John, my heart is heavy.

This morning, I woke up again thinking about everyone who calls the state of Florida home, including myself. 

Today, my home in Florida, where I grew up and where my parents live, is under a foot of water so deep that my family is trapped. The power is out and emergency vehicles can’t make it through the water.

If you’ve already seen the painful footage of Hurricane Ian, will you donate to help local community groups deliver aid from this storm?

Right now, I’m thinking of all my elderly neighbors who without power may not be able to use their medical devices, or pick up their pain medication. And the families who have to trek through a river to buy groceries or baby formula for their kids.

From the streets of places like Fort Myers Beach, you can see houses destroyed and floating away – carrying priceless family heirlooms and the hearts of so many Floridians with them. 

But whether you’re also from Florida, or from anywhere in the world, I’m sure you know the pain of the climate crisis as well as I do now.

We are alive at a time when once in a generation storms happen several times a year. Where even beyond Florida, towns and cities are flooding, displacing our belongings and then our people. 

Hurricane Ian is following a series of horrific climate disasters all around the world – from children drowning in Pakistan and Puerto Rico, to fatal heatwaves in Europe, to drought that has dried up rivers in China, to rainfall and mudslides in South Africa that killed so many loved ones. 

In 2018, the world’s top scientists told us that we only had 12 years to stop the climate crisis. We now have eight. Democrats control the White House and Congress. My generation turned out in record numbers to elect Biden into office. Now, he faces a clear choice – will he use his full power to stop the climate crisis, declare a Climate Emergency, and work towards a Green New Deal, or will he worsen the crisis by expanding fossil fuels – catering to fossil fuel industry executives and corporate politicians like Senator Manchin instead of us?

The mass suffering caused by Hurricane Ian was preventable. If Biden continues to expand fossil fuels, he will be willingly choosing to prolong more suffering and destruction. 

So if today you’re feeling despair, anger, sadness — just know, you’re not alone. Together, we can transform our sadness and anger into a fierce determination to not let this nightmare be our reality forever. 

And together, we can help our neighbors pick up the pieces and recover from these devastating storms. Join us in supporting recovery efforts in Florida + Cuba and Puerto Rico:

Donate to Recovery Efforts in Florida + Cuba

Donate to Recovery Efforts in Puerto Rico

With love,
Lauren