Katy Kiefer / Food & Water Action Fund – 2017-09-08 00:54:52
Special to Environmentalists Against War
ACTION ALERT: Congress to Consider Bill to Get Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future
Katy Kiefer / Food & Water Action Fund
WASHINGTON, DC (September 7, 2017) — We’re pleased to share that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2), joined by Representatives Barbara Lee (CA-13), Jamie Raskin (MD-8), Nanette Diaz Barragan (CA-44), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Jan Schakowsky (IL-9), and Keith Ellison (MN-5) have introduced the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (HR 3671).
As we witness the devastation of Harvey and now Irma, our hearts are with the communities impacted by these terrible storms. It’s clear that with a warming climate, extreme weather catastrophes will become more frequent and deadly, with low-income areas and communities of color hit hardest. It’s a harsh reminder of the real impacts of climate change and why we need to act quickly and boldly to address it.
The Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (“OFF Act”) is based on the most recent science and is the strongest piece of legislation on climate in Congress to date. It recognizes that we must make massive changes to our energy system in the next decade if we are to avoid even worse and more frequent impacts of climate chaos. The bill also recognizes the critical need to place racial and economic justice at the forefront of the climate fight.
The OFF Act Will:
* Provide for a just transition with a focus on environmental and economic justice communities.
* Require 100% of electricity sold in the United States to come from clean energy by 2035, with an interim benchmark of 80% by 2027;
* Require 100% of car sales from manufacturers be zero-emission vehicles by 2035;
* End federal fossil fuel subsidies and put a moratorium on new major fossil fuel projects;
* Place a tax on offshore corporate income to help fund the renewable energy revolution; and
* Require elimination of fossil fuels without allowing for interim marketplace avoidance mechanisms like cap and trade that have proven ineffective in significantly reducing emissions.
Here’s how you can support this landmark legislation:
* Add your group to the organizational sign-on letter See the list of supporting organizations here.
* Share far and wide on social media. We have a toolkit with sample content for sharing.
* Mobilize your members to help recruit co-sponsors on the bill. Sample email here.
With the current dysfunction in DC, we recognize that this legislation won’t pass in this congress, but we’re ready to organize around it now — to move the debate around the need for urgent climate solutions and work to make this a majority position that will become law in the years to come.
We’re proud to stand alongside our partners — Progressive Democrats of America, Climate Justice Alliance, People’s Action, Indigenous Environmental Network, National Nurses United, and many more organizations who have endorsed the OFF Act.
We hope you’ll join us in supporting this visionary legislation. Please sign the organizational letter here to add your support.
Thanks for all of your important work,
Katy Kiefer / Food & Water Action Fund
Organizational Sign-On Letter:
Endorse the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act
Dear Member of Congress,
At a time when study after study reveals the increasing urgency of acting rapidly to move away from fossil fuels and onto 100% renewable energy, we write to express our strong support for the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (“OFF Act”) (Gabbard, D-HI).
This visionary legislation is the strongest climate bill introduced to date and recognizes that we must make massive changes to our energy system in the next decade if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Additionally, the bill recognizes the need to place racial and economic justice at the forefront of the climate fight.
Low-wealth communities and communities of color, including Native American communities, are being impacted first and worst by global warming right now. The bill addresses this reality by creating the Center for Clean Energy Workforce Development, which will create jobs, giving priority to disadvantaged communities, while transforming our energy economy, and putting us on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2035.
The OFF Act acknowledges the need for bold action in the next ten years by mandating a transition to 80% renewable energy by 2027, making it clear that clean energy can not include fracked gas or any dirty energy sources. We must act now and urge you to join in co-sponsoring this historic piece of legislation.
We are in a climate emergency. The threat of climate chaos from global warming is real and the evidence continues to mount. Today, global average temperatures are 1.0°C higher than before the industrial revolution, which spurred our now crippling dependency on fossil fuels. This warming has led to dramatic, planet-wide ecological and climatic changes.
In 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that “recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems,” including increasingly frequent violent storms, droughts, floods, acidifying and rapidly warming oceans, and altered growing seasons. While all communities will be impacted by impending climate chaos, those being hit the hardest are low income communities and communities of color.
In 2015, nations of the world met in Paris at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and agreed that preventing the planet from warming 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels “would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.”
This will require aggressive action to reverse our dependence on fossil fuels and achieve 100 percent clean energy worldwide. And — we do not have decades to wait. We must act now in order to have a reasonable chance of avoiding the worst of climate chaos.
The OFF Act achieves this while creating thousands of job and promoting equity and justice by:
* Providing for a just transition with a focus on environmental and economic justice communities.
* Requiring 100% of electricity sold in the United States to come from clean energy by 2035, with an interim benchmark of 80% by 2027;
* Requiring 100% of car sales from manufacturers be zero-emission vehicles by 2035;
* Ending federal fossil fuel subsidies and putting a moratorium on new major fossil fuel projects;
* Placing a tax on offshore corporate income to help fund the renewable energy revolution; and
* Requiring elimination of fossil fuels without allowing for interim marketplace avoidance mechanisms like cap and trade that have proven ineffective in significantly reducing emissions.
In doing this, the OFF Act will stop fossil fuel projects, create tens of thousands of new jobs while transforming our energy economy, begin to address environmental injustices, and put us on the path towards the national mobilization necessary to address the climate crisis.
The climate emergency presents an existential threat to all people on this planet and time is running out. The OFF Act is a critical piece of legislation that will spur the necessary transition of our energy economy on a timeline that rises to the threat science tells us we face. We urge you to co-sponsor this important legislation and publicly and forcefully advocate for its passage.
National Organizations
Breast Cancer Action
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Food Safety
Climate Hawks Vote
Climate Justice Alliance
Democratic Socialists of America
Earthworks
Environmentalists Against War
Family Farm Defenders
Food & Water Watch
Friends of the Earth
Geos Institute
Green America
GreenFaith
Indigenous Environmental Network
Los Alamos Study Group
National Nurses United
Organic Consumers Association
Our Revolution
People Demanding Action
People for Bernie
People’s Action
Progressive Democrats of America
Rachel Carson Council
Rainforest Action Network
Rootskeeper
Sunrise
Surfrider Foundation
Sustainable Food Trade Association
The Sustainable Journey
Wild Earth Guardians
198 Methods
