Like me, I know that you are probably thinking about more than just green beer this St. Patrick’s Day. With global warming being one of the three main priorities laid out by President Obama, the state is set for action this year. But with the recession on everyone’s minds, we need to make sure that every member of Congress knows that America is ready for bold action on climate change in 2009.
That’s where you all come in. One of the most effective tools of advocacy is the letter to the editor – you get your message out to hundreds of readers, including citizens, newspaper editors, and politicians. The next two months are going to be crucial in ensuring that Congress gets the message, so I’m asking you to make a commitment now to submit 3 letters by Memorial Day. Why Memorial Day? Because Congressman Henry Waxman, head of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has pledged that he will get a carbon cap out of committee by Memorial Day, and he needs our support!
The first thing to make clear? The urgency of taking climate action!
Talking Points:
– The science tells us that we have an increasingly narrow window for taking action to reduce our global warming pollution. We must pass a strong, national carbon cap in 2009, which cuts pollution 25-40% below 1990 by 2020, before the international climate negotiations in Denmark this December.
– The impacts of global warming on human and natural systems are now being obseved nearly everywhere. In 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning UN Inverovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted serious risks and damages to livelihoods, human infrastructure, societies, species and ecosystems unless future warming is reduced. So far this decade, emissions and warming have both been at the upper end of IPCC projections.
– In 2008, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that summer Arctic sea ice had reached the second-lowed level ever recorded, following the record-breaking 2007 summer. Now, scientists from NASA and other agencies warn that Arctic summers could be nearly ice-free within the next five years.
– We are not only facing a climate crisis, but an economic crisis as well. Passing clean energy legislation that includes a limit on carbon emissions is the next essential step toward advancing a clean energy economy that will sustain America’s long-term economic health.
– Only by limiting carbon emissions can we advance a new clean energy future for America and begin to stabilize our climate.
– A cap on carbon emissions will reduce our dependence on dirty energy sources.
– I urge Senator______/Representative__________ (choose on based on where you live) to work for clean energy and a stable future by support strong climate legislation based on what science tells us is necessary.
If you submit a letter, post it as a response to this blog.
