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Two-thirds of North American birds are at risk of extinction from global temperature rise and what you can do to help.
Allen's Hummingbird is a climate endangered bird Photo: Barry Schirm
Climate change is a serious threat to California birds. Highly and moderately vulnerable birds may lose more than half of their current range—the geographic area where they live—as they are forced to search for suitable habitat and climate conditions elsewhere. The birds that nest or spend the winter in your area are most vulnerable across their entire range. Some birds may lose range outside of your state, making the protection of their current habitat in your area even more important.
Highly vulnerable birds include iconic California birds such as the California Quail, Allen’s Hummingbird, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Yellow-billed Magpie, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cassin's Kingbird, Bushtit, Acorn Woodpecker, and many others. These are birds that all of us know well from our backyards and from our own experiences in California’s beautiful outdoors.
Audubon California is addressing this challenge by protecting the habitats that we know birds will need now and into the future, and doing what we can to lessen the severity of global warming. We’ll do this work with a variety of partners on the ground and in the halls of the State Capitol and Washington, D.C. But we won’t be able to rise to this challenge without the involvement of California residents who care about birds. We need people not only to join us in this important work, but to also raise their voices to call for meaningful policy and legislative action on climate. TAKE ACTION>>
Enter your zip code into Audubon’s Birds and Climate Visualizer and it will show you how climate change will impact your birds and your community and includes ways you can help.
Summary of Audubon California’s programs that contribute to abating the impacts of climate change or increasing the climate resiliency of our priority California habitats and birds.
How breeding seabirds respond to climate-driven changes in their food sources
Audubon California supports the introduction of the Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act
Here’s where to begin and how to amplify your efforts to make lasting change in the world.
Black Oystercatchers face an uncertain future in a changing climate.
The Yellow-billed Magpie could lose a large part of its range unless we address global warming.
Audubon California and its partners are bringing back 400-acres of wetland habitat in San Pablo Bay for the benefit of a variety of birds, including the endangered Ridgeway's Rail.
This site is devoted to the protection and recovery of the Western Snowy Plover, a small, rare, and threatened shorebird that makes its home on certain beaches on the Pacific coast.
Not long ago, we talked about the bigger climate bills being considered by the California State Legislature. Well, add another one to the list. Senate Bill 775, authored by Sen. Bob Wieckowski, will go beyond simply re-authorizing California's cap-and-trade system. This bill will re-imagine key parts of the cap-and-trade program, and offer financial "dividends" to residents. One of the main goals is to do something for communities that have long suffered the burden of air pollution. The entirety of the legislations is well-explained in this piece by Vox.
Audubon President David Yarnold today was quick to condemn President Donald Trump's executive order reversing a number of federal policiy addressing climate change, most notably the Clean Power Plan:
Said Yarnold, “There are numerous paths to reach a clean energy future, but none-of-the-above isn't one of them. The administration is taking off the table our most concrete plans to deal with climate change—but without a single alternative."
Here in California, officials moved quickly to make it clear that they would fight the administration's attempts to back away from this country's progress on climate change. California has aligned with several other states to threaten court action over the administration's moves.
As the Environmental Protection Agency signals its intent to roll back fuel standards for new vehicles, California officials are warning that any attempt to restrict its ability to set vehicle emissions standards will be met with fierce legal opposition:
Any decision to revoke California's federal waiver could spur a major legal fight, and the state has already retained former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. The state will "vigorously participate and defend ourselves" on setting the state's own air quality rules, California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said.
Automakers reportedly are pressuring the EPA to begin the process of limiting California's ability to set its own standards, which are widely adopted by other states, as well.
Fascinating piece on NPR about the demand from some Southern California communities that their air pollution problems be addressed alongside climate change policies.
Already on a fast-track to building a reliable renewable energy infrastructure, California may soon set its sights on a future that is totally fossil fuel-free. Last week, right at the deadline for new bills, California State Senate President pro tem Kevin De León introduced legislation that will hasten the state's shift to renewable energy. Senate Bill 584 will push up California's shift to 50% renewables by 2025 (five years sooner than our current goals) and 100% by 2045.
Great article in the New York Times talking about how bird migrations are perfectly suited to the availability of food and habitat -- and the climate change threatens to upset this delicate system.
National Audubon Society President David Yarnold today expressed concern about the man who has been nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt:
“Scott Pruitt’s nomination as the anti-EPA Administrator causes us deep concern," said David Yarnold (@david_yarnold), Audubon’s president and CEO. "The Environmental Protection Agency's work has always been based on science, but Pruitt is a climate change denier who has worked to dismantle well-grounded protections for clean air and clean water."
Read the whole statement here.
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California is a global biodiversity hotspots, with one of the greatest concentrations of living species on Earth.
