Audubon Welcomes GOP Climate Resolution: ‘This Took Guts’

WASHINGTON—Today, seventeen Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution to “create and support” solutions to study and address the causes and effects of a changing climate. In response to this resolution, the National Audubon Society issued the following statement:

“These leaders understand that there’s a Republican climate solution and that America’s birds and people don’t have time for more political trench warfare,” said David Yarnold (@david_yarnold), Audubon’s president and CEO.

“We need bipartisan solutions to our changing climate and we need them now. It took guts for these Republicans to step forward today, and we welcome their ideas.

"We know there are several dozen other House members who’d like to join this chorus, and when they come forward, Audubon and its members from all across the political spectrum will be there to welcome their leadership too.

“Climate change threatens the birds we love, the places they and we need  and the legacy we’ll leave our kids—all values that lead us to say that conservation doesn’t have a party.”

Former Republican Congressman and current Audubon Board Member Jim Greenwood added:

"I applaud these Republicans in the House of Representatives for supporting the resolution. Addressing our changing climate with fiscally-smart and economically-viable solutions requires a balanced, bipartisan approach. Together they acknowledge responsible environmental stewardship is a fundamentally conservative issue and requires their voices when finding common ground on our changing climate. That's noteworthy progress for our work to protect the places birds and families need to thrive for generations to come."

In 2014, Audubon published its Birds and Climate Change Report. The study shows that more than half of the bird species in North America, including species like the Bald Eagle, American Kestrel and Rufous Hummingbird, could lose at least half of their current ranges by 2080 due to rising temperatures. Given the urgent threat climate change poses birds and people, Audubon supports common-sense, bipartisan solutions that reduce carbon pollution at the speed and scale necessary.

To learn more about Audubon’s Climate Initiative, including how members and supporters can take steps to help birds in a changing climate, please visit www.audubon.org/climate.

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.

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Contact: Nicolas Gonzalez, ngonzalez@audubon.org, (212) 979-3068.