But Fossil Fuel Companies Continue
To Push the World Towards Climate Calamity

Al Gore / The Climate Reality Project 

WASHINGTON (August 11, 2022) — In almost every Climate Reality training, I include a quote from the great American poet Wallace Stevens, who wrote: “After the final ‘no’ there comes a ‘yes’ and on that ‘yes’ the future world depends.”

Today, in Congress, there came a historic yes, with the House voting to follow the Senate and pass the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — the biggest climate bill the US has ever seen. It is no great exaggeration to say that on this, yes, our future world depends.

We are only here at this historic moment because of you. You have been sounding the alarm on this crisis for years and urging your communities and leaders to take clear and decisive action.

To help shape the climate measures that are included in this bill, our Climate Reality Leaders and chapters held more than 150 meetings with legislators. Our friends and supporters contacted their representatives and policymakers over 180,000 times. All with one simple message: Go big. Go bold. Act now. Yes, yes, yes. 

There is much to celebrate. The IRA will supercharge the just transition to clean energy that is already underway across the country, transforming our economy while creating an estimated 1.5 million jobs and cutting costs for working families.

Critically, the bill invests $60 billion in frontline communities hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution and the climate crisis, bringing clean air, good jobs, and better opportunities to those who have been subject to generations of environmental injustice.

The impact of this bill will ripple across continents. By putting the US on the path to cutting global warming pollution 40% by 2030, the IRA helps keep the Paris Agreement alive and demonstrates to the world that we are committed to climate action for the long-term.

But for all the progress we will achieve through the IRA, there are provisions that require urgent attention and action. Fossil fuel interests forced painful concessions in negotiations — requiring the government to offer new areas for drilling in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as more oil and gas leasing on our public lands. Lawmakers are poised to take additional steps that would fast-track pipelines that communities — and Climate Reality Leaders — have fought for years to block.

New fossil fuel development would put the health and wellbeing of poor families and Black, brown, and Indigenous communities across the country at even more risk. Climate Reality and I will continue to collaborate with our partners across the environmental justice movement to oppose these projects every step of the way.

ACTION: Our work must continue and I invite you to be part of it by joining your local Climate Reality chapter. 

Take this moment in. Today, we are one step closer to a better future — thanks to you.

Former Vice President Al Gore is the Founder and Chairman of The Climate Reality Project.