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The future of the disarmament agenda is on the line now as New START ratification moves forward in the US Senate.

Support EPA’s Efforts to Reduce Carbon Emissions

December 3, 2009

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to use the Clean Air Act to require the heaviest polluters to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide.  The polluters that would be affected are new (or modified) huge factories and coal-fired power plants.  Requiring them to control their own pollution is fair and highly beneficial to health:  It will help protect us from the worst consequences of global warming, while reducing the toxic pollutants from coal combustion that damage our hearts, lungs, and brains.

For a new analysis of coal’s grave health effects and the need for regulation, read PSR’s new report: Coal’s Assault on Human Health

Here is a simple and effective action you can take to reduce greenhouse gases.  All you need to do is to add your name to the brief letter that follows, paste it into the EPA website for public comments, and press “submit.”  Feel free, of course, to edit the letter to better express your personal concerns.  Here’s the letter:

Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR 2009-0517

Dear EPA Administrator Jackson,

A relatively small number of factories and coal-burning power plants emit more than half of the carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere by the United States. The most effective way to cut global warming pollution is to require those big polluters to make significant reductions in their dangerous emissions.

Carbon dioxide emissions from coal combustion constitute a major source of global warming gases.  Controlling those emissions is absolutely essential if we are to minimize the worst consequences of global warming:  heat waves, climate instability, storms, extreme weather, flooding, and drought. These changes in climate will result in grave threats to human health:  increased heat stroke and respiratory diseases; increased water-borne and vector-borne diseases; decreased food production; shortages of potable water; population displacement, and growing conflict and war.

As a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, I support the EPA in reducing global warming emissions and regulating first those polluters who are responsible for the largest share of the problem.  This approach will allow swift reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and will also contribute to reducing emissions of toxic pollutants that damage the respiratory, cardiovascular and nervous systems.

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Resources

  • Hope for a Heated Planet

    Author Bob Musil, former PSR executive director and now scholar-in-residence at American University, has written an insightful and informative account about the climate change issue and how it has finally emerged in the public’s mind as a major public health concern. Read more »

  • Climate Chaos

    Written thoughtfully for a lay audience, this book by PSR Board member Cindy Parker and psychologist and former journalist Steve Shapiro describes in lay terms how climate change will affect our health if it continues unabated. Read more »

  • Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit

    The Toolkit is a combination of easy-to-use reference guides for health providers and user-friendly health education materials on preventing exposures to toxic chemicals and other substances that affect infant and child health. Read more »

In the Spotlight

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    Countdown to Zero
    On the 65th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, the Sacramento Annual August Peace Event and Physicians for Social Responsibility-Sacramento screened "Countdown To Zero," a film that traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs. Read more about this month’s chapter in the spotlight event on Hiroshima.