Groups Call on Lawmakers to Back Green New Deal
Week of Action set to push lawmakers to support a progressive, multi-pronged set of environmental and economic policiesWASHINGTON, D.C. – A coalition of progressive organizations this week will convene a week of action across the country which is set to include hundreds of events, tens of thousands of phone calls and the delivery of over 100,000 petitions urging members of Congress to transform our economy and energy systems through a Green New Deal.
Thousands of activists from over 50 organizations, including 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, Climate Hawks Vote, Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth U.S. and Oil Change USA will call on lawmakers to support Green New Deal legislation that will:
- Halt all new fossil fuel extraction, infrastructure and subsidies, and transitions power generation to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 or sooner;
- Rapidly decarbonize the agriculture and transportation sectors, and expand access to public transportation;
- Ensure a fair and just transition, led by impacted workers and communities, including low-income and communities of color, without relying on corporate schemes or market-based mechanisms;
- Uphold indigenous rights; and
- Pass a national jobs guarantee, creating good jobs with collective bargaining and family-sustaining wages.
Hundreds of events are planned, but organizers are planning to particularly target the leadership of the new Democratic House majority. They will visit the offices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Energy and Commerce Committee leaders Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), among others.
For a list of events, click here.
“To take action on climate change at the scale of the crisis, we need a Green New Deal,” said May Boeve, executive director of 350.org. “Communities around the country are demanding innovative policies that put millions to work in the just transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy economy. It’s time for all progressive lawmakers to take real climate action and support a massive federal investment to bring health, safety, and justice to people and the planet.”
“With an unhinged climate denier in the White House, it’s on Congress to chart a path away from climate suicide,” said Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need a World War II-style mobilization to keep fossil fuels in the ground and transition to cleaner, saner energy. A Green New Deal would wean the country off dirty fuels and expand living-wage jobs at the same time.”
“As Western wildfires rage and the Midwest freezes, Americans are thirsty for climate action. That’s why they elected so many climate hawks last November. It’s now time for the leaders to stand up for a Green New Deal. I’m helping to lead eight separate actions in Los Angeles-Ventura Counties alone,” says RL Miller, president of Climate Hawks Vote.
“The growing national movement for a Green New Deal has arrived at a critical moment, as we have no time to lose in the fight to avoid irrevocable climate chaos,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “We need to ensure that the Green New Deal is sufficiently aggressive to meet the challenge. This means banning fracking and stopping all new fossil fuel development now, and rapidly transitioning to a truly clean, renewable energy economy.”
“A Green New Deal must usher in a transformation that matches the pace and scale we need to avoid catastrophic climate change, and in a way that actually makes our country stronger, “ said Janet Redman, climate and energy director at Greenpeace USA. “Our legislators can cement a turning point for our nation by ensuring that policies addressing the climate crisis also advance racial, economic and gender equity while phasing out polluting fossil fuels starting with the communities already experiencing coal, oil, and gas pollution. We have to continue our radical encouragement of climate leaders in Congress to get us where we actually need to be if we’re serious about staving off the worst impacts of the climate crisis.”
“Under Donald Trump’s watch, carbon emissions have spiraled out of control, communities are suffering through devastating wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts, and Indigenous people are continuously denied their ancestral lands and rights,” said Liz Butler, vice president of organizing and strategic alliances at Friends of the Earth. “Americans need a just and powerful Green New Deal. A progressive Green New Deal must ensure a just transition to renewable energy that move our economy away from dirty fossil fuels and destructive agriculture practices.”
“Our country is on the cusp of one of the largest bursts in dangerous oil and gas drilling ever seen, at precisely the time that we need to be moving full steam ahead in the opposite direction,” said David Turnbull, strategic communications director at Oil Change International. “More than ever before, we need a courageous Green New Deal that prioritizes a managed decline of fossil fuel production and bold measures to support communities in moving swiftly to a cleaner, more just and equitable economy.”
Communications contacts:
Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]
Seth Gladstone, Food & Water Watch, (917) 363-6615, [email protected]
RL Miller, Climate Hawks Vote, (818) 518 3470, [email protected]
Bill Snape, Center for Biological Diversity, (202) 536-9351, [email protected]