The Mideast war hurts humanity and climate progress. We support Bernie Sanders’ resolutions.

We are a climate group laser focused on clean energy solutions to global warming. But we are also human beings whose hearts break over the seemingly endless war and suffering in the Middle East. The double tragedy of the current war is it diverts world attention and resources away from other vital issues like our collapsing climate.

We agree with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vr.) that Israel has the right to defend itself, especially after the horrifying Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. We also agree with Sen. Sanders that Israel must follow U.S. and international laws governing the use of weapons against innocent noncombatants. Sadly, as outlined in Sen. Sanders’ letter to his Senate colleagues, Israel is not following those standards.

Therefore, we support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that Senator Sanders announced at a press conference today, accompanied by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). It is our hope that the adoption of these resolutions can speed the end of this current war and all its suffering.

War is bad for people and the climate. Contact your U.S. Senators: Tell them to vote “yes” on resolutions to make sure American weapons used in the Gaza conflict meet U.S. and international humanitarian laws protecting innocent civilians.

If we want citizens in this country and the world to care about the facts of any international issue – from war to climate change – then our government must acknowledge facts and follow the law. By ignoring and therefore condoning Israel’s improper use of weapons in Gaza, the U.S. is not only aiding mass killing, it’s eroding the entire rules-based order of international law.

To be clear, first and foremost, this is a humanitarian tragedy with assistance from U.S. taxpayers. It must stop. Secondarily, if we ever want to lead again on any global issue, including climate change, we have to acknowledge vital truths and act in the best interest of all nations.

Contact your U.S. Senators: Tell them to vote “yes” on resolutions to make sure American weapons used in the Gaza conflict meet U.S. and international humanitarian laws protecting innocent civilians.

To reiterate, we are first and foremost a clean energy group with one overriding mission: To solve the climate crisis everywhere with clean energy for everyone.

But this is an intersectional world and from time to time it is important to speak out on issues of justice that impact all people and all issues. We are not alone. Climate groups like Sunrise and longtime leaders like the Rev. Lennox Yearwood are supporting this call to action — recognizing that all our struggles are connected. 

The Senate committee is expected to vote tomorrow on Sen. Sanders’ resolutions. As a diverse organization, with staff members who are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and nonreligious, we hope you will contact your U.S. Senators today and urge them to vote “yes”.

Tell the White House to Support a Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza and the Return of All Israeli Hostages

Climate change is a crisis demanding our utmost attention. But there are moments when we must pause to respond to suffering from other causes, especially suffering as great as that in Gaza and Israel now.

As a multi-racial, multi-faith staff — including adherents of Christianity, Judaism and Islam — we call on the White House to support a peace arrangement founded on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the return of all Israeli hostages.

As negotiations for a ceasefire continue at this moment, we believe it is important for U.S. advocacy groups of all types to speak up for a just and lasting peace. To date, more than 100 Israeli hostages are still being held after 1200 Israeli men, women, and children were attacked and killed on October 7th by Hamas. This is unacceptable. Since then, more than 27,000 Palestinians and others have been killed in raids and bombings by the Israeli Defense Forces, two thirds of them women and children. In December, the World Food Program said 90 percent of Gazans were eating less than one meal per day. This is unacceptable.

Sign the petition: Tell the White House to support a peace agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and secures the return of all Israeli hostages. The suffering of innocent men, women, and children must stop. This petition will be delivered TODAY (February 8) by 8 PM ET.

As a climate change group, nearly all of our advocacy is focused on clean energy and climate justice issues, as it should be. But very occasionally, we call for justice in the wake of other extraordinary moments – the Haitian earthquake disaster of 2010, the killing of George Floyd in 2020, and the January 6th insurrection.

The scale of innocent lives lost in this conflict has few rivals among conflicts in our lifetimes. The Gaza war, like all wars, distracts the world community from focusing on the biggest long-term threat of violence to all people everywhere: climate change. Now the United States, unlike in most armed conflicts in the world right now, has a decidedly strong opportunity to influence an end to the violence in Israel and Gaza.

Sign the petition: Tell the White House to support a peace agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and secures the return of all Israeli hostages. The suffering of innocent men, women, and children must stop. This petition will be delivered TODAY (February 8) by 8 PM ET.

