Hi John -
I'm Natalie, and I work at 350 as the Policy Director for the US team. I'm sitting here on the East Coast with a cup of iced tea, and decided to type up an email to you about the work I've done this week.
Because honestly, I know a lot of the time we ask you to take action or make contributions, so I wanted to take a moment to explain exactly how your support grows our movement. The short version is: every time you take an action, sign a petition, or make a contribution, it shows members of Congress and President Biden the people power behind our bold climate legislation and priorities.
But before I take you through a typical day for the policy team, if you can, please make a contribution today. Your contribution will help power our bold climate agenda all the way from the halls of Congress to massive climate actions in the streets.
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Alright, now let's dive in. Earlier this week I met with the staffers for Rep. Cori Bush and Sen. Sanders. We discussed the importance of ending fossil fuel subsidies and how to move their recently introduced bills forward.
Now, some of the policy team's meetings are with Congressional staffers that are supportive of our issues, where we meet to plan and strategize how to move legislation forward that we both support. But I also have meetings with offices that are not necessarily with us on a bill or a policy priority, but who we think we can influence.
Next, I met with our climate coalition, which is made up of some of the country's most powerful environmental and climate organizations. We try to always work together as a unit when meeting with staffers on the Hill so that the issues that we care about can be amplified as much as possible.
Then I made some lunch (because fighting for climate justice is hard work, and it is important that we all take a break every now and then)!
After lunch, I got right back to it digging into the climate policy Biden has implemented so far in his first 100 days. It is great that the President wants to rebuild the relationship with the international community on fighting climate change, but I do believe that our commitments for the United States must be higher. 350 is pushing for a 70 percent cut in our greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030.
Here's my take so far on Biden: he has had a strong and ambitious start for his climate agenda. He canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office and signed several other executive orders related to climate change. He plans to introduce an infrastructure plan soon that has commitments to end fossil fuel subsidies. But President Biden still needs to immediately cancel the federal permits for the Dakota Access pipeline and Line 3. He cannot truly be a climate President until he cancels these pipelines and does not allow any new fossil fuel infrastructure to receive federal permits.
In the afternoon, I looped up with the policy team here at 350 to debrief our meetings and strategize for the week ahead. We also met up with the Organizing and Campaigns team to brief them on upcoming policy legislation and how we can coordinate our work on the Hill with massive climate actions like the Climate Clock action we held in DC last week.
This week is almost over, and I hope you'll have a great weekend. But before I go, I want to thank you again for letting me bring you behind-the-scenes with me so you can see what the policy team here at 350 is working on right now. I know it was one of my lengthier emails to you, but it's important to me that you know what your support can achieve. And this week might be coming to a close, but the fight continues:
If you can afford it, please consider making a contribution today to support our bold climate agenda so we can defeat the fossil fuel industry.
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Our climate movement is growing stronger every day because people like you are putting in the work to make it happen.
So thank you again for chipping in what you can today. Whether it's $3,50, $35, or $100, now more than ever, we need Congress to hear from the people who put them there.
In solidarity,
Natalie Mebane
Policy Director
350.org
P.S. I recorded a brief video where I dive even deeper into what we've been working on this week. Watch the video and then if you can, chip in to help us build a powerful climate movement.
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350.org is a global movement that fights for a just and equitable world by stopping the fossil fuel industry from continuing to destroy our climate.