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Support the most Comprehensive Climate Change Resolution
Dear Supporter,
Back in 2013 People Demanding Action Board members envisioned a resolution that would do something that had never been done before; they wanted to truly integrate climate change and climate justice and call for zero carbon emissions by 2050. This vision is embodied in H Res 540 the Zero Carbon Emissions legislation introduced by Representative Raul Grijalva. Please sign on today and show your support for this resolution.
We the undersigned fully endorse the climate resolution put forth by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). In order to ensure a more equitable and sustainable future in the 21st century:
- By January 1, 2050, achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions nationally through domestic policies and international collaboration with the United
- The United States will shift its energy supply strategy from fossil fuels to 100 percent clean, renewable energy and implement zero waste practices.
- The United States will phase out subsidies for fossil fuels while building tax incentives that promote the growth of green jobs in the United States.
- 50 percent of electricity will be derived from renewable sources by January 1, 2030 and double nation-wide efficiency of existing buildings from 2015 levels by January 1, 2030.
- The development of programs and policies to transition the United States to a 21st century national infrastructure and create new green energy jobs, with particular focus on hiring people from historically unemployed or under-unemployed communities.
- Ensure appropriate education, job training, transitional financial assistance, and employment opportunities for fossil fuel workers displaced by the transition to a renewable energy economy.
- Prioritize veterans by ensuring retraining and re-employment in renewable energy jobs, including those returning from military service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Increase funding for training and education programs in green energy jobs and job assistance for rural residents. Increased funding for emergency preparedness and disaster relief programs in rural areas impacted by climate change.
- Support trade policies that maintain American labor and environmental standards.
- Make it a priority to prepare people of the United States to withstand and recover from current and future effects of climate change.
- Prioritize policies that capture and store carbon currently in the atmosphere through forest protection, better land and agricultural practices, and green landscaping.
- Ensure universal, affordable access to clean energy for everyone with an emphasis on moderate and low-income families.
This resolution recognizes:
We are already on the brink of disaster. As the resolution states, global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 parts per million in 2015, a level not reached in at least 800,000 years. Department of Defense and the National Intelligence Council warn that climate destabilization threatens United States national and global security because it will lead to further violent conflicts, exacerbated by lack of access to resources and competition over the few remaining resources in areas already marred by violence. Water scarcity, food insecurity, and increased conflicts will lead to increasing numbers of refugees, increased poverty, and mass extinctions of species. These events will further destabilize regions already immersed in conflict and will create new areas of conflict around the world.
Climate change disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color in the United States and throughout the world. These communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change events, and their areas suffer dangerous levels of exposure to dirty fossil fuels and other pollutants (including the dirtiest coal-fired power plants.) These communities have fewer resources to recover from disasters; climate change exacerbates already existing socioeconomic inequality.
Climate change is hazard to our children’s health and is deepening racial inequality. Low-income communities and communities of color experience far more incidents of health problems, even death, as a result of exposure to toxins. The resolution states: “African-Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma-related causes than the White population; Latino children in the United States are 40 percent more likely to die from asthma than non-Latino Whites; and American Indian/Alaska Native children are 80 percent more likely to have asthma as non-Hispanic White children.”
Please add your name to this petition.
Russell Greene, President
Andrea Miller, Executive Director
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