Friends,
Watching the Republican National Convention unfold this week was chilling.
In an often-ridiculous horror show, Republicans officially nominated a climate-denying racist for President and a puppet of the Koch brothers as his VP.1 They also introduced the most regressive, bigoted party platform this country has seen in decades, attacking most of what the climate movement has been working so hard to achieve.
This week scared me, but it also bolstered my resolve: We must defeat the Republican’s hateful, divisive political rhetoric, willful denial of the crises we face, and catastrophic platform — while also demanding more ambitious climate action from the Democrats.
To do that, we’ve got to organize. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be organizing bird-dogging actions, turning folks out to vote, and sharing stories online — and we need your help.
This election is undeniably ugly, offering hard choices for climate activists who want to see fossil fuels kept underground. But it’s also undeniable that the Republican platform put in action would set this country back decades — decades that wecan’t afford.
The Republican platform ratified this week in Cleveland looks like a Christmas wish-list for the fossil fuel industry. In a lot ways it is, since many of the delegates who wrote it have taken thousands of dollars from the worst polluters in the world, including Exxon.2 In the hottest year ever, the Republicans call for:
- Constructing the Keystone XL pipeline
- Abandoning the Paris Climate Agreement
- Scrapping the Clean Power Plan
- Fracking and drilling on our public lands
- Mining as much coal as possible
And that’s not to mention the long list of policies that would set back racial, economic, and social justice for thousands of Americans.
We know that we can shift what’s politically possible in this country. The climate movement’s tireless bird-dogging efforts during the primary resulted in Hillary Clinton’s opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline and Atlantic drilling. Next week, we expect the Democrats to ratify the strongest climate platform to date, thanks to the leadership shown by local activists across the country fighting to #keepitintheground. But we’ve still got a ways to go.
We can’t let a climate-denying racist into the White House next year, and we’ve got to hold the Democrats to their promises.
Take the pledge to act and organize this election, so that we can make sure to keep you plugged in.
Onward,
Miles and the 350 Action team
P.S. Yesterday, hundreds of Americans took a stand against hate and denial. You can see a couple photos from the Stop Trump actions here, and from the Movement for Black Lives actions here.
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More info:
- In Choosing Mike Pence, Donald Trump Moves Closer to Big Donors Like the Kochs (New York Times)
- Exxon Mobil Profile for 2016 Election Cycle (OpenSecrets.org)
- Protesters disrupt RNC with anti-racist, anti-war, environmentalist messages (Salon)
- 11 ways the Republican platform attacks the environment (Grist)