President Biden is hosting a party at the White House today to celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). But when the party is over and the applause dies dies down America will still be facing a climate emergency — and it will still be time for President Biden to declare one.
While President Bide was planing his party, more than 1,000 Pakistani people died in a flood, and more than a third of the country has been subsumed. Just a few weeks ago, we were all looking at pictures of rivers run dry in China, in Europe and in California.
And while there’s a lot of good potential in the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s not enough all on its own — as we’ve discussed, at length, previously. The short and simple is this: Even if every single clean energy incentive and climate action in the Inflation Reduction Act’s $369 billion package works perfectly (and that’s a big if), it will will only meet 80% of President Biden’s promise to cut global warming pollution pollution 50% by 2030.
To get the rest of the way there, we need bold executive action – we need Biden to declare a climate emergency. So, on this day when the White House and their allies celebrate the IRA, we’re asking you to sign this petition with partners calling on President Biden to declare a climate emergency.
Evidence of the climate emergency is all around us. Here in the U.S., we continue to grapple with extreme temperatures and weather, and the costs associated with increased numbers of hurricanes, wildfires, and floods fueled by global warming will begin to hemorrhage our economy. We must act now to prevent these weather events while we still have the chance.
But we’re up against powerful interests. The Supreme Court has hobbled efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the electric sector. Fossil fuel companies spend millions lobbying Congress and shuffling blame for climate change from producers to consumers with deceptive advertising. Big Oil is determined to protect profits, even if they burn the planet down in the process.
The inflation Reduction Act was the first, only and largest climate bill Congress has ever passed – and it’s loaded up with deals for the fossil fuel industry and dangerous opportunities for fossil fuel fascists like Joe Manchin to double cross us.
We need every tool in our arsenal to fight back. One of those tools is the Biden administration declaring climate an emergency under the National Emergencies Act. That would give us the ability to reinstate the crude oil export ban, redirect disaster relief funds toward distributed renewable energy construction in frontline communities, and marshal companies to fast-track renewable transportation and clean power generation. All while creating millions of high-quality union jobs.
Climate change is already an emergency – we need legislation like the IRA and an emergency declaration. Sign the petition to President Biden: Declare climate an emergency under the National Emergencies Act.
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