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What the Election Means for the Climate Movement
Tuesday's election results were pretty bad.
But when times get rough, it's really important to remember to breathe, and focus on how we're going to fix this problem together.
Here's my early sense of what this election means for the climate movement:
Nov 06, 2014
Tuesday's election results were pretty bad.
But when times get rough, it's really important to remember to breathe, and focus on how we're going to fix this problem together.
Here's my early sense of what this election means for the climate movement:
1. The fossil fuel industry knows it's in a fight for its life. After years of seeing our movement grow, the fossil fuel industry fought back fiercer and dirtier than ever, spending hundreds of millions to put more oil-soaked politicians in office than ever. The New York Times recently released secret recordings of an industry consultant advising "endless war" against environmentalists. It's clear the fossil fuel industry is getting desperate, so it's on us to make climate action a priority -- at the ballot box, in the streets and in our daily lives.
2. Solutions are coming, from the ground up. There were a number of bright spots last night, but they didn't come from professional politicians. Denton, Texas became the first city in Texas to ban fracking with a locally led ballot initiative. Two counties in California did the same. Richmond, California defied massive spending from Chevron to elect a Mayor ready to take on Big Oil in their backyard. There's a lesson here: courage counts, local action matters, and voters support bold and direct action against climate change.
3. Keystone XL is back on the agenda. Big Oil helped bankroll the takeover of the Senate, and they're going to want their new friends to pay tribute. Expect all sorts of shenanigans when the new Congress takes session in January -- even though the pipeline has no permit in Nebraska or South Dakota. President Obama has all the data he needs to reject the pipeline, and we've got the movement to back him up. Keystone XL will determine President Obama's climate legacy, and he must say no if he wants to be remembered as a climate champion and not a pipeline president.
4. Divestment matters more than ever. We helped launch the fossil fuel divestment campaign the day after the 2012 election. Now, it has spread across the planet and more than 140 institutions representing over $50 billion have committed to divestment. With more gridlock and more denial on tap in Congress, grassroots action that takes on the social and economic power of the fossil fuel industry will be crucial in building momentum for action. If you're not involved yet, now's a great time to dive in.
The fact is that this election will be sending more opponents of climate action to Washington. The path to federal climate action is that much tougher.
But we're not going to let that drive us to panic or fear. We're going to use it as a catalyst to get bolder and smarter about how we build a powerful movement for climate action.
Politics is about more than just elections and campaign ads. When 400,000 of us took the streets of New York City on September 21, and hundreds of thousands more marched around the world, we showed that a new sort of climate politics is possible. A politics led by the people, not our politicians.
And so today let's march forward together. There couldn't be a more important (or exciting) time to be involved in the climate movement. If you know someone who is drifting towards despair today, or on the fence about jumping in to this movement, please encourage them to join us in this fight of our lives.
What we need is more resolve than ever.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
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 has always been 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, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
May Boeve
May Boeve is the executive director of 350.org. Previously, May co-founded and helped lead the Step It Up 2007 campaign, and prior to that was active in the campus climate movement while a student at Middlebury College. May is the co-author, with Bill McKibben, of "Fight Global Warming Now" (2007).
Tuesday's election results were pretty bad.
But when times get rough, it's really important to remember to breathe, and focus on how we're going to fix this problem together.
Here's my early sense of what this election means for the climate movement:
1. The fossil fuel industry knows it's in a fight for its life. After years of seeing our movement grow, the fossil fuel industry fought back fiercer and dirtier than ever, spending hundreds of millions to put more oil-soaked politicians in office than ever. The New York Times recently released secret recordings of an industry consultant advising "endless war" against environmentalists. It's clear the fossil fuel industry is getting desperate, so it's on us to make climate action a priority -- at the ballot box, in the streets and in our daily lives.
2. Solutions are coming, from the ground up. There were a number of bright spots last night, but they didn't come from professional politicians. Denton, Texas became the first city in Texas to ban fracking with a locally led ballot initiative. Two counties in California did the same. Richmond, California defied massive spending from Chevron to elect a Mayor ready to take on Big Oil in their backyard. There's a lesson here: courage counts, local action matters, and voters support bold and direct action against climate change.
