Groundhog Overshadowed By Climate Change

By H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

WASHINGTON, DC — The Heinz Center applauds the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be released today. "The report confirms both climate change and its impact on nature - which the groundhog figured out a long time ago," said Thomas E. Lovejoy, President of the Heinz Center. "With the present course on climate change, Groundhog Day will have to move to January 2 because of shorter and shorter hibernation," Lovejoy added. Although the groundhog may be affected but not threatened, many species are gravely threatened by changing climate. "Over the course of my career in conservation I have never seen so great a threat to life on Earth," Lovejoy said.
"Skeptics try to create doubt where there is none," added Robert Corell, director of the Heinz Center's Global Change program, "with the consensus of nearly 2500 scientists from 180 countries, there is clearly agreement in the scientific community worldwide that global warming is real and we have to act now." Corell praised the IPCC effort because it has maintained its objectivity over the years. "This report will bring a yet greater sense of urgency to the climate change issue. The Heinz Center has long considered climate change one of its core programs and has participated on many of the noted studies and forums on this issue," Corell noted. According to Corell the IPCC report "will help promote policies that will be more in harmony with humans and nature."
The Heinz Center, established in 1995 in memory of Senator John Heinz, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to improving the scientific and economic basis for environmental policy and to developing innovative solutions to environmental problems.

Contact Info:
Anne Hummer, Communications Director
The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment
Tel : 202-737-6307
Fax : 202-737-6410
E-mail: hummer@heinzctr.org