A Growing Call for 100% Clean Energy

More than 150 community leaders from 41 states across the continental United States and its territories are voicing their support for 100 percent clean, renewable energy. Environment America's Voices for 100% Renewable Energy project, launched in 2017, highlights the personal stories of community leaders from across the country who believe that powering our lives entirely with clean, renewable energy is necessary, feasible and urgent.

"The American public knows that climate change is an urgent problem, and that we must act quickly to address it. But it can sometimes be hard to envision what exactly that means," said Allie Astor, clean energy associate at Environment America. "With the Voices project, we want to share the stories of a large and growing number of community leaders from diverse backgrounds who are working towards a cleaner, greener future for all."

The Voices span a wide array of geographic locations and professions, and cite a range of environmental, economic, equity, social and health benefits as reasons we must transition to 100 percent renewable energy.

For Jerry Greenfield, Co-Founder of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, a shift to renewable energy means moving away from climate-altering carbon pollution: "The urgency of climate change demands that we move from small incremental shifts to a rapid, economy-wide shift to 100 percent clean energy... When Ben famously said years ago, 'if it's melted, it's ruined,' he was talking about ice cream but the same is true for our world."

For Amol Naik, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Atlanta, which is committed to 100 percent clean energy by 2035, a clean energy transition goes beyond environmental impacts: "A clean energy transition generates positive net benefits to the community, from economic development, equity, public health, and quality of life points of view."

For Kate Bowman, Program Manager at Utah Clean Energy, renewable energy is key to maintaining other important industries, like the Utah recreation industry: "Through reliance on clean energy we can protect our future, breathe cleaner air, and hopefully, ski more powder."

To all the Voices, the goal remains the same: We must transition to generating 100% of our energy from renewable sources. "For years, we've been told that pollution from dirty fuels we've used to meet our energy needs was the price we had to pay for progress," concluded Astor. "Those days are over. We can't change the past. But we can forge ahead, emboldened by the growing numbers of people who know that 100 percent renewable energy is as feasible as it is necessary."