John,

Hurricane Helene made landfall over the weekend, causing historic flooding and damage to large swaths of the Southeast across six states. Some towns and cities, like Asheville, North Carolina, were completely underwater, with roads and bridges wiped out and countless homes destroyed. If you can, help provide relief to Helene victims now.

Over 100 people are dead, with hundreds more missing and millions without power. Many are relying on local libraries' wifi networks to contact loved ones, and some are reporting a lack of access to food, baby formula, and clean water.

Experts are already saying this was a direct result of the climate crisis fueled by the fossil fuel industry, which knew about the disastrous impacts of climate change for at least 50 years and deceived the public, putting profits over people. These massive oil and gas corporations get upwards of $20 billion in government subsidies every year, while FEMA often goes underfunded to properly respond to disasters like Helene.

Places like Asheville — inland mountain towns that many insisted were immune to climate disasters like Helene — were simply not prepared for this kind of storm, proving that nowhere is truly safe from the impacts of climate change, and the negative consequences are not a faraway threat but an immediate one.

This natural disaster further goes to show the urgency and scale of our global climate crisis, and our country’s lack of preparedness. It’s exactly why we need bold climate action through the Green New Deal to end our reliance on fossil fuels, achieve a clean energy economy that will generate millions of jobs, and make our nation’s infrastructure resilient to more extreme weather events. This is a moment for our government to lead on preventing and protecting us from climate change, and we call on them to do so.

For now, millions of people are suffering throughout Appalachia and they need our urgent help. If you can, pitch in a contribution of anything you can afford to help communities recover from Hurricane Helene here →

In solidarity,

Justice Democrats