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Live from Cancun! Defenders Attends International Climate Talks
The over-developed barrier islands of Cancun are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Post by Noah Matson, vice president of climate change and natural resources adaptation at...
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Live from Cancun: The Difference of One Degree
“We are facing at this moment the end of history for some of us…The difference for us between 1.5 and 2 degrees is whether to survive or to collapse.” Those are the words of Antonio Lima, the small...
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Live from Cancun: Helping Ecosystems Adapt to Climate Change
Photo courtesy of NOAA “The ecosystem is our wealth. If our ecosystem collapses, we have no economy… Ecosystem- based adaptation is not a choice in Seychelles.” Those are the words of Ronny Juneau,...
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Back from the Beach: The Good, the Bad and the 800 lb. Gorilla in Cancun
Negotiators finally wrapped up an intense two weeks in Cancun, hashing out an international agreement on climate change over the weekend. I had said that the outcome from this meeting should be...
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Bundle Up! The Chillier Side of Climate Change
It seems like every winter we see the same thing – political cartoons with characters shivering in the cold, praying for global warming, a rise in the taunts from climate skeptics that global warming...
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Dive In, the Water’s Great!
Saturday was one of the coldest days of the year, but that didn’t stop me from jumping into the icy waters of the Potomac River! Joined by Karl Hornerlaw (another brave Defender) and close to 200...
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Out of Power and Out of Luck: It’s Time to Rethink our Power Supply
Like 360,000 other customers in the Washington, D.C. area, I lost power during last week’s snowstorm. This was no blizzard, no “snowpocalypse,” just 5-10 inches of wet snow, and yet it wiped our...
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Preparing Refuges for Rising Waters
Restored marsh at Blackwater NWR (area inside stakes used to be open water) Photo courtesy Noah Matson Two years ago I had the opportunity to visit Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern...
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House Move Threatens Homeland Security
Courtesy FWS Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a rider on the fiscal 2012 Department of Homeland Security spending bill that would prohibit the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) from...
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BREAKING: Congress Votes Against Protecting Farms, Forests
In a disturbing trend of attacking the government’s ability to prepare for climate risks, the House passed an amendment to the fiscal 2012 agriculture spending bill that would prohibit the U.S....
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House Votes for Increased Flood and Storm Risk
Flooding after Hurricane Katrina As pointed out in several analyses of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, the hurricane was no natural disaster – it was a disaster created by ineffective institutions...
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Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge Primes for Sea Level Rise
A few years ago the road stretched beyond the guardrail. The road just ended. Literally. The van we were in pulled right up to the steel highway railing, beyond which lay some crumbled asphalt, a short...
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Re-Building and Re-Thinking: Senate Funding Bill Encourages Building Smarter...
Noah Matson, Vice President of Landscape Conservation and Climate Adaptation Storm damage in New Jersey When Superstorm Sandy swept ashore in late October, it left an almost unimaginable level of...
View ArticlePresident Calls for Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
Noah Matson, Vice President of Landscape Conservation & Climate Adaptation In his first major speech on climate change since being reelected, President Obama today outlined a comprehensive climate...
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Babbitt on Grouse: National Strategy Needed to Conserve Iconic Species
Noah Matson, Vice President of Landscape Conservation & Climate Adaptation This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The University of California-Davis...
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It’s Not Just About the Grouse
There is a lot of talk, in the media, on the Hill and among federal and state agencies, about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s pending decision to protect the greater sage-grouse under the...
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On the Hill: helping society and nature cope with climate impacts
Noah Matson, Vice President of Landscape Conservation & Climate Adaptation On Tuesday I testified in Congress before the Environment and Public Works Committee, on the impacts of climate change on...
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Senate Wakes Up to Climate Change…At Least Some of Them
Tonight, more than 20 senators will be taking over the Senate floor to pull an all-nighter to “wake up” Congress to climate change. It will be the first major action of the new Senate Climate Action...
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Failing Report Card on Federal Efforts to Conserve Sage-grouse
Ranging over ten western states, greater sage-grouse have lost nearly half their original habitat, and their populations have experienced long-term declines. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
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Protecting national wildlife refuges requires more than duct tape
On Tuesday, I spoke on behalf of our country’s national wildlife refuge lands and the many species of wildlife that depend on them for survival. Standing before a House Natural Resources Committee...
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STOP MAKING SENSE: White House Suggests Smart Planning, Congress May Say No
If you’re planning to build a road, doesn’t it make sense to place it somewhere that won’t be washed away by rising seas within a few years? If you’re working on a water project that will impact a...
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