Dear CCANers,
It’s a cliché for nonprofit leaders to say to supporters: “We have NEVER needed you more than right now!” But in the case of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and YOU, it’s really true: We have never, ever, ever needed you more than right now.
That’s because the extreme weather of climate change is all around us. The little town of Ellicott City, Maryland just got wiped out by the second “1000-year” flood in less than two years. The chances of that happening are one in a million. Large parts of DC, meanwhile, have flooded in recent days due to record rains, and Virginia’s coastline continues to get pounded by the march of higher and higher seas.
Meanwhile, the dirty energy industry is growing more extreme too. Companies like Dominion Energy and TransCanada continue to promote radical fossil fuel development in our region. Dominion is planning to decapitate entire mountain ridgelines in Virginia for construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline for fracked gas. And TransCanada, with the unconscionable assistance of Governor Larry Hogan, is planning to plow a fracked-gas pipeline across Maryland and under the Potomac River. Besides the climate harm from burning fracked gas, the TransCanada pipeline could harm the drinking water of all 680,000 residents of the District of Columbia.
But that’s where you come in. Our goal at CCAN is to always give you an “on ramp” in the fight against dirty energy companies. And we tell you how to fight for alternatives, like clean wind and solar power. In DC, you can help pass a historic “carbon fee.” In Maryland, you can help double wind and solar power in Maryland. And in Virginia, you can push the Commonwealth to cap carbon pollution from power plants while investing in energy efficiency and climate-friendly farming techniques.
Is the weather strange where you live? Have you grown tired of pipeline companies who want to take your land or trample through your region? Are you impatient with politicians who aren’t feeling the urgency of climate change enough to really fight hard for clean energy?
Then, as I said at the start, we have never needed you more. Please do what you can to help the movement. Ask your friends to sign up for our email list. Attend an upcoming event. Make a donation. And make a difference.
Sincerely,
Mike Tidwell
Photo at the top via Flickr user Stacker with a Creative Commons license.
