"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear." (Photo: @sunrisemvmt)
Welcoming a Green New Day
For the first time in over a decade, we can see a path forward toward meaningful and just climate policies
This week, two key committees held their first climate change hearings of the 116th Congress. Today, the Green New Deal was introduced. The 116th Congress is turning belated and much-needed attention to the existential threat climate change poses to our families, communities, lands and wildlife, our nation, and the future.
For the first time in over a decade, we can see a path forward toward meaningful and just climate policies.
Late in 2018, the world's top climate scientists presented the planet with a dire prediction. Based on the best data, and the best science, we have a little over a decade to transition away from fossil fuels and keep global warming below 1.5C maximum. Any warming above this threshold will cause more droughts, more food insecurity, more extreme heat, more super storms. Even a half degree above 1.5C could mean life or death for millions of people. Because the threat is so severe and so near, past policy proposals to deal with the problem, even from last decade, may no longer do enough, quickly enough, to prevent catastrophic climate change.
The optimistic side of the climate change coin is that we have the technology and ingenuity to transition our economy away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, and toward cleaner, greener renewable energy sources.
The optimistic side of the climate change coin is that we have the technology and ingenuity to transition our economy away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, and toward cleaner, greener renewable energy sources.
The urgency of the climate crisis could not be clearer, and Earthworks is keen to support efforts to deliver less climate and air pollution, new, better jobs and more resilient communities. On an ongoing basis we see first hand how dirty air and methane, a potent climate pollutant, impacts the communities we work with across the country. We will work tirelessly to ensure that our climate policies protect the people currently in harm's way in the oil and gas patch, and to ensure that oil and gas is not a part of our green new future.
Franklin Roosevelt once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear." It is time for us to courageously, audaciously and persistently make the changes needed to address the climate crisis. Ensuring a livable planet where our children and grandchildren can thrive is the most important task before us, and the visionaries and leaders of the 116th Congress can help us take the essential first few steps.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This week, two key committees held their first climate change hearings of the 116th Congress. Today, the Green New Deal was introduced. The 116th Congress is turning belated and much-needed attention to the existential threat climate change poses to our families, communities, lands and wildlife, our nation, and the future.
For the first time in over a decade, we can see a path forward toward meaningful and just climate policies.
Late in 2018, the world's top climate scientists presented the planet with a dire prediction. Based on the best data, and the best science, we have a little over a decade to transition away from fossil fuels and keep global warming below 1.5C maximum. Any warming above this threshold will cause more droughts, more food insecurity, more extreme heat, more super storms. Even a half degree above 1.5C could mean life or death for millions of people. Because the threat is so severe and so near, past policy proposals to deal with the problem, even from last decade, may no longer do enough, quickly enough, to prevent catastrophic climate change.
The optimistic side of the climate change coin is that we have the technology and ingenuity to transition our economy away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, and toward cleaner, greener renewable energy sources.
The optimistic side of the climate change coin is that we have the technology and ingenuity to transition our economy away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, and toward cleaner, greener renewable energy sources.
The urgency of the climate crisis could not be clearer, and Earthworks is keen to support efforts to deliver less climate and air pollution, new, better jobs and more resilient communities. On an ongoing basis we see first hand how dirty air and methane, a potent climate pollutant, impacts the communities we work with across the country. We will work tirelessly to ensure that our climate policies protect the people currently in harm's way in the oil and gas patch, and to ensure that oil and gas is not a part of our green new future.
Franklin Roosevelt once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear." It is time for us to courageously, audaciously and persistently make the changes needed to address the climate crisis. Ensuring a livable planet where our children and grandchildren can thrive is the most important task before us, and the visionaries and leaders of the 116th Congress can help us take the essential first few steps.
This week, two key committees held their first climate change hearings of the 116th Congress. Today, the Green New Deal was introduced. The 116th Congress is turning belated and much-needed attention to the existential threat climate change poses to our families, communities, lands and wildlife, our nation, and the future.
For the first time in over a decade, we can see a path forward toward meaningful and just climate policies.
Late in 2018, the world's top climate scientists presented the planet with a dire prediction. Based on the best data, and the best science, we have a little over a decade to transition away from fossil fuels and keep global warming below 1.5C maximum. Any warming above this threshold will cause more droughts, more food insecurity, more extreme heat, more super storms. Even a half degree above 1.5C could mean life or death for millions of people. Because the threat is so severe and so near, past policy proposals to deal with the problem, even from last decade, may no longer do enough, quickly enough, to prevent catastrophic climate change.
The optimistic side of the climate change coin is that we have the technology and ingenuity to transition our economy away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, and toward cleaner, greener renewable energy sources.
The optimistic side of the climate change coin is that we have the technology and ingenuity to transition our economy away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels, and toward cleaner, greener renewable energy sources.
The urgency of the climate crisis could not be clearer, and Earthworks is keen to support efforts to deliver less climate and air pollution, new, better jobs and more resilient communities. On an ongoing basis we see first hand how dirty air and methane, a potent climate pollutant, impacts the communities we work with across the country. We will work tirelessly to ensure that our climate policies protect the people currently in harm's way in the oil and gas patch, and to ensure that oil and gas is not a part of our green new future.
Franklin Roosevelt once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear." It is time for us to courageously, audaciously and persistently make the changes needed to address the climate crisis. Ensuring a livable planet where our children and grandchildren can thrive is the most important task before us, and the visionaries and leaders of the 116th Congress can help us take the essential first few steps.