A Note from the 350 Chicago Team

During this current COVID-19 pandemic, 350 Chicago would like to express our deepest appreciation and gratitude to our donors for the financial support each and every one of you has provided our organization.

If you have given to 350 Chicago as a one-time or a monthly donor, we offer our heartfelt thanks for your generosity. Your support has allowed our organization to operate effectively, educate Chicago-area citizens and politicians about the importance of fossil fuel divestment, organize with environmental and social justice groups throughout Illinois, create, collaborate, and participate in myriad protests and actions, promote clean energy, and empower Chicagoans to join the fight against the climate crisis.

350 Chicago understands our friends and supporters are experiencing furloughs, layoffs, and dislocations from their jobs and the resulting loss in income. We understand money is tight and the economic slowdown surrounding the pandemic leaves many of us with a sense of economic uncertainty.

Even in the midst of the current public health emergency, the many volunteers of 350 Chicago continue working on educating our fellow Chicagoans about the dangers of climate change and a warming world. While we all self-isolate, our volunteers are persistently developing the infrastructure of our local chapter, ensuring that we emerge even stronger once the storm of the pandemic abates.

350 Chicago hopes you and your loved ones are well and making the best of staying at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Again, thank you for your support, and please be safe.

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Trumps administration has issued some of the most anti-climate legislation within the past couple years, including the rollbacks of the National Environmental Policy Act, and Obama’s 2012 auto-emissions standards. Source: © James Ferguson – The Financial Times

Elections matter— Trump wreaks havoc on environmental laws

On Tuesday, March 31st, 2020, the Trump administration issued the largest anti-climate rollback ever, lowering Obama administration emissions standards that would have reduced total greenhouse gas emissions by 6 billion tons. The final rule is a dialed-down version of Trump’s original proposition—to freeze fuel economy standards at 2020 levels.

While the Obama-era legislation mandated an increase in overall fuel economy standards by 5% each year, achieving an overall average of 54 mpg by 2025, this new law would require a 1.5% increase per annum, achieving an average fuel economy of 40 mpg by 2026. This 2,000 page law further made the striking admission that less efficient cars would mean 10,000 fewer auto industry jobs per year, putting automakers in the impossible situation of upsetting shareholders or being branded as anti-environment. In short, this law would not benefit anyone except the oil and gas companies.

This new law has been met with a general uproar. President Obama tweeted, urging voters to ‘demand better’ in the face of these rollbacks. Challengers are revving up for litigation, including a coalition of 20 Democratic-led states and environmental groups across the country. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA had no basis for withholding its analysis of how it devised its new fuel-efficiency standards in a case brought up by the NRDC and EDF.

For more COVID discussion, check out the newest blog post

350 Chicago member Timarie Diehl has more about the impact of the COVID crisis on climate activism in this new blog post on our website.