Dear Friend,
Here are the facts of our present situation: Fossil fuels kill people. Public health researchers estimate around 7 million people across the planet die prematurely every year due to the air pollution fossil fuels generate.
By comparison, globally about 7 million people have died so far from Covid. To put that into perspective: Every single year, fossil fuels kill on the order of a global pandemic.
The continued extraction and burning of coal, oil, and gas is calculated violence in the pursuit of wealth. It's violence against the lungs of anyone who has to breathe in the soot from smokestacks or the smog from tailpipes. It's violence against the atmosphere that sheaths the planet. And it's therefore violence against every living creature that depends on a safe atmosphere.
I recently wrote an article laying out some lessons that climate advocates have to learn from the slavery abolition movement. There is, of course, no analog to slavery, which is singular in its depravity. But even though history doesn't repeat itself verbatim, the rhythms of the past do sometimes echo.
The most obvious parallel between the abolitionist movements past and present is the most sobering: the awesome force of the powers fueling the status quo. It also brings into focus our moral clarity to act: we must stand together to end the era of fossil fuels. |
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We are calling on President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels in the U.S. and speed up an equitable transition to clean energy before he leaves office. The arguments for eliminating our reliance on fossil fuels are strong and straightforward:
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We know that the burning of coal, oil, and gas is dangerously heating the planet.
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We know fossil fuels cause death and destruction.
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We know, therefore, that if we want to halt global temperature rise and the damage that comes with it, we must leave fossil fuels in the ground.
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We also know that we have renewable energy technology to replace dirty and dangerous energy.
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As a movement, we need to take these arguments to their logical conclusion.
Our North Star must be unmistakable: the abolition of fossil fuels in our lifetime.
As a matter of justice to those who are still living in energy poverty -- as a matter of fairness to the working families whose paychecks are hitched to fossil fuels -- this must be a steady, deliberate elimination.
There are no more defensible justifications for the indefinite continuation of the age of coal, oil, and gas. There are no good reasons left for delay.
Right now, we are engaged in a great moral struggle, with the fate of generations hanging in the balance. Every day, we confront impossible odds, with all the power and wealth of mighty polluting corporations piled against us.
Imagine how we'll breathe more easily when fossil fuels are no more. How we'll no longer be tethered to greedy fossil fuel executives, since the sun gives away its power for next to nothing. How other species will be liberated, in some measure, from human recklessness. We have the technological and scientific answers, but do we have the faith to believe that when action is welded to commitment, it can move the whole world?
Be part of that action and commitment -- add your name to call on President Biden to cement his legacy and take bold steps towards ending the era of fossil fuels. He must do all he can to speed up a just transition towards clean energy before he leaves office.
In solidarity,
Jason Mark
Editor in Chief, Sierra magazine
Sierra Club
This email comes from the article "Abolish Fossil Fuels" by Sierra magazine editor-in-chief Jason Mark, published in the Fall 2024 issue. Read the full piece here. |
