Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/11/2019
12:00 am
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We are seeking signers from District 6!
If you’d like to add your name to the letter, please private message us with your name and address, or add that information as a comment on the page.
We are looking to deliver the letter, with the full list of signers within the next two weeks. Please feel free to share this with anyone you feel is interested! Thanks for helping us spread the word about this very important initiative.
The full text of the letter is copied below, but we make sure to reinforce that we support Chrissy’s work and will continue to do so. We believe she will make an amazing advocate for The Green New Deal, and we appreciate the commitment she has already shown to climate justice.
Dear Representative Houlahan,
As concerned citizens of District 6, we are following legislation introduced in the 116th Congress very closely. As inhabitants of a planet in dire peril due to climate change, we are at a point where we must face that threat straight on and, as a top priority, rise to
mitigate it.
We appreciate and applaud that you are already a co-sponsor of Representative Ted Lieu’s “Climate Solutions Act,” which aims to move the United States to 100% Renewable Energy by 2035 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels 80% lower than what we had in 1990. Those are worthwhile goals that are aligned with the vision laid out in the Green New Deal Resolution (House Resolution 109), and it is worth noting that Rep. Lieu himself has already signed onto the Resolution.
We ask that you also support HR 109.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agrees with the findings of the National Climate Assessment and reports issued by the U.S. Department of Defense: The ongoing rise of global temperatures poses an existential threat to all life on this planet, and the consequences worsen the longer we delay action. Yet, many leading scientists have pointed out that even these findings underestimate the true risk and danger of the worsening emergency we are all facing. Furthermore, it is our position that any 10-year Green New Deal legislation that emerges from this Congress must explicitly prioritize a rapid, just transition away from fossil fuels and fossil fuel infrastructure.
Hitting the lofty goals put forward in those pieces of legislation will require a major investment in America’s infrastructure, our labor, and our healthcare. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives our current infrastructure a “D” rating and estimates the costs of repairs to be at $2 trillion. The combined pressures of stagnant wages and rising costs in healthcare have caused millions of the American workforce to go without health insurance and millions more to accept coverage that is inadequate. We need healthy people to fight for a healthy planet.
That’s why we support the Green New Deal Resolution’s commitment to creating millions of good, high wage jobs; serious infrastructure investment that meets the demands of 21st century sustainability; universal access to clean water and clean air, and providing high quality health care for every American.
The Green New Deal Resolution is as aspirational as John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot,” except this resolution seeks to solve a human-made crisis right here on earth, lays out a more specific path to success than JFK’s speech, and sets clearly defined goal posts for success. At long last, we are now having a national discussion on the climate emergency, centered on justice and committed to a 10-year timeline that calls for a national mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II. We cannot afford to be satisfied with baby steps.
Thank you for considering our views on this critical issue. We stand behind you and the excellent work you are doing on our behalf here in District 6 and will strengthen our support for you as, together, we move toward identifying and implementing bold, comprehensive solutions to the clear and present climate change danger that looms.
Whether one is politically “red,” “blue,” or “purple,” the collapse of the ecosystem that sustains life is an emergency for all of us. We cannot afford to go slowly.
Sincerely,