We’re at it again. Last month, thousands of young people took to DC in a show of force to fight for a Green New Deal and real climate leadership in Congress. Now we’re back on Capitol Hill to demand the only feasible solution that meets the urgency and scale of the climate crisis: A Green New Deal.

With Congress back in session and new progressive champions Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib in office, we have an historic opportunity to drastically alter the course of our future. That’s why today, we’re pulling out all the stops to ask Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic leadership to step up as real climate leaders.

50+ people are in Washington, DC right now delivering a clear message to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his fellow Democratic leaders: “What’s your climate plan?” Tune in and share the livestream here now as we demand real climate leadership.

As Trump’s government shutdown drags on into its 25th day, it’s time for Democrats to pivot from the President’s xenophobia and hatred towards practical solutions to achieve a Fossil Free future.

Senator Schumer has already stated he wouldn’t make a deal on infrastructure without addressing climate change. Now is the time for him to walk the talk and call for a Green New Deal. Imagine if $5.7 billion dollars funded a bold, comprehensive climate action plan instead of a racist southern border wall? That is the progress we need to see.

That’s why we’re calling for Chuck Schumer and Senate leadership to endorse a Green New Deal. Share the livestream now to show you support visionary legislation for climate action!

U.S. carbon dioxide emissions increased in 20181, and show no signs of letting up—showing that we are moving away from the climate action we need. A new report from Oil Change International2 finds that expansion of U.S. oil and gas development could enable 120 billion tons of new carbon pollution by 2050.

We can’t wait any longer on a Green New Deal. It’s up to all of us to put as much pressure as possible on Democrats to deliver solutions to protect our communities and climate.

Tune into the livestream now and tell your friends to join you too. The more viewers we have, the clearer it’ll be to Democratic leaders that the people—and history—are watching.

Onward, Roberto Juarez, 350@350.org

P.S. We’re taking the fight to your legislator’s local offices next month. If you’re interested in joining — or hosting — a #GreenNewDeal action in your community join our Real Climate Leadership training on January 22nd or 29th at 8pm ET. to learn how.

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/8615450662121/WN_3z9pmi4USAeeD3-R7zCMtw

More information: https://350.org/

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The call to get off fossil fuel by the 2030s is hard but technically achievable; the guarantee of a job in the renewable industry to anyone who wants one would actually provide the labor required to make a transition of this magnitude

From Bill McKibben, Common Dreams, January 13, 2019

Ruing the day that they mocked her clothing or dancing, some critics have decided to train their fire on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s brain instead. She didn’t know the three branches of government; she overstated how much the Pentagon had wasted. If, a writer in the Washington Post suggested, this kind of imprecision persists, “responsible self-government becomes impossible.”

Her plan for a Green New Deal — endorsed “in concept” in recent days by one presidential aspirant after another — is among the first Washington efforts to approach climate change at the right scale.

This line of attack, I would guess, is going to fall flat too, because as the last few weeks have shown, Ocasio-Cortez is in fact more right on the biggest questions than anyone else in the House of Representatives. Call her Ocasio-Cortex; where it matters, she seems to understand issues at a deeper level than most pols.

The best example is climate change, the issue of our time, where her Green New Deal plan has provided a badly needed new opening. Early this week, a research group published new data on U.S. carbon emissions, showing they’d risen sharply over the past year.

Even scarier: We’re basically producing the same amount of carbon as we did in 1990, when we first learned of the climate crisis.

Essentially, through Democratic and Republican administrations, we’ve done far too little. There are a few comprehensive state-level plans: California is acting, and environmental justice groups in New York State, for instance, have painstakingly put together a Climate and Community Protection Act that’s a model for others.

But at the federal level, where it really counts, we’ve fallen farther and farther behind the physics of climate change.

Which brings us back to Ocasio-Cortez. Her plan for a Green New Deal — endorsed “in concept” in recent days by one presidential aspirant after another — is among the first Washington efforts to approach climate change at the right scale.

The call to get off fossil fuel by the 2030s is hard but technically achievable; the guarantee of a job in the renewable industry to anyone who wants one would actually provide the labor required to make a transition of this magnitude.

Backers plan two years of hearings to shape the final package — but if we follow their lead, get ready to follow European nations away from gas-powered cars, and prepare for public transit to get a serious shot in the arm.

Since some have begun calling her by initials now, it’s worth comparing AOC to that other New Yorker, FDR.

The young people of the Sunrise Movement, who have done the most to push the Green New Deal, and who enlisted Ocasio-Cortez in their gutsy Capitol Hill protests, are far closer to meeting the scientific requirements of the moment than the various luminaries (Michael Bloomberg, George Shultz, James Baker) who propose what they consider “politically realistic” grab bags of carbon taxes and regulatory overhauls.

Not only have those gone nowhere politically, but they wouldn’t make enough change fast enough. In the end, after all, global warming is a math problem.

Since some have begun calling her by initials now, it’s worth comparing AOC to that other New Yorker, FDR. His New Deal morphed over time as some initiatives floundered and others flourished. But what stayed the same—and what made the difference—was the scale. He was attacking the problem of the Great Depression with programs of great size.

There are other similarities too, I think, not least among them the joy that they each bring to the task. (If you want to see the World War II-era equivalent of AOC’s dance, take a look at FDR’s discussion of “my little dog Fala”).

The great governmental gift lies in figuring out first what needs to happen and then at figuring out what is required to meet that need, both in terms of policy and in terms of politics. Ocasio-Cortez can apparently do it backwards, and in heels.

Our speakers last summer included:

Sandra Steingraber, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Ithaca College

Biologist, author, and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. writes about climate change, ecology, and the links between human health and the environment. Her highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment was the first to bring together data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries and was adapted for the screen in 2010. As both book and documentary film, Living Downstream has won praise from international media. A contributing essayist and editor for Orion magazine, Sandra Steingraber is currently a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Alison Grass, Deputy Research Director, Food & Water Watch

Alison Grass is the Deputy Research Director for Food & Water Watch. She is an experienced watchdog/public interest researcher and advocate on energy, climate change and water issues. Her research tends to focus on energy issues, including (but not limited to) hydraulic fracturing, the fossil fuel industry, and climate change; she also does some work on the corporate control of water resources (as it relates to bottled water). Alison also has experience doing research on campaign finance and money in politics. She has a Master’s degree from Alabama A&M University in Urban Planning, specialized in Environmental Planning, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rebecca Britton, Founder, Uwchlan Safety Coalition, Southeastern Pennsylvania

Rebecca Britton is the Founder of Uwchlan Safety Coalition, and a School Board Director in Downingtown Area School District, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Rebecca and her family live approximately 450ft from the Mariner East Pipeline and her children will spend 24 hours a day, kindergarten through 12th grade, living and learning in the “blast zone” of the dangerous Energy Transfer Partners project. The Uwchlan Safety Coalition is a grass roots, bipartisan assembly of safety conscious citizens that is dedicated to educate and engage the community about the, ‘frack to plastic to waste journey of a hydrocarbon’; putting their community and vulnerable populations at risk for overseas export and plastic production.

Juan Parras, Executive Director, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS)

Juan has been organizing community voices for years beginning as a social worker with the Harris County Welfare Office and later with City of Houston Section 8 Housing Department where he organized the workers at both offices. Recognizing his unorthodox organizing efforts, he was recruited by AFSCME as project staff. Organizing people to fight for standards in their working environments Juan eventually was elevated to be an International Union Representative for AFSCME as an International Union Representative until 1993 where his efforts reestablished MLK day and impeached Governor Mechum of Arizona.