Climate change warnings started long before the first Earth Day in 1970.
- Action #1: “YES” on H.R.5253/S.3167 – Fossil Free Finance Act.
- Action #2: “YES” on H.R.2519/S.1115 – Keep It in the Ground”
- Action #3: Email Joe and tell him to hold the line!
In 1957, Roger Revelle described fossil fuel burning as “a grandiose scientific experiment” on climate. In 1966, a coal industry research organization reported that “the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere will increase and that vast changes in the climates of the earth will result.” By the late 1970’s, the fossil fuel industry moved from researching side effects of their own product to protecting their investments with a vast archipelago of climate change-denial think tanks.
The GOP and their corporate funders know that the denial game is nearly over, as citizens watch record-setting environmental catastrophes on their nightly news. So oil-garchs like Koch are set on changing the game board – they funded Trump, whose administration rolled back more than 100 environmental regulations and now, with the most corrupt Supreme Court dark money could buy, they are betting on the whole concept of regulation itself being overturned.
Action #1: “YES” on H.R.5253/S.3167 – Fossil Free Finance Act.
(You can combine your Action #1 and #2 calls if you’d like.) U.S. banks are the top fossil fuel funders of climate chaos. In the last 5 years, the world’s 60 biggest banks have financed fossil fuels to the tune of $3.8 trillion. Under the Fossil Free Finance Act, the Fed would step in to require that big banks align their financing with science-based emission targets and our obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, stopping the funding of new or expanded fossil fuel projects after 2022, thermal coal financing after 2024 and all fossil fuel projects after 2030.
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to sign on to the {Rep. –H.R.5253/Sen. – S.3167] Fossil Free Finance Act.
(Neither Reps. Carbajal nor Brownley are cosponsors yet)
(Neither Sens. Padilla nor Feinstein are cosponsors yet.)
Action #2: “YES” on H.R.2519/S.1115 – Keep It in the Ground“
(You can combine your Action #1 and #2 calls if you’d like.) “YES” on H.R.2519/S.1115 – Keep It in the Ground would prohibit new and renewed permits for drilling and infrastructure development for fossil energy projects on public lands and on the Outer Continental Shelf. VOEM would also cancel any lease also cancel any lease issued in the Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, or Chukchi Sea (three of the five bodies of water that encompass the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf).
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to vote “YES” on [Rep – H.R.2519/Sen. – S.1115] – Keep it in the Ground.
(Rep. Carbajal is already a cosponsor, Brownley is not.)
(Sen. Padilla is already a cosponsor, Feinstein is not.)
Action #3: Email Joe and tell him to hold the line!
(indivisibleSF) Sample email: When you campaigned in the New Hampshire primary you said: “No more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.” Now you are offering new leases to Big Oil on federal land, when you should be using this emergency to accelerate a crucial Democratic goal since the days of the Carter administration: to shift away from fossil fuels towards green, renewable energy.
To combat Ukraine-war-related inflation, call the heads of all the oil companies to the White House and demand that they explain why their profits are at record levels. When the price of oil goes up, we see immediate increases in the price of gas, but when the price of oil goes down, we don’t see gas prices decrease. If they won’t meet with you, then go after them on the stump. Go out to Exxon headquarters and talk about it. If they refuse to stop their price-gouging, use the Defense Production Act to impose price controls.
CONTACT INFO.
Additional reading
- (theconversation) A brief history of fossil-fuelled climate denial
- (greenpeace) A review of Exxon’s knowledge and subsequent denial of climate change.
- (OpenEditionJournal) The Ideology of Climate Change Denial in the United States
- (NYTimes) The Trump Administration Rolled Back More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List.
- (ClimateFiles) Mining Congress Journal, August 1966 – Air Pollution and the Coal Industry
- (Bloomberg) Gorsuch v. the Administrative State Is Really Heating Up – Three Supreme Court conservatives have signaled that they want to go beyond barring vaccine mandates to erecting sweeping constitutional barriers against federal regulatory activity.
- (Huffpost) The Supreme Court’s Conservatives May Be Set To Kneecap Federal Regulations – The increasing invocation of the “major questions doctrine” could imperil a wide swath of federal government regulatory actions.
- (accountable.us) The Dark Money Groups Spending Big To Shape The Supreme Court Are The Same Groups That Spent Millions Pushing Trump’s Big Lie And Funding Insurrectionists
- (levernews) How Dark Money Bought A Supreme Court Seat – While Justice Amy Barrett feigned ignorance of dark money, new documents show that cash bankrolled her Supreme Court nomination.
- (levernews) Koch Machine Pressing Supreme Court To Crush EPA – Dark money groups funded by the fossil fuel billionaire are lobbying justices to block the agency from limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
- (NewRepublic) (Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council) The Supreme Court May Soon Shut Down the Regulatory State. Let’s Use It While We Still Can. Progressive Democrats are right to call for more aggressive use of regulatory powers. But like the Democrats’ congressional majorities, these may not last forever.
- (AmericanProgress) Climate Deniers in the 117th Congress – There are 139 elected officials in the 117th Congress who still deny the scientific consensus of human-caused climate change.
- (climate communication.yale) Americans Underestimate How Many Others in the U.S. Think Global Warming is Happening
- (Pewresearch) How Americans see climate change and the environment in 7 charts
- (guardian) Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 