For those suspenseful moments, the world stood still in wonder and accomplishment. Humanity’s existence as an earthbound species all of a sudden had an asterisk.
Five decades later, humanity’s existence as an earthbound species has a new asterisk.
You and I now live in a world growing more dangerous every day.
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As we have seen across the country and around the world, climate change isn’t a future threat — it’s here and now. Our communities and natural ecosystems are confronting serious and growing risks.
Australia withered through record summer heat, putting the future of the Australian Open tennis tournament in question.
“Baked Alaska” filled news headlines as Anchorage hit 90F on July 4th, eclipsing the previous record high by 5 degrees.
Unprecedented wildfires are breaking out in the Arctic, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide.
And in Florida, sea level rise, storm surges and coastal flooding now threaten the Kennedy Space Center, the very place where Apollo 11’s rocket took off 50 years ago to unshackle humanity from this small blue dot.
These threats and much more are serious and growing — but so is our resolve.
Over the last two and a half years, in the face of a president and extremists in Congress who continue to deny the reality of climate change, this community of more than 2.5 million members, activists and staff have come together to fight back and push forward.
We’re fighting in the courts.
We’re fighting in Washington.
And in the absence of federal leadership, we’re pushing cities, states and forward-thinking companies to enact ambitious climate policies on their own.
Because we have persevered, even amidst the chaos and denialism of the Trump administration, we’re making real progress.
In April, for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, clean energy from sources like solar and wind produced more electricity than coal in the United States.
Last month, Maine became the seventh state to pass a 100% clean energy bill, joining California, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, and Washington — along with more than 100 cities across America — that have passed similar bills.
And public opinion is swinging in our direction with more Americans than ever becoming aware of the need to act.
To paraphrase President Kennedy’s words that inspired America’s moonshot: we choose to take on this fight not because it is easy, but because we must.
These are unnerving times. But this is a powerful community of caring, committed advocates for change.
And just as previous generations rose to the challenges of their time — facing down tyranny abroad and segregation at home, cleaning up rivers so polluted they caught fire and rain so toxic it killed forests, and even landing humans on the moon — this generation, you and I working together, are rising up to meet the climate challenge.
Thank you for your activism and support,
Sam Parry
Director of Membership