3. Keystone XL is back on the agenda. Big Oil helped bankroll the takeover of the Senate, and they're going to want their new friends to pay tribute. Expect all sorts of shenanigans when the new Congress takes session in January -- even though the pipeline has no permit in Nebraska or South Dakota. President Obama has all the data he needs to reject the pipeline, and we've got the movement to back him up. Keystone XL will determine President Obama's climate legacy, and he must say no if he wants to be remembered as a climate champion and not a pipeline president.
4. Divestment matters more than ever. We helped launch the fossil fuel divestment campaign the day after the 2012 election. Now, it has spread across the planet and more than 140 institutions representing over $50 billion have committed to divestment. With more gridlock and more denial on tap in Congress, grassroots action that takes on the social and economic power of the fossil fuel industry will be crucial in building momentum for action. If you're not involved yet, now's a great time to dive in.
The fact is that this election will be sending more opponents of climate action to Washington. The path to federal climate action is that much tougher.
But we're not going to let that drive us to panic or fear. We're going to use it as a catalyst to get bolder and smarter about how we build a powerful movement for climate action.
Politics is about more than just elections and campaign ads. When 400,000 of us took the streets of New York City on September 21, and hundreds of thousands more marched around the world, we showed that a new sort of climate politics is possible. A politics led by the people, not our politicians.
And so today let's march forward together. There couldn't be a more important (or exciting) time to be involved in the climate movement. If you know someone who is drifting towards despair today, or on the fence about jumping in to this movement, please encourage them to join us in this fight of our lives.
What we need is more resolve than ever.
May Boeve
May Boeve is the executive director of 350.org. Previously, May co-founded and helped lead the Step It Up 2007 campaign, and prior to that was active in the campus climate movement while a student at Middlebury College. May is the co-author, with Bill McKibben, of "Fight Global Warming Now" (2007).
Tuesday's election results were pretty bad.
But when times get rough, it's really important to remember to breathe, and focus on how we're going to fix this problem together.
Here's my early sense of what this election means for the climate movement:
1. The fossil fuel industry knows it's in a fight for its life. After years of seeing our movement grow, the fossil fuel industry fought back fiercer and dirtier than ever, spending hundreds of millions to put more oil-soaked politicians in office than ever. The New York Times recently released secret recordings of an industry consultant advising "endless war" against environmentalists. It's clear the fossil fuel industry is getting desperate, so it's on us to make climate action a priority -- at the ballot box, in the streets and in our daily lives.
2. Solutions are coming, from the ground up. There were a number of bright spots last night, but they didn't come from professional politicians. Denton, Texas became the first city in Texas to ban fracking with a locally led ballot initiative. Two counties in California did the same. Richmond, California defied massive spending from Chevron to elect a Mayor ready to take on Big Oil in their backyard. There's a lesson here: courage counts, local action matters, and voters support bold and direct action against climate change.
3. Keystone XL is back on the agenda. Big Oil helped bankroll the takeover of the Senate, and they're going to want their new friends to pay tribute. Expect all sorts of shenanigans when the new Congress takes session in January -- even though the pipeline has no permit in Nebraska or South Dakota. President Obama has all the data he needs to reject the pipeline, and we've got the movement to back him up. Keystone XL will determine President Obama's climate legacy, and he must say no if he wants to be remembered as a climate champion and not a pipeline president.
4. Divestment matters more than ever. We helped launch the fossil fuel divestment campaign the day after the 2012 election. Now, it has spread across the planet and more than 140 institutions representing over $50 billion have committed to divestment. With more gridlock and more denial on tap in Congress, grassroots action that takes on the social and economic power of the fossil fuel industry will be crucial in building momentum for action. If you're not involved yet, now's a great time to dive in.
The fact is that this election will be sending more opponents of climate action to Washington. The path to federal climate action is that much tougher.
But we're not going to let that drive us to panic or fear. We're going to use it as a catalyst to get bolder and smarter about how we build a powerful movement for climate action.
Politics is about more than just elections and campaign ads. When 400,000 of us took the streets of New York City on September 21, and hundreds of thousands more marched around the world, we showed that a new sort of climate politics is possible. A politics led by the people, not our politicians.
And so today let's march forward together. There couldn't be a more important (or exciting) time to be involved in the climate movement. If you know someone who is drifting towards despair today, or on the fence about jumping in to this movement, please encourage them to join us in this fight of our lives.
What we need is more resolve than ever.
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