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Greenpeace has sent a letter to Senator Barbara Boxer expressing their support for Friends of the Earth (FoE)  effort calling on the Senate to Fix or Ditch the Lieberman-Warner Global Warming Bill.   Senator Boxer jabbed back at FoE

“They’re sort of the defeatist group out there. They’ve been defeatists from day one. And it’s unfortunate. They’re isolated among the environmental groups.”

Well, Greenpeace’s letter makes it clear that, contrary to Senator Boxer’s statement, FoE doesn’t stand alone. 

I also strong disagree with your sentiment that Friends of the Earth stands isolated its position.  As I travel across the country, I meet people looking for leadership on this issue, but not just any leadership.  As ice caps continue to melt, seas continue to rise adn weather gets more and more extreme, they are not looking for government action simply for action’s sake.  I find it difficult to locate any citizen concerned about global warming does doesn’t want the same result as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.

This letter is a strong endorsement of the FoE effort, calling on Senator Boxer to either Fix Lieberman-Warner or Ditch It.

This is an extremely well-written letter, one that speaks beyond the controversy of the day to larger principles.  It opens with a direct call to Senator Boxer’s long-held positions re Global Warming.

I write to express my profound disappointment in your reaction to Friends of the Earth’s Fix It or Ditch It campaign. I was surprised to read your reaction because in my mind, their Fix It or Ditch It campaign represents the principles I thought you stood for, having authored teh strongest climate bill in the Senate with Senator Bernie Sanders.

That bill, with its targets for 80% reductions in US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 by 2050, fit with core science. It hits with what is viewed as minimum requirements to provide a 50 percent chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, unlike the far weaker targets (and other problems) of the Lieberman-Warner Coal Subsidy Act.

The letter then turns to the political environment.

As you know, Friends of the Eart is correct in saying that both Democratic presidential candidates support porposals that would achieve significantly deeper emissions reductions than would the Lieberman-Warner bill. In addition, both Democrats in the presidential race support auctioning 100% of the allocations while avoiding the multi-hundred billion-dollar giveaway to the fossil fuel industry. Starting from a position in the Democratic-led United States Senate that is well short of the Democrats running for president lowers instead of raises the bar on what will ultimately be passed and signed into law.

Senator Boxer argues that there is a requirement to test the waters, see where the votes lie when it comes to Global Warming legislation.  Is it normal practice to test one’s feet with hotter waters (e.g, in this case, less) than what the (next) President would want to see come to the Oval Office?

As per the first quotation, the letter than reinforces that Greenpeace  stands with Friends of the Earth (as do Americans across this country concerned with Global Warming) in calling for the Senate to “Fix It or Ditch It”.

The letter concludes with a heartfelt appeal.

As your comittee works through thsi issue over the course of 2008 and beyond, it is my sincere hope that y ou will will, in fact, Fix It or Ditch It.  That you will lead your colleagues to “fix” any proposal that falls short of the emissions reductions that scientists say are required to avoid the impending climate crisis.  That you will work to “ditch” any proposal that gives away hundreds of billions of dollars to the fossil fuel industry.  And, that you will be driven by the need to protect the planet for future generations, instead of protecting profits for the fossil fuel industry. 

“Fix” the bill to make sure that it meets the science.  “Ditch” absurd subsidies and giveaways to serial polluters, who have poisoned our airs and seas for free for far too long.  And, yes, think seven generations for all humanity, rather than seven years for the balance sheets for Exxon-Mobil and Peabody Energy, in your deliberations.

And, Madame Chairperson, if you take this path,

We stand ready to support you in these efforts.