Make no mistake: each day we fail to address climate change millions of tons of dangerous carbon pollution fill our skies. This pollution threatens our health, our economic well-being, our national security and the very survival of species and the treasured lands at the core of American culture. But there is reason to be optimistic. Because of your help Congress is acting.

Building on the momentum generated by passage of a comprehensive energy and climate bill (H.R. 2454) in the House in late June, the Senate has introduced its own clean energy jobs bill – the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733).

Sponsored by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), S. 1733 will:

• Reduce global warming by limiting the amount of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases that polluters pour into the atmosphere;
• Invest in clean, renewable energy technologies that will reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and increase America's domestic energy supplies; and
• Reduce the harmful effects of climate change on America's national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other wild lands by investing a portion of the bill's revenues in protecting our natural resources from the effects of global warming.

The Senate bill introduced in late September is even stronger than the House bill passed in June, providing for a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide pollution from 2005 levels, and preserving the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate polluting new coal plants under the Clean Air Act. The bill will create an estimated 1.9 million new American jobs, many of them in rural areas hard-hit by the current recession. And it will benefit national security by reducing America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

Most importantly for those who care about our nation's wild lands - our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, rivers, oceans and other treasured landscapes - the bill provides funding to help natural resources survive and thrive in a warming world. By helping our wild lands, we help the wildlife and the human communities that depend on them for clean air, pure water, recreation, and a host of other benefits. S. 1733 will help ensure that we don't lose the special places we've fought for more than a century to protect.

It has never been more urgent to take action to move our nation away from our dangerous dependence on fossil fuel and toward an energy policy that is renewable, sustainable and made in America.

The Wilderness Society played a lead role in securing funding to safeguard natural resources in the bill passed by the House of Representatives in June (H.R. 2454.) In the Senate, we're asking that 5% of total allowance values under S. 1733 be dedicated to protecting natural resources.

Helping our wildlands and wildlife adapt is not only important in addressing global warming, but also will provide economic benefits and create jobs. Funding will provide jobs for thousands of American engineers, scientists, construction crews and other workers needed to restore coastal wetlands and native grasslands, remove invasive species, protect habitat for threatened and endangered fish and wildlife, replant native tree species, and remove unused roads.

We must convince those still wavering in the Senate to support this bill.