said Kristin Dobbs, a NJPIRG director in
the Montclair office. “People are sending a clear message that Governor
Corzine needs to act.”
NJPIRG
is calling for Governor Corzine to become a national leader by pledging
to reduce global warming emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and 70 percent
by 2050. Leading scientific community consensus agrees that we need to
achieve reductions along these levels to stop global warming’s impacts.
Legislation with similar reduction goals have been introduced in
California and in the United States Congress.
The
group has talked to citizens across the state and will visit citizen in
over 100 towns in Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Middlesex, Union, Essex,
Hunterdon, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset, Burlington, Camden and
Gloucester Counties. NJPIRG launched the campaign in early May, opening
up four citizen outreach offices across the state. In addition to
collecting petitions, they also passed out phone alerts, brochures and
scorecards of local elected officials.
“People
definitely know we’re not doing enough to stop global warming right
now,” said Kevin Mulligan, a NJPIRG field manager from the Montclair
office. “The public knows that Gov. Corzine had a strong environmental
record in the U.S. Senate and they’re not letting him off the hook.”
Flanked
by a cut-out of “Captain Climate” – a life-size replica of Captain
Planet with a superimposed head of Gov. Corzine (sans sweater vest) –
the canvasssers delivered the first round of postcards to the
Governor’s office, along with pictures citizens took in front of
Captain Climate and a letter reiterating the need for Gov. Corzine to
take action.
Gov.
Corzine has acknowledged the importance of the issue and says he wishes
to convene a summit on the issue in the fall. The letter invited the
Governor to address a town hall meeting in Montclair in August to hear
from the public and be briefed on a policy blueprint to help New Jersey
take the first step to reduce global warming emissions by 20 percent by
2020.
“The
people we talk to every day get that New Jersey is vulnerable to global
warming’s impact,” said Brian Corbett, a NJPIRG New Brunswick field
manager. “People get that the Shore is at risk and the recent floods
are a reminder that there will be real-world consequences of a
sea-level rise.”
According
to research conducted by Professor Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton
University, current trends of global warming pollution will lead to sea
level rises off the Atlantic Coast of 2 to 4 feet by 2100. The 2005
research also indicated that up to 9 percent of the state’s total
landmass would be subject to chronic flooding as a result of the
anticipated sea level rise and 3 percent of the state potentially
submerged.
The
issue has started to draw attention amidst the Legislature, even
amongst the budget battles. Asw. Linda Stender (D-22) introduced A3301
in mid-June and Sen. Barbara Buono (D-18) introduced its Senate
companion, S2114, last week. The legislation directs the Department of
Environmental Protection to monitor global warming emissions and to
reduce these emissions below 1990 levels by 2020.
New
Jersey has already taken first steps. In December, New Jersey joined
many Northeast states and California in setting the first ever limits
on global warming pollution from cars and power plants. However, the
magnitude of the problem demands further action.
NJPIRG
wants the Governor to pledge to aggressively reduce global warming
emissions by 20% by 2020 and 70% by 2050 and outlined some of the
strategies the state could use to start to reduce emissions.
Those
strategies include: dramatically reducing our energy consumption in our
homes, businesses and schools; shifting to clean, renewable sources of
energy generation; making cars go further on a mile of gasoline;
ensuring that we drive far less and use mass transit far more; and
making the energy industry pay for every pound of global warming
pollution they emit and investing that money in solutions
The
governor can start to take steps to curb global warming right away,
including working with the legislature to update New Jersey’s energy
codes for new residential and commercial buildings. Energy use in
buildings is responsible for 45 percent of New Jersey’s in-state global
warming pollution, and New Jersey ranks in the bottom 15 states with
the weakest energy efficiency standards for new home construction
NJPIRG
Citizen Lobby is one of the state’s largest advocacy groups, working
for the public interest on behalf of our 25,000 members. Our mission is
to deliver persistent, results oriented public interest activism that
protects our environment, fosters open government and protects
consumers in the marketplace.
