The reality of the climate crisis demands the attention and leadership of President Obama and the Congress.
That is why we joined almost 100 groups in signing a letter to President Obama detailing three important ways in which he and his administration can lead on climate change. Climate Reality is committed to joining him in these efforts.
President Obama must lead in his second term by:
- Following through on his commitment to lead a national conversation about the reality of the climate crisis and its solutions.
- Moving forward on issuing the EPA regulations that will set the first-ever limits on carbon pollution emissions from new and existing power plants.
- Continuing to develop new clean energy sources, and reject the building of new dirty energy sources like the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
The costs of climate change and the man-made carbon pollution that causes it continue to mount and become ever more visible. The federal portion of the costs of the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy alone could well be over $60 billion. And Sandy is but the latest example of the devastation caused by extreme weather that we can expect to see as our climate changes.
Please join us in calling upon President Obama to lead on climate. Share this letter with your friends. 2013 must be the year that we move forward with a real conversation about climate change and the solutions that are at hand.
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations on your reelection.Thank you for repeatedly raising the threat of climate change as you have outlined your priorities for your second term, starting with your Nov. 7 speech in Chicago. As you said during the campaign, “Climate change is not a hoax. More drought and floods and hurricanes and wildfires are not a joke. They’re a threat to our children’s future. And we can do something about it.”
We couldn’t agree more. Climate change threatens the health of our families, our communities and our planet. It is the great challenge of our time and our response will leave an historic legacy.
We urge you to continue underscoring the threat of climate change with the American people and to build on the historic vehicle standards and other progress you made during your first term by taking three decisive steps to curb dangerous carbon pollution:
- Raise your voice. Elevate the issue of climate disruption and climate solutions in the public discourse. Connect the dots between carbon pollution and extreme weather, and lead the public discussion of what we need to do as a nation to both prepare for the changes in climate that are no longer avoidable and avoid changes in climate that are unacceptable.
- Use your executive authority. You have the authority under existing law to achieve urgently needed reductions in the carbon pollution that is disrupting our climate and damaging our health. Most significantly, you can set standards that cut carbon pollution from America’s aging power plant fleet at least 25 percent by 2020 while boosting energy efficiency and shifting to clean energy sources. Power plants are our largest source of carbon pollution and you have the authority and responsibility to clean them up under the Clean Air Act. This will create tens of thousands of clean energy jobs, meet the pollution targets you set for the country, and restore U.S. international leadership.
- Reject dirty fuels. We should not pursue dirty fuels like tar sands when climate science tells us that 80 percent of existing fossil fuel reserves need to be kept in the ground. More specifically, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in our national interest because it would unlock vast amounts of additional carbon that we can’t afford to burn, extend our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels, endanger health and safety, and put critical water resources at risk.
Hurricane Sandy made it tragically clear that many communities are extremely vulnerable to climate change. We can and we must build back better—with investment in sustainable infrastructure, not the kind of carbon-intensive development that helped drive this problem in the first place.
Cutting carbon pollution at home and rejecting dirty fuels will establish America’s leadership and credibility, enabling you to create clean energy jobs in the United States while forging an effective international coalition to cut global carbon pollution. We urge you to elevate climate solutions to the top tier of your domestic agenda and America’s bilateral and global diplomatic priorities.
We pledge to work with you every step of the way to secure a healthy future.
Mr. President, you have the power and the support you need to tackle the climate crisis. Your leadership can establish a new American legacy we can all be proud of.
Sincerely,
Maggie L. Fox, President & CEO, The Climate Reality Project
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(click here to see the full list of signers)
Don Clark
January 9th
This is of the utmost importance and Cannot be delayed any longer for any reason
Sami Abdpu
January 9th
Its tough to imagine our government not taking a hard stance on climate change. There’s no room for doubt or skepticism left and the experts are clearly stating the devastation to come. We have the resources to make a huge impact so that’s exactly what we should do.
Bernadette Dominguez
January 9th
Many seniors like myself are deeply concerned about global warming and it’s effect on this beautiful planet. Many of us have time to contribute. What can we do in practical ways to raise our voices to demand action and or educate those who are on the fence about global warming? Thanks.
Jason Budsan
January 9th
As a member of the National Wildlife Federation and the VI Conservation Society I support and also urge congress and the president to move forward on climate change. We must act because time is not on our side.
Jason Budsan
Irene Winkelbauer
January 9th
This is the potential Holocaust of every species on our planet . Inaction is simply not an option. Our nation has contributed heavily in over use of natural resources and environmental pollution. We must stop, change direction and become leaders in healing the planet . Lets prove we are people of integrity .
Sarah Jumel
January 9th
I had to move because of Hurricane Katrina; I’ve been watching the weather trends with growing alarm. Please ignore the oil lobbies; those people have no regard for the future.
Abhaya Thiele
January 12th
I would add a fourth point to the letter:
4. Use your political capital to support the passage of carbon fee and dividend legislation. It will effectively bring down greenhouse gas emissions to levels that science says are necessary to stabilize our climate — by providing market-based incentives needed to bring in a low-carbon economy. And, by returning 100 percent of the proceeds from the fee to consumers, the legislation will have the political backing that will allow it to succeed.
Theresa M Clarke Alvarez
January 14th
I think that it is becoming obvious each day, each week each year that the climate is changing with more unpredictability and force. Please also help deter those who want to drill in the Alaskan regions, we cannot afford the aftermath.
Nilesh Panseriya
January 15th
Thanks to Your initiative, We are fail to cut out co2 emission level set by kyoto protocol, but now we have no time for talk we can do batter by work togater around world, this campaign climate reality have hope of future earth wether it is clean of not .
janet bartram-thomas
January 17th
Let’s get cracking, the sooner we begin to slow down the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions, the better it will be for our children since they will have less to do and therefore it will cost them WAY less! Glad to read this!
Grace Adams
January 17th
We need a stiff tax on energy for both prohibitive tariff effect and for revenue. Since prohibitive tariff effect is wanted, the tax must start at 10% of the retail price of the product to be taxed, followed by annual increases equal to the original tax until maximum revenue is reached. Since the average retail price of liquid fuels such as used for transportation is $3/gallon, than means $0.30/gallon tax to start and $0.30/gallon tax annual increase. Since oil is much more integrated than electricity, whole pretax price of product goes to oil firm. If, as I believe, the elasticity of demand for energy is -0.37, then maximum revenue will occur in year 9 with $2.70 tax on $3 pretax retail price of fuel, and 55% of tax revenue ($1.485 of the $2.70 tax) will go for buying product displaced as reserves to be held forever, leaving 45% ($1.215) available for expanding the R&D project U S Navy is paying Algae Systems for to develop bio-diesel from algae as a cost-competitive commercial substitute for petroleum diesel. They must be getting near the point of needing to make larger batches to achieve economies of scale. Once Algae Systems achieves cost competitiveness, U S Navy will need to buy the technology from Algae Systems and license it to American oil firms to make instead of petroleum diesel. U S Navy may also license the technology back to Algae Systems for R&D to make cost-competitive substitutes for other petroleum products. Bio-diesel from algae is already carbon negative. Algae Systems feeds its algae municipal waste water plus CO2 captured by Global Thermostat to make the algae grow faster and gets bio-char soil amendment and carbon store among other byproducts. So it will help fight global warming.
Mary Rapoza
January 17th
One hundred years from now no one will remember the fiscal cliff. Our legacy to the future is how we handle the climate changes. We must act now.