John,

First, I hope that you, your family, and your loved ones are safe today.

Our lived experiences of the past year have made the magnitude of the challenges we face as a nation abundantly clear — the coronavirus pandemic, a reckoning with racial justice, historic unemployment, and escalating climate impacts from megafires to record hurricanes.

Against this backdrop, President Joe Biden took the oath of office last week and immediately got to work by initiating a series of actions designed to address these historic and interrelated crises. The Biden administration has already re-joined the Paris Climate Agreement, taken steps to restore Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments, prevented destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and begun reversing more than 100 regulatory rollbacks and agency assaults on public health, clean air and water, and the environment.

President Biden nominated a Cabinet and White House staff filled with climate and environmental champions who are up to the magnitude of the moment. And just this week, he launched huge initiatives to conserve and restore 30% of all lands and waters, create a Civilian Climate Corps, revitalize our public lands, elevate environmental justice investments, and revitalize distressed communities.

I’m incredibly optimistic that these early actions lay the foundation for historic wins for wildlife and our nation in 2021. This year, our top priority at the National Wildlife Federation will be working across party lines in Congress to enact a multi-trillion economic recovery and infrastructure package that puts tens of millions of Americans back to work equitably by restoring our natural resources, recovering wildlife populations, revitalizing frontline communities, improving public health, reducing pollution, and bolstering resilience.

Yet, as excited as we are about the early actions of the Biden administration and new Congress, we are still coming to grips with the horror we witnessed on January 6th when a violent mob, fueled by disinformation, racism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism, stormed the Capitol and attempted to forcefully overturn the results of a presidential election. This acutely affected our National Wildlife Federation team both personally and professionally, because so many of us spend time at the Capitol advocating on behalf of wildlife and people and we know the lawmakers of both parties and the support staff who were terrorized during the violence.

Our work to advance our conservation mission depends upon strong and healthy democratic institutions. For 220 years, the peaceful transfer of power has served as the bedrock of our democracy, transcending party and ideology since John Adams transferred power to Thomas Jefferson in 1801. That is, until this year.

We believe that Donald Trump must be held accountable for his role in inciting the violent insurrection at the Capitol. We supported the bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives that voted for impeachment and we urge the Senate to vote for conviction. We also believe that elected officials and political figures who incited the mob by perpetuating the false narrative of a fraudulent election should be held accountable.

If you want to join of our Defense of Democracy Rapid Response Team, please add your name today.

With great challenges come great opportunities. We believe that 2021 could be one of the most consequential years in our Federation’s history for saving wildlife and acting on climate. We are grateful for your incredible support and look forward to accomplishing great things together!