Dear John,
For the very first time, Earth briefly passed 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. We passed this calamitous threshold for only a single day, but the UN just warned that if we don’t radically change course, we are on track to pass not just 1.5 or 2 degrees but 3 degrees Celsius of “hellish” warming, which would be apocalyptic.
At the same time, the upcoming COP28 climate conference is being run by a major oil company CEO, and our governments and fossil fuel companies are doing everything they can to obstruct climate action and keep us burning fossil fuels. President Biden is continuing to break his campaign promises by drilling oil on federal land through the Willow Project.
If we are to avoid climate catastrophe and save our species, we cannot elect a climate denialist Republican, but we also cannot elect an incrementalist corporate Democrat.
We have got to stand up and radically change course. As president, I would immediately declare a Climate Emergency, which would give me greater powers to deal with the crisis. I would dedicate my presidency to fighting for a WWII-level mass mobilization for a just transition from a dirty fossil fuel economy to a clean economy fueled by renewable energy. To make this transition, it will not be enough to only invest in green energy. It’s not enough to go clean if you’re still investing in dirty. We must begin right now to ramp down fossil fuel extraction, not ramp it up the way both Presidents Trump and Biden have done.
