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Lovejoy: 'More conservation needed' to fight global climate change

Governor wants to 'keep it green' in NJ

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW BRUNSWICK, March 8, 2008 - With climate change already affecting many places and creatures on Earth, conservationists must become “planet doctors” to help mitigate problems caused by too much carbon in our atmosphere.

That was the message delivered by international biodiversity scientist Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, the keynote speaker at the 12th annual New Jersey Land Conservation Rally on Saturday, March 8, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick.

“The natural world is more vulnerable to climate

change than anything else we care about,” said Lovejoy, who founded the public television series Nature. “We need to be much more aggressive” in recognizing and addressing impacts, he added. “We will need more conservation, not less.”

The Rally, sponsored by New Jersey Conservation Foundation and numerous partners, was attended by nearly 300 environmental leaders from across the state.

Gov. Jon Corzine, who also spoke at the Rally, said leadership is needed in New Jersey to combat the effects of global climate change – which include rising sea levels and more intense storms.

“We have a big stake in this,” said Corzine, noting that the state’s 127 miles of coastline draws 50 million visitors to the Jersey Shore each year. Eighty percent of New Jersey’s coast, he said, is vulnerable to higher sea levels and storm surges.

“I believe we have a major responsibility in all parts of our society to address this,” added the governor. “That’s why we have the strictest mandates that exist among the states.” On March 31, Corzine said, he will unveil a new energy master plan outlining actions to be taken.

Last July, Corzine signed legislation calling for greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, a decrease of about 20 percent. The law requires emissions to be further reduced to 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050.

Corzine said New Jersey is committed to incorporating alternate energy sources, such as wind, geothermal and solar. “If we take these steps, I think we will be better off economically and environmentally,” he commented.

Alluding to the fact that forests and wetlands absorb carbon from the atmosphere, the governor said land preservation is a component of any strategy to fight global warming. “I have no intention of allowing us to get out of the business of acquiring open space,” he declared.

However, Corzine warned that open space funding must be considered in the context of New Jersey’s financial situation. Referring to proposed spending cuts to reduce New Jersey’s massive $32 billion debt, Corzine called for a “holistic approach” to looking at issues like education, energy, economics and land preservation. The state, he said, needs to find “a multiplicity of ways” to save money by operating more efficiently.

“Believe me, I want to keep it green,” said the governor.

Corzine’s proposed budget includes a 13 percent spending cut for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which runs the state’s parks, forests and wildlife programs. It also calls for the elimination of the Department of Agriculture, whose functions and services would be shifted to other departments.

Lovejoy points out changes

In his address, Lovejoy said there is ample scientific evidence that all regions of Earth are feeling the effects of climate change.

According to Lovejoy, the levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere have risen dramatically in the past 50 years, from 315 parts per million in 1958 to 357 parts per mission today.

In polar regions, he said, glaciers are shrinking and sea ice is breaking up earlier each spring. This, he said, has made the polar bear, which is threatened with extinction due to habitat changes, “the poster child” of global warming.

At the same time, Lovejoy noted, tropical glaciers are predicted to be gone within 12 years. He wryly noted that Ernest Hemingway would have had to find an alternate title for his novel, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” had the author written it in present times.

Within the United States, he said, all regions are experiencing earlier springs. He said the National Arbor Day Foundation, which sets plant hardiness zones that farmers and growers use for timing their spring plantings, has had to adjust its maps. New Jersey is now in the zone previously occupied by warmer-climate states like Virginia and Maryland.

As a result of global warming, said Lovejoy, some bird species are migrating and nesting earlier and even changing where they live. Other species – including butterflies, trees, fish and sea grasses, are also moving northward in their ranges.

“Nature is on the move in a way we have never experienced before,” said Lovejoy.

Lovejoy listed several steps conservationists can take to ensure that a changing planet will be able to keep a diversity of plant and animal species. For instance, he said, land conservation groups can adopt strategies to limit greenhouse gas concentrations – such as preserving intact forests. Conservationists, he added, may also be able to assist in the migration of species by providing “natural connections” between fragmented forests and open spaces.