Congress to consider Global Warming Wildlife Survival Bill

"Calling global warming the single greatest threat to the world’s natural environment, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, today announced new legislation laying the groundwork for a national strategy to address the impacts of climate change on America’s wildlife.

The bill is the first of its kind and includes components for the most imperiled plants and animals in the United States. It would convene regional scientific discussions and a National Academy of Sciences panel to examine the impacts of climate change on endangered, threatened, and otherwise imperiled species and recommend action.

Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, will be an original cosponsor of the bill.

A member of the committee, Whitehouse said global warming has already begun to have a severe and lasting impact on wildlife populations and marine ecosystems in Rhode Island and around the world." |Read more|