The COVID-19 crisis, while devastating on many levels, has also increased trust in science and the role of government, essential to reversing the climate crisis.
We are (re)learning that we ignore science at our peril and advance preparation saves lives. As a society, COVID-19 is giving us a taste of what’s to come if we do not take significant steps to flatten the climate curve very soon.
Your generous gift today supports The Climate Center’s urgent efforts to flatten the climate curve fast, as the latest science demands.
Working from home–and in too many cases, losing jobs and having no options but to remain at home– has led to projections that global emissions could drop by more than 5.5% this year.
But even a 10% drop would result in warming emissions that are “higher than in any year before 2010. Emissions cuts in 2020 alone will, therefore, have little impact, unless they are followed by longer-lasting changes.”
COVID has spread lightning fast and unemployment has quickly skyrocketed. Similarly, the effects of climate change are hitting us harder and faster than ever before
With 9 of 15 global tipping points already activated, what we do today can either unleash an inhospitable hothouse Earth or secure a climate-safe future.
Although numerous organizations have been working on climate for many years, the speed at which the crisis is growing surpasses current efforts. We urgently need to make climate policy progress commensurate with the worsening climate reality.
Per the latest science, massive reductions of warming emissions with the beginning of drawdown from the atmosphere are required by 2030 to prevent catastrophic impacts. Our only hope is to enact bold policies now, not decades later.
The Climate Center’s new Climate-Safe California campaign aims to do just this.
Climate-Safe California is a powerful, comprehensive, and unique science-driven campaign, filling a major gap within today’s climate movement.
We must ensure that California commits soon to achieving drawdown greater than emissions (net-negative emissions) and resilient communities by 2030.
The time is now to enact the bold climate policies required by science to avoid catastrophic impacts, starting here in the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Establishing this critical deadline sets the stage for enacting a range of new policies to achieve massive greenhouse gas reductions, major increases in sequestration on working and natural lands with biodiversity and resilience co-benefits, and significant support to all of California’s communities to plan for and enact resilience measures.
Achieving Climate-Safe California’s vision is not a question of IF or WHEN. We have no choice but to make this a reality now to secure a healthy, vibrant future for all.
We are only as resilient as the most vulnerable, another stark lesson from COVID-19.
Indeed, we will only achieve these urgent goals by committing to enacting climate-safe policies that ensure lower-income communities are no longer disproportionately harmed. We understand that there cannot be climate justice without racial justice.
We also understand that we will only achieve these urgent goals by securing a just transition for workers whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuel industries.
Your support of Climate-Safe California will help ensure that state policy timelines are accelerated while securing an equitable and just transition to a clean energy future.
As goes California, so goes the world. Climate-Safe California will catalyze global action to help secure a healthy, vibrant future for all.
As Congressman Jared Huffman, who enthusiastically joined almost 200 other endorsers, wrote:
“I applaud Climate-Safe California for recognizing that solving our climate crisis requires setting the bar high enough to actually meet the challenge. I endorse this effort to keep California on that course, leading our country and the world toward climate solutions.”
COVID-19 has demonstrated that both individual actions and coordinated government action are essential. Governments have acted unusually fast, investing unbudgeted trillions into addressing the pandemic. The same must happen to solve the climate crisis.
Accelerating government policy timelines and increasing investments are key to channeling market forces that will ultimately allow everyone to participate in the clean energy economy.
Key to changing government policies is building a cross-sectoral, unified movement focused on timely climate action. Collectively, we will ensure that our leaders in Sacramento do the right thing.
Toward that end, The Climate Center team is working to secure endorsements, establish a diverse statewide alliance that bridges climate action silos, build clout in Sacramento, engage experts to develop policy pathway options, mobilize climate opinion leaders, and develop grassroots partners in key geographies of the state.
We’ve met with almost 100 organizations, experts, and opinion leaders. We’ve hired specialists in policy and labor. We’ve secured support in the Governor’s revised budget to help local communities plan for clean energy and backup storage in anticipation of expanding fire seasons.
We’re gaining momentum and we need your help to keep moving forward!
Join us today by making your most generous gift to Climate-Safe California. Our future depends on it!
At a time when many nonprofits and businesses are cutting back due to COVID-19, our board recently recommitted to growing The Climate Center’s extraordinary efforts.
Thanks to you, we successfully demonstrated that speed and scale greenhouse gas reductions are achievable in California.
With your help, The Climate Center played a key role in facilitating the phenomenal growth of Community Choice Energy from just two agencies five years ago to 21 today—now serving 88% fossil-fuel-free energy to 11 million Californians, one-quarter of the state!
We are building on this amazing success by collaborating with a wide range of interests from business and local government to labor and environmental justice groups across the state.
Together we will reshape our future—the healthy, vibrant, equitable, and climate-safe future that is still possible if we act today!
“Climate-Safe California is the bold pathway that leads toward shared prosperity on a healthy planet – exactly what California and the world need now,” as L. Hunter Lovins, President of Natural