'As World Teeters on Brink of Climate Catastrophe,' 600+ Groups Demand Congress Back Visionary Green New Deal

"We need action on climate that ends our dependence on dirty energy, puts power in the hands of communities, and provides good jobs."

by

Jessica Corbett

On behalf of their millions of members and supporters, 626 environmental organizations on Thursday demanded that U.S. policymakers "pursue visionary and affirmative legislative action" such as a Green New Deal to combat the "urgent threat" of the global climate crisis.

"As the world teeters on the brink of climate catastrophe, we're calling on Congress to take large-scale action," said Bill Snape of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), which signed the letter(pdf) to lawmakers. "Americans want a livable future for their children, and that requires keeping fossil fuels in the ground while greening the economy on a wartime footing."

Angela Adrar of Climate Justice Alliance, another signatory, emphasized that "such a new, green economy needs to be guided by the leadership and knowledge of those most burdened by pollution, poverty, and other forms of institutional violence waged by the corporations causing this global ecological crisis."

BREAKING: Today we are releasing a letter we have sent to Congress stating the policies necessary to combat climate change & ensure a just #GreenNewDeal. 

600+ organizations have signed on: https://t.co/QRJlDScipH (1/8) pic.twitter.com/gZU8kZrez5

— Food & Water Watch (@foodandwater) January 10, 2019

To achieve a transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 or sooner, according to the letter, federal lawmakers must:

1. Halt all fossil fuel leasing, phase out all fossil fuel extraction, and end fossil fuel and other dirty energy subsidies;
2. Transition power generation to 100 percent renewable energy;
3. Expand public transportation and phase out fossil fuel vehicles;
4. Harness the full power of the Clean Air Act;
5. Ensure a just transition led by impacted communities and workers; and
6. Uphold Indigenous rights.

"The disproportionate impacts of climate change and dirty energy development in the traditional territories and lands of American Indian and Alaska Natives must be taken into account, to ensure the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples are fully recognized in the just transition to a new green economy," asserted Tom BK Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN).

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