Center for Biological Diversity

People's Petition to Cap Carbon Dioxide Pollution at 350 Parts Per Million

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Prominent climate researchers have warned that we must reduce the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million (ppm) or below in order to stabilize climate change and avoid global catastrophe. The Center for Biological Diversity, along with Bill McKibben's group 350.org, is advocating strongly for this necessary standard.

While carbon dioxide isn’t the only global warming pollutant we need to control, it’s the number-one contributor to climate change.

Please take one minute to join us in moving toward a real solution to the climate crisis by calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do its job as science, the law and common sense require. Sign the People's Petition to Cap Carbon at 350 Parts Per Million today.

I support the legal petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org to the EPA to cap atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at 350 parts per million -- the level science says is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming -- under the Clean Air Act.

For four decades, the Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe through a proven, successful system of pollution control that saves lives and creates economic benefits exceeding its costs by many times. It's time to fully use one of our strongest existing tools for reducing greenhouse gas pollution: the Clean Air Act.

Now is the time to enforce the Act, not gut it. I urge you to move swiftly to grant the petition and enforce the Clean Air Act.

Respectfully,

Dr. James Hansen, Climate Scientist
Bill McKibben, Founder 350.org, Author
Ed Begley, Jr., Activist /Actor
Bonnie Raitt, Musician / Activist
Barbara Kingsolver, Author
Doug La Follette, Wisconsin Secretary of State
Dr. Helen Caldicott, Anti-Nuclear Activist
ChiQ Simms, Navigation Foundation
Dr. Michael Dorsey, Director- Sierra Club National Board
Brock Evans, President- Endangered Species Coalition
Dinah Bear, Attorney-at-Law
Curtis Moore, Author and former Republican Counsel, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate
Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Biodiversity Chair, Heinz Center
Dr. Niles Eldredge, Curator in the Department of Invertebrates, American Museum of Natural History
Dr. John Terborgh, Research Professor Emeritus and Director, Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University
Jonathan Baker, Co-founder, Sol Sage
Joshua Beckman, Poet
Kate Bernheimer, Author
Elise Blackwell, Author
Adam Braver, Author
Alan Cheuse, Author
Ron Currie, Jr., Author
Kathryn Davis, Author
Alison Deming, Author
Jay Driscoll, of band Barefoot Truth
Rikki Ducornet, Author
Ben Edlund, TV Writer and Comic-book Artist
Jennifer Egan, Author
Daniel Handler, Author
Oliver Houck, Author and Professor of Law, Tulane University
Alex Irvine, Author
Anna Lappe, Author, Small Planet Institute
Jonathan Lethem, Author
Victor Lodato, Author
Alec Loorz, Founder, Kids vs. Global Warming
Victoria Loorz, Co-Founder, Kids vs. Global Warming
Ben Marcus, Author
Lydia Millet, Author
Rick Moody, Author
Jenny Offill, Author
Zyg Plater, Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Dr. Melissa Savage, Professor Emeritus, University of California Los Angeles
Aurelie Sheehan, Author
Darcey Steinke, Author
Darin Strauss, Author
Donna Tartt, Author
Lynne Tillman, Author
Fred Tomaselli, Artist
Harvey Wasserman, author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030
Don Waters, Author
Eric Zencey, Visiting Associate Professor of Historical and Political Studies, Empire State College
Luanne Rice, Author
Mike Tidwell, Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
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1-25 of 103955 signatures
Number Date Name Location
103955 Wed Jun 19 13:59:58 EDT 2013 Anonymous downey, CA , US
103954 Wed Jun 19 13:19:50 EDT 2013 Leena Jänis Örebro, ot , SE
103953 Wed Jun 19 13:17:28 EDT 2013 Kerry Clark Killeen, TX , US
103952 Wed Jun 19 12:54:15 EDT 2013 michael rifkind Santa Cruz, CA , US
103951 Wed Jun 19 12:01:36 EDT 2013 Lauren Gedlinske Apple Valley, MN , US
103950 Wed Jun 19 11:13:13 EDT 2013 The Ungers Easton, PA , US
103949 Wed Jun 19 10:17:55 EDT 2013 E T Harris Philadelphia, PA , US
103948 Wed Jun 19 08:46:22 EDT 2013 Anonymous Lexington, KY , US
103947 Wed Jun 19 05:44:35 EDT 2013 Ginger Daub Seattle, WA , US
103946 Wed Jun 19 03:01:28 EDT 2013 Margaret Tollner Lakewood, CA , US
103945 Wed Jun 19 02:11:56 EDT 2013 tammy madera new york, NY , US
103944 Wed Jun 19 00:59:38 EDT 2013 Donna Vivado Centerville, MA , US
103943 Wed Jun 19 00:10:15 EDT 2013 Maryse Pagnard Westbury, NY , US
103942 Tue Jun 18 22:53:58 EDT 2013 Marcia Harvey Paso Robles, CA , US
103941 Tue Jun 18 22:06:37 EDT 2013 Dawn Daugherty St. Louis, MO , US
103940 Tue Jun 18 21:54:06 EDT 2013 M Busch Elizabeth, NJ , US
103939 Tue Jun 18 21:44:50 EDT 2013 Daymon Faulkner Garland , TX , US
103938 Tue Jun 18 21:02:59 EDT 2013 Michael Johnson San Marcos, CA , US
103937 Tue Jun 18 20:45:45 EDT 2013 LINDA RAHILLY TRENTON, NJ , US
103936 Tue Jun 18 18:50:49 EDT 2013 Carolyn Ormenaj Jackson, NJ , US
103935 Tue Jun 18 18:32:49 EDT 2013 Dawn Matson Sedro-Woolley, WA , US
103934 Tue Jun 18 18:02:40 EDT 2013 Kate Stant Egg Harbor Twp., NJ , US
103933 Tue Jun 18 17:13:06 EDT 2013 Antoniette Valluzzi Flushing , NY , US
103932 Tue Jun 18 17:05:36 EDT 2013 Lisa Huelskamp Marysville, OH , US
103931 Tue Jun 18 16:49:12 EDT 2013 Kate Stucke elyria, OH , US
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Several lines of evidence show that allowing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to remain above 350 ppm for a sustained period of time will lead to dangerously acidic oceans, runaway global warming, and melting of the polar ice caps. Such a climate would be well outside anything experienced in the history of the human species, and would carry with it irreversible cascades of species extinctions and significant dangers for human civilization.

What's needed is an immediate reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide, with the goal of an overall concentration of 350 ppm or less to be achieved as quickly as possible. To accomplish that, the Center supports the rapid phasing out of all coal-fired power plants; the highest technologically feasible vehicle-mileage standards; and a ban on extreme energy development like Arctic drilling, tar sands and fracking, among other critical measures.

Smokestacks photo courtesy NASA.