Your support for our organization is based first and foremost on our work to end global warming. We know that. Our commitment to that goal will never change. But today we ask you to demand peace in Gaza so we can continue to work for climate peace for the entire planet.

Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC Will Defy President Trump on Climate Policy

Statement from Mike Tidwell, director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, on Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement:

THE BAD NEWS: President Trump today sealed his reputation as an economic and environmental wrecking ball with few rivals in US history. Locally, his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement threatens to reduce jobs and shrink our regional economy. It would do so by embracing fracking and a dying coal industry over the jobs-creating markets for wind and solar power. Trump has endangered our coastal military bases in Virginia with more sea-level rise. He has endangered DC citizens with more life-threatening urban heat waves. He has endangered Maryland agriculture with more erratic weather that harms everything from fruit trees to livestock.

THE GOOD NEWS: President Trump CANNOT stop the growing local movement toward clean energy or the broader international effort to stabilize our global climate. Locally, states are moving faster toward clean energy than ever before because of Trump’s criminal rejection of climate science and sound policy. Virginia has just announced the state’s first-ever carbon cap on power plant pollution. DC is moving toward a citywide carbon fee that creatively cuts pollution while boosting individual incomes. And Maryland has just banned fracking while approving the country’s largest offshore wind farm. This robust state action cannot and will not be slowed by Trump’s federal rejection of climate truth and economic sanity. The citizens of Maryland, Virginia, and DC should rest assured that our states – along with progressive states across the country – will continue to grow our economies with clean energy while fulfilling our historic collective duty to help solve the climate crisis for our children and the rest of the world.

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins; Communications Director; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-2022
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director; mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-460-5838.

How CCAN Got to Work on 10/10/10 [PHOTOS]

If anyone has any doubt that the climate movement is forging ahead after the rocky road we’ve traveled from Copenhagen to the Senate dead-end, they should just consider what happened on October 10th, 2010. The sheer mind-blowing scale of 350.org’s 10/10/10 Global Work Party shows that far from losing momentum, the global climate movement has only picked up steam in countries across the world. Indeed, despite all the political blows we’ve been dealt this past year, people rallied behind climate action like never before

Oct 24, 2009- A Turning Point in Human History- Be There

If you’re still looking for a good reason to come out and join our big International Day of Climate Action rally and march in DC on Saturday try this on for size: the day of action won’t simply be the biggest day in the history of the global climate movement; it could very well be one of the biggest days in human history. And that’s not an exaggeration.

The truly wonderful thing about Saturday’s action is that it will be much bigger than just a single rally, or a single march on a single location in a single city in the world. It will be a truly global event. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it will be the first truly “global event” in history. For while there have been global days of action for this and other causes before, as far as I know none of them have ever included more than 4000 actions taking place in almost every single country on the planet. And while any given world cup final or Olympic opening ceremony may draw a global viewing audience of hundreds of millions, the ultimate measure of any “global” event lies not in its scale but in its spirit. And in terms of its global spirit I’d say our Day of Action on Saturday will beat even the Olympics hands down.

As the first truly global-scale crisis humanity has ever faced, the climate crisis is forcing us for the very first time to start perceiving ourselves as a true global community, facing a common threat as a species, as a global civilization. It’s forcing us to act globally, and seek solutions globally, as a true global community rather than as a collection of competing nations negotiating our way towards compromises that preserve our individual interests. By its very nature the global climate movement is leading us all through a door to a new era of global consciousness, to a transformation not just of the way that we consume energy, but of the way that we perceive ourselves, and our relations and responsibilities to each other.

So, considering that the Day of Action on Saturday will be the first truly global-scale expression of the movement that is driving us toward that new era of global consciousness and solidarity, I think it’s safe to say that it will be the first truly global event in human history. And those of us who participate in it won’t just be helping to usher in a new stage in the global climate movement; we’ll helping to usher in a new era of human history, a new era of global community.

And come snow or rain or heat or gloom, I’d say that’s definitely something to show up for. Go to www.350.org/dc today to RSVP today and claim your place in the vanguard of our global future.

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