Folks,

This will be one of the longer emails that I send your way, but it couldn’t be more important -- so I’d appreciate you reading it in its entirety.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) just released a new climate report this week that unequivocally states humans are driving climate change -- these heat waves, droughts, forest fires, worsening storms, massive hurricanes, mudslides, desertification can all be attributed to human behavior.

Now, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise -- we’ve known about climate change for decades, and we’ve known that our fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, especially those of large corporations, are to blame.

The report plainly states that, at this point, some effects of climate change are inevitable. The climate-induced refugee crises and mass-extinctions we've seen over the last few years are our new normal, and getting worse.

There’s some good news, too: it isn’t too late to stave off some of the worst effects of climate change -- but we are running out of time. And our efforts to address climate change thus far have been categorical failures.

There are actionable steps we can take right now to protect our climate and our futures. But let me say this: it is not enough to simply hold our Democratic majorities in Congress -- we need leaders who will make climate change a top priority and act.

I’m one of the leading voices for climate action in the House -- I need you to make a $25 donation to help me hold my seat and continue the fight for climate justice.

The first step in combating climate change is acknowledging the politics. Republicans in Congress are useless. Half of them deny science, and the other half have spent 30 years ducking the question. We need to stop electing them.

But we shouldn’t give Democrats a pass, either. Too many view climate change as a political problem rather than a policy one. Proclamations of intent with no serious work to explain how to get there may give voters the impression they care, but that isn’t enough.

Next, we need to kill the filibuster. As long as Republicans have the power to filibuster climate change policy, they will. It really is as simple as kill the filibuster or kill the climate.

Finally, we need to get dark money out of politics. If you think the science about climate change is unsettled, you can trace your evidence back to dark money groups that boosted scientific bullsh*t to sow doubt. Exxon has known about climate change for over 50 years, and they lied to the public about it for their own monetary and political gain.

Other actionable steps include:

• Holding social media companies accountable for spreading misinformation about climate online
• Urging President Biden to nominate a climate-focused FERC commissioner
• Scoring the climate impact of our legislation BEFORE we vote on major bills, just as we do for fiscal impacts
• Ending massive subsidies to the fossil fuel sector
• Ensuring our financial regulators treat climate change as a systemic risk

Finally, our infrastructure bill needs to make a massive commitment to energy efficiency, clean electrification and changing policy tools that will bring private capital forward. Giving every American access to cheaper, cleaner energy is the key to a just transition.

Is all of that ambitious? Yes.

But it's the kind of start that shows that we understand the problem, are serious about moving forward and deserve to be in a leadership position when it comes to combating climate change. Now let's get it done.

-- Sean Casten