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CLIMATE CHANGE IS RUINING FOOTBALL AND 15 OTHER THINGS YOU LOVE |
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Tag Archives: Earth
We ~~~ have a moral obligation to deal with climate change:
Republicans (and a few Democrats) may have killed the president’s plan for a comprehensive climate change bill in 2010, but he made clear during his second inaugural speech that we have a moral obligation to deal with climate change:
We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.
During a long and wide-ranging speech today, the president laid out the moral, economic, and scientific case for tackling the problem and the latest steps his administration is taking to address it.
(You can watch the entire speech HERE.)
The major elements of the president’s plan include carbon pollution limits for new and existing power plants, an increase in renewable energy generated on public lands, enhanced fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles, a variety of energy efficiency measures, and both domestic and global cuts in super pollutants like HFCs, and an expanded commitment to international leadership on a wide variety of climate-change related issues.
(You can read the entire plan HERE.)
The president took climate deniers and other opponents of action to task:
We don’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society. Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it’s not going to protect you from the coming storm.
As it turns outs, even the Flat Earth Society, which actually believes the Earth is flat, thinks climate change is caused by human activity. This puts the Flat Earth Society ahead of many conservatives when it comes to acknowledging the reality of our warming planet.
The speech concluded with a call to action to all Americans:
What we need in this fight are citizens who will stand up, and speak up, and compel us to do what this moment demands.
Understand this is not just a job for politicians. So I’m going to need all of you to educate your classmates, your colleagues, your parents, your friends. Tell them what’s at stake. Speak up at town halls, church groups, PTA meetings. Push back on misinformation. Speak up for the facts. Broaden the circle of those who are willing to stand up for our future.
Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution. Push your own communities to adopt smarter practices. Invest. Divest. Remind folks there’s no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth. And remind everyone who represents you at every level of government that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote. Make yourself heard on this issue.
BOTTOM LINE: We have an obligation to our children and future generations to tackle climate change and the additional steps the president announced today will put the U.S. in a position of global leadership to solve the climate crisis.
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After Earth & Jaden Smith: Plant Trees!
As his blockbuster movie After Earth opens today, 14-year-old Jaden Smith is asking people to take the movie’s environmental message to heart and take action by supporting Earth Day Network’s Canopy Project!
Jaden wants you to join him to help plant 10 million trees over the next five years in the places that need them most.
Check it out:
Smith calls The Canopy Project’s goal “major,” saying, “We need to get to work.”
| “Earth is our home, and we have to treat it right, or it’s going to kick us out. Support Earth Day and the Canopy Project. Just a few trees can provide food, clean air, and a better life to people that need it the most.” – Jaden Smith |
After Earth is a summer movie with aliens and new planets and spaceships, but at its core is a reminder of our responsibility to be stewards for this planet we were gifted. It’s a platform to inspire change – and it inspired the filmmakers and Jaden to put that attention to good use by partnering with Earth Day Network to help reach this important goal.
If enough people follow this powerful example and chip in, we can restore the canopy in many high-poverty areas around the world over the next 5 years.
Join us, as Jaden Smith has, to make this goal a reality.
– The Earth Day Network Team
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Building the climate movement
During the past couple of weeks, over a billion people in 192 countries took action for Earth Day, and many people like you helped build an impressive digital mosaic capturing The Face of Climate Change.
People organized rallies, demonstrations, clean-ups, tree plantings, educational events, andmore to protect their local environment and to raise the profile of the most pressing environmental issue of our time:climate change. Countless others made personal commitments to live more sustainably.
In fact, The Face of Climate Change has received such a strong response that we’re going to continue the campaign!
Your actions and stories have the power to inspire the world and are essential to building this new climate movement; keep them coming! They’ll serve as an interactive and personalized petition to world leaders as Earth Day Network and our partners push for strong international and domestic climate policies.
The Face of Climate Change again proves that a lot of little actions add up to something big. Join the movement – and bring your friends! Together, we’ll make a difference in 2013 and beyond.
– The Earth Day Network Team
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Stand up to Big Oil and cut air pollution!
Today more than one billion people throughout the world will do their part to protect the Earth.
While you may not be able to plant a tree or ride your bike to work today, you can do something simple yet significant RIGHT NOW that will make a huge difference to the environment – the equivalent of taking 33 million cars off the road!
Sign our petition supporting the President’s plan to cut air pollution by cleaning up gasoline. Nearly everyone is on board with this smart idea – including cities, public health agencies, consumer groups, even automakers. But the powerful oil industry is trying to kill it, and we need to show that Americans want a better environment.
This Earth Day show Big Oil they can’t always get their way. Add your name in support of cleaner air!
While many of us would like a world without polluting cars, we’re just not there yet. But we can make a huge dent in pollution by cleaning up the gas our vehicles run on. The air near our roadways has high concentrations of particulates, ozone, carbon monoxide, lead and sulfur – over 50 percent of which come from vehicles.
A new plan would slash this pollution by cleaning up the gas before it’s burned in our cars. It will add under a penny to a gallon of gas and less than $150 to the cost of a new car in 2025.
The auto industry can handle that cost, but Big Oil is digging in! They don’t want to clean up their refineries, and they want you to live with the consequences – dirtier air and more asthma, lung and respiratory diseases.
Sign our petition and join others who care about the environment. Show Big Oil and Congressional opponents they are in for a fight!
If you think it’s worth a penny a gallon for cleaner air, then take action this Earth Day. And please forward this to friends and family so they can join you in this important action.
Sincerely,
Shannon Baker-Branstetter
Consumers Union, policy and action from Consumer Reports
Be a Seed for Change 
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