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SSI Accomplishments
Selected examples of recent SSI accomplishments are described below.
- In 2005, SSI members have submitted comments on federal policies relating to climate change research, national forest policy, and invasive species; contacted their congressional delegations about, among other items, the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act and comprehensive energy legislation; and informed the public of pertinent topics ranging from the leadership of California's state government in implementing solutions to global warming, to the inadequacies on the Bush administration's policies relating to climate change.
- In April 2005 nearly 40 scientists attended a press conference in Sacramento, CA, marking the release of a letter signed by nearly 500 California scientists with climate expertise, including 150 SSI members, urging Governor Schwarzenegger and California legislators to take immediate and aggressive steps to reduce the state's heat-trapping gas emissions. The letter was also published as a full-page ad in the Sacramento Bee that day. (Visit < www.climatechoices.org > for complete coverage.) In conjunction with the letter, scientists participated in a Climate Education Day. Meeting with over 52 legislative offices, state agencies, and the governor's office, teams of scientists and UCS staff hand-delivered the letter to targeted decision-makers and talked about projected climate change impacts in California as well as solutions.
- SSI continues to push for national and state policymakers to adopt mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions. In addition to a number of letters to the editor in local papers throughout the country, SSI members also engaged Congress through legislator meetings, phone calls and email action alerts. In 2003, more than 1,000 scientists from across the nation signed the State of Climate Science letter outlining the consensus on the anthropogenic component to climate change.
- SSI leveraged moments of significant attention on climate change, such as the release of the movie The Day After Tomorrow, a National Geographic article on climate change, and Michael Crichton's thriller State of Fear to help the general public understand the causes of and solutions to climate change.
- Raising awareness of the need to slow the introduction and stem the spread of invasive species continues to be a high priority for SSI. Over the past year, SSI has written op-eds, met with legislators, and helped educate the public on the threat of invasive species. UCS participated in the sixth annual National Invasive Weeds Awareness Week (NIWAW). The Invasive Weed Awareness Coalition had briefings with key staff in the Departments of Agriculture and Interior leadership, members of the Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW), and with several members of Congress and/or their staff.
- SSI members generated a significant number of comments regarding an invasive weed known as Caulerpa during the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) comment period. Invasives scientists submitted comments on two petitions requesting the addition of either the whole genus Caulerpa or the entire species Caulerpa taxifolia to the APHIS list of noxious weeds.
- Over the past few years, SSI has responded to several controversial issues regarding salmon protection in the Pacific Northwest under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). One such issue is whether hatchery fish should be considered when assessing the sustainability of natural wild salmon populations. SSI members commented on two Federal Registry notices regarding hatchery policy, generally concluding that hatchery fish should not be considered ecologically sustaining members of a natural population. Another issue concerns dams in the Columbia and Snake Rivers and their effect on ESA listed salmon and steelhead populations. The 2004 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Biological Opinion of the Federal Columbia River Power System did not consider possible removal of the dams to aid in sustaining populations of salmon and steelhead. More than 250 scientists, including members of SSI, signed a letter to President Bush and his administration outlining the scientific problems with the Biological Opinion.
- SSI members have promoted a variety of printed and web-based materials to hundreds of students, reporters, policymakers, and the general public to raise awareness of the potential ecological impacts of climate change
Below are links to several more pages with additional information about SSI. We encourage you to visit them. If you have any additional questions about SSI please email them to us at ssi@ucsusa.org.
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