One of the main things that I want to do with my career is to help communities mitigate and adapt to climate change. I think it is incredibly important to focus on a local level rather than just federally, and CCAN is intentional about building a broad coalition with a lot of voices!
Continue reading
Together with her followers, she helps put our world on a path back to that green utopia; a “life beyond Thunderdome.” And we can do it, too, if we step forward now and take action to fight climate change!
Continue reading
I used to think I’d always stay housed. I’m sure many of you reading this feel that way right now. But as the world changes faster and faster, becoming less hospitable, this will increasingly become an issue not just in your backyard, but for you or someone you care about.
Continue reading
Do you want to help fight climate change? If the answer is yes, you may be where I was one fine day 18 years ago when I decided to join CCAN.
Continue reading
Can you believe it? After years of public pressure, reports say the Biden Administration is considering declaring a climate emergency.
But what does that mean, and why is it so important?
The Biden Administration has the power to declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act. If they did, it would be HUGE. Declaring a climate emergency would carry immense weight, enabling a range of measures to be implemented quickly. It would give the White House the ability to:
In short: a climate emergency declaration is not merely symbolic; it is a crucial step towards catalyzing the transformative change needed to address the climate crisis. And with fossil fuel companies trying to build new infrastructure left and right, a climate emergency declaration would be an important tool to stop the madness and build a sustainable future instead.
We’ve been asking the President to take this step for years, and it’s needed now more than ever. We’ve just faced ten straight months of global heat records and it appears there’s more to come. The United Nations’ climate chief issued a red-alert warning on climate, after record heat and ice melt in 2023. Here in the United States, climate disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity, and the forecast is for another sweltering summer.
Extreme weather events, exacerbated by climate change, have cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion in recent years–globally it is $16 million per hour. Human health is being directly impacted, and inequity is being furthered in the U.S. and globally. Food supplies are directly impacted and over 1 billion people could be displaced in the coming years.
If that’s not an emergency, I don’t know what is.
Let’s make it official. We’re coordinating a nationwide petition with the goal of sending at least 100,000 names to the White House demanding: Declare a climate emergency now!
Let me be clear. So far, President Biden has been the strongest U.S. president yet on climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act he championed provided more than $370 billion on clean energy over the next decade. The Environmental Protection Agency under his supervision has moved forward on several key rules that will reduce climate pollution from cars, power plants, and more.
But there’s much more to be done and we’re running short on time to do it.
This is the climate crisis, and this is an emergency. Tell President Biden: This is not a drill. Declare a climate emergency now!
There is a wealth of literature that shows that not only is it technologically feasible to achieve a net zero economy by 2050, but we’ll save a lot of money and lives in doing so.,
Continue readingClimate change is a crisis demanding our utmost attention. But there are moments when we must pause to respond to suffering from other causes, especially suffering as great as that in Gaza and Israel now.
As a multi-racial, multi-faith staff — including adherents of Christianity, Judaism and Islam — we call on the White House to support a peace arrangement founded on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the return of all Israeli hostages.
As negotiations for a ceasefire continue at this moment, we believe it is important for U.S. advocacy groups of all types to speak up for a just and lasting peace. To date, more than 100 Israeli hostages are still being held after 1200 Israeli men, women, and children were attacked and killed on October 7th by Hamas. This is unacceptable. Since then, more than 27,000 Palestinians and others have been killed in raids and bombings by the Israeli Defense Forces, two thirds of them women and children. In December, the World Food Program said 90 percent of Gazans were eating less than one meal per day. This is unacceptable.
As a climate change group, nearly all of our advocacy is focused on clean energy and climate justice issues, as it should be. But very occasionally, we call for justice in the wake of other extraordinary moments – the Haitian earthquake disaster of 2010, the killing of George Floyd in 2020, and the January 6th insurrection.
The scale of innocent lives lost in this conflict has few rivals among conflicts in our lifetimes. The Gaza war, like all wars, distracts the world community from focusing on the biggest long-term threat of violence to all people everywhere: climate change. Now the United States, unlike in most armed conflicts in the world right now, has a decidedly strong opportunity to influence an end to the violence in Israel and Gaza.
Your support for our organization is based first and foremost on our work to end global warming. We know that. Our commitment to that goal will never change. But today we ask you to demand peace in Gaza so we can continue to work for climate peace for the entire planet.
It has been more than two weeks since the horrifying hostilities broke out in the Middle East. Like you, our hearts are broken here at CCAN for all the innocent victims in Israel and Gaza who have already died or continue to suffer daily in border towns, refugee camps and hospitals. We are appalled, too, by the spate of anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic hate crimes and speech that have arisen here in the United States in the wake of the conflict. We condemn such actions.
Meanwhile, we strongly support the call from the United Nations and the Biden Administration for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting to allow food, fuel, and medicine to reach stranded and suffering people in Gaza. And we encourage you, our supporters, to consider donating to relief efforts for those hungry and injured in all sides of this Mideast conflict zone.
We recommend two organizations whose work stands out in this conflict. The first is World Central Kitchen, which is committed to the goal of providing food directly to those in need in Gaza and affected parts of Israel. The second is Doctors Without Borders, which is providing medical aid to the wounded and sick throughout Gaza.
Help people in need in Gaza and Israel: Donate to World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. These groups are making a difference on the ground.
Climate change is a crisis demanding our utmost attention. But there are many moments when we must pause to respond to suffering from other causes, especially suffering as great as that in Gaza and Israel now. So please donate.
Also, if you are interested in learning how you can help prevent or address hate crimes in your community, check out this excellent resource from the US Department of Justice. I think you’ll find many helpful tools here in our ongoing national effort to move beyond hate and toward a nation and world of greater tolerance and peace.
And, right now, please help people in need in Gaza and Israel: Donate to World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. These groups are making a difference on the ground.
Thank you for all you do to help us address the greatest threat of future violence and suffering on this planet: climate change. But now, there is very real suffering in the Middle East. Please help relieve some of the pain with a gift.
Sincerely,
Mike Tidwell
Executive Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
My alarm went off bright and early on the morning of September 17. It was still dark as I pulled myself out of bed just before 5 am. I checked my phone and saw that Mason, CCANs Central Virginia Organizer, had already met up with a group of volunteer activists he had rallied together, boarded them all onto a charter bus, and was headed to the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City. I splashed some water on my face, slipped on my comfiest tennis shoes, and made my way to College Park, MD where Masons’ bus was stopping to pick up myself, my colleague Mustafa, and a group of additional volunteers from the surrounding area. By 7:30 am, 47 CCANers were on the bus ready to make history.
As we drove I took a moment to look around at the people who had so graciously given up their Sunday to be with there with us. They came from all sorts of backgrounds, from teen activists and college students to retired community members. All there to protest for a liveable future. We all got to know each other on the way there, sharing why we chose to come, singing march chants to get excited, and of course, sharing what felt like a lifetime of coffees to make sure we were all properly caffeinated.
“I felt compelled with every fiber of my being that I needed to be there,” said Gerri Carrillo of Amelia County, Virginia.
As for me, I was there because, for the first time in a long time, climate anxiety was overriding the hope I felt about the progress we were collectively making. I turned 26 a few months ago and have been thinking about the future. I was inundated with thoughts about how climate change would affect the world I grew up in and how different it would be for my future children. I could already see it, the effects of climate change were no longer just things I read about in the news. It was happening right in front of me. Smoke from wildfires covering half the country, continuous flooding in my hometown, our fading winters. It all felt completely out of my control. It was easy to feel like I was solely responsible for a global solution. By getting on that bus that humid Sunday morning, I felt like I was taking back power over what I wanted my future to look like. When we arrived, standing there on the streets of New York City, surrounded for miles by other activists, a surge of hope rushed to my cheeks. I could see that there were thousands and thousands and thousands of people who would continue to fight with me. I was not alone.
As we marched with herds of other activists down 52nd Street, demands for a paradigm shift echoed in the air: End the era of fossil fuels.
The plan was this: thousands of us would flood the streets the weekend before the UN Climate Ambition Summit, demanding that President Biden lead the world away from fossil fuel reliance. It was time to call on Biden to take decisive executive action to halt new oil and gas leases in the United States. This 2023 March to End Fossil Fuels had the momentum to be not just a massive demonstration, but a crucial moment in Biden’s presidency. It marked the largest climate mobilization he had witnessed since taking office in 2021.
And it felt like it. More than 75,000 people protested with me, demanding big changes. The number of young people there lit a fire under my butt. The barely threes on their fathers’ shoulders, or the grade schoolers playing tag through the masses (much to their guardians’ chagrin), or the college students who joined me on the CCAN bus. If they could find the courage to keep marching, so could I. Our presence in those streets was a testament to the collective power of individuals who refuse to be bystanders in the face of an escalating climate crisis. A hopeful possibility of a universal understanding that the transition away from fossil fuels was not only necessary, but imperative for the health and well-being of our planet and its inhabitants. And we were there to make it happen.
“When the air we breathe is under attack, what do we do??” I screamed into the bullhorn Mason had so kindly given me the honor of monitoring (it was my first time using one at an event this size and I was psyched). A few hundred people shouted back, “Stand up!! Fight back!!” I continued, “When the water we drink is under attack, what do we do??” “Stand up, fight back!!”
Our message was clear, we need leaders worldwide to take meaningful climate action, now. It was a declaration that we, as citizens, were united in our determination to protect the Earth and its inhabitants. We marched for our children, our friends, the guy who cut us in line last week, our parents and siblings, the kid who used to push us on the playground, for those who could not march. That day we marched for humanity as a whole, reminded that Earth will survive climate change, but we might not. Stand up. Fight back.
Ending new drilling for gas and oil
Would be our hearts’ desire.
Deadly fossil fuels will kill us all,
Setting Mother Earth on fire!
– Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield, Midlothian, VA
We came to the end of our march path and settled in to listen to speakers such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a sixteen-year-old climate leader, and even an eight-year-old activist with his mother. Hearing their speeches made me hyperaware of one thing: we were all scared – but we were all here. I was situated next to a loudspeaker, but even with my ears ringing at the end of each speech, I could hear that all of these voices echoed in part of a global chorus demanding a massive shift. We have the home team advantage in this fight, and boy do we have something to fight for. The thought of the loss we’re faced with if we do nothing is enough to make anyone shut down completely. But scared as we were, we all showed up to do something about it.
Growing up, my dad often repeated a popular Nelson Mandela quote to us, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Continuing to push on and advocate for justice in the face of overwhelming fear. That was us, courageously pushing forward, pushing for change. The energy and determination that coursed through the crowd was a forceful reminder that the fight against climate change was a battle we could not afford to lose. This march was not an isolated event, but a catalyst for ongoing action. It was a rallying cry that reverberated through the halls of power, calling for a transformative shift in our energy policies. The momentum generated on that day will serve as a foundation for the continued battle to end our reliance on fossil fuels.
In the aftermath of the march, as we climbed back on our bus and returned to our homes and communities in the DMV area, we carried a renewed sense of purpose. We were armed with the knowledge that we were on the front lines of the largest-ever march with the primary demand of abolishing the fossil fuel industry. Our voices could have the power to effect real change. “Being there among 75,000 other ‘drops in the bucket’ felt amazing!” said Carillo. “I am not young and I am not able-bodied, but I came home thinking, ‘I’ve got work to do and for the rest of my life!’”
Even now, as I sit in my apartment in Rosslyn, VA, writing this piece, I am reminded that the battle has only just begun. A group of 30 climate protesters from Extinction Rebellion gather in the street below me, blocking traffic and chanting. “What do we want?” “Climate Justice!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” Revolution is in the air, can’t you smell it? I think I’ll wrap this up and head down to join them.
The March to End Fossil Fuels was inspiring and meaningful, but they remind me that the battle is yet to be won. Until it is – I’m standing up, and I’m fighting back. But I am not alone, and neither are you.
Are you ready to take the next step to end the era of fossil fuels? Sign the petition calling on Biden to end fossil fuels now.
By Jess Rampulla
On a warm September day, twenty-two CCAN staff members, friends, and supporters boarded a boat in Virginia Beach to see offshore wind turbines, located twenty-seven miles off the coast of Virginia. This once-in-a-lifetime experience was truly remarkable, and I was thrilled to be able to share it with other members of the climate community.
At eight in the morning, our group boarded a boat along with members of Dominion Energy staff and Rudee Tours to begin our five-hour trip. You could feel the excitement from everyone on board, ready for the journey ahead of us. While the first moments driving out proved to be rockier than expected, our CCAN group continued to exclaim how excited they were to be here, with people making jokes about if everyone had taken their dramamine for breakfast. After the water settled, we all loaded into the boat’s inner cabin, just big enough to hold everyone on board, to hear a presentation from a Dominion Energy staff member on what to expect during the trip, and facts about the amount of power wind turbines could produce.
After the presentation, everyone shuffled back out on the deck to enjoy the warm weather and try and catch a glimpse of the turbines. We could just barely see them off in the distance around ten miles offshore. On our journey out, I had conversations with several CCAN donors and supporters on board. Reasons for making the journey varied from “we could never have passed up this opportunity” to “I’m doing this to give my grandchildren a better future.” As the turbines became more visible, people on board began to snap pictures and crowd towards the front of the boat. Everyone wanted proof that they were here today, and to have evidence to share with all their friends and family back home.
Finally, after around two hours, we pulled up just feet from one of the turbines. Enormous doesn’t feel like quite a strong enough word to describe just how big these power sources were:
The thing that shocked me the most from being so up close was just how quiet the turbines were. They made no sound, aside from the whoosh of air as they spun. The boat stopped for around thirty minutes so everyone was able to admire the turbines and get all the photos they wanted. The joy on everyone’s face as they looked up at these huge structures was contagious. We were looking at the future of off-shore wind energy in Virginia. Maryland State Delegate, Lorig Charkoudian was on board and spoke with members of CCAN’s staff about how this was the ultimate goal for Maryland as well. While at the turbines, we had a surprise visit from a school of fish, swimming and feeding around the bottom of the turbines, proving that these structures don’t affect marine life in the area.
After our stop at the turbines, we started the journey back. We spotted a pod of about twenty dolphins swimming next to our boat, happily jumping in and out of the waves. We ate sandwiches and chips and made sure to keep hydrated and reapply sunscreen. The trip back was more subdued, with everyone appearing to process the magnitude of what they saw. As we pulled back into port and walked off the boat, groups of people formed, all sharing their own thoughts from the trip. As people loaded into cars to drive back home or begin a day of canvassing, I felt overwhelmingly grateful for this experience and to have the opportunity to work for a company like CCAN that helps move the Chesapeake region towards cleaner energy and a more sustainable future.
