Fight the Climate Crisis

Every day, we can see the impact of climate change all around us: temperatures are rising and having a devastating impact around the world. Last July was the hottest month ever recorded. Every year, there are more destructive forest fires, worse floods, longer droughts, extreme rainfall, bigger and more destructive storms. Hurricane Dorian was the most destructive hurricane ever to make landfall in the Caribbean and came just two years after three consecutive storms - Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria caused havoc in Texas and the Carolinas, and then death and devastation in Puerto Rico. This is happening all over the world. Summer temperatures in Europe this year were the highest on record, as well as in Asia. Catastrophic flooding in southern Africa last year dealt an enormous blow to agriculture and economic development in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Young people can see these threats in their televisions and online. Increasingly they are alarmed about the world they’re growing up in.

Background

In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the world needed to almost halve its emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero level emissions by 2050 in order to keep the planet’s temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, in its report published last October, it stated that annual global carbon emissions were on track to stay the same, and even increase. Instead of making progress, we are regressing, to the peril of our health, property and very lives.

Scientific evidence for climate change is unequivocal: We know with a 95-100% degree of certainty that it is caused by human activity, primarily by greenhouse gas emissions that come from the burning of fossil fuels.

Transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy is now critically important for all of us. As the world’s largest historic emitter of the greenhouses gases that cause climate disruption, the United States has a responsibility to lead in this transition and to assist other countries to do the same.  Our responses to climate change must reach across sectors (i.e. transportation, agriculture, power) and so we need a federal response that can provide a clear, achievable policy goal to make this possible.

Share this alert on social media!

• As a person of faith, I recognize that God’s creation is sacred & that I'm called to responsibly steward its gifts while protecting my vulnerable neighbors. That’s why I’m taking the pledge to advocate for a 100% clean energy economy. #ClimateStrike #CleanEnergyNow #GreaterAs1

• The United States is the world’s largest emitter of carbon pollution to date. We have a responsibility to lead the transition toward a 100% clean energy economy and assist other countries in doing the same.  #ClimateStrike #CleanEnergyNow #GreaterAs1

• The #climatecrisis means the most vulnerable will have to work even harder to have clean water, food, and safety causing even more displacement than we see today. That’s why I support the #ClimateStrike to advocate for a cleaner world.

• The climate crisis is taking place all around us and it is past time we act. Join me in calling your representatives to demand renewable energy legislation. #ClimateStrike #CleanEnergyNow #GreaterAs1

• Our responses to climate change must reach across sectors (i.e. transportation, agriculture, power) and so we need a federal response that can provide a clear, achievable policy goal to make this possible. #ClimateStrike #CleanEnergyNow #GreaterAs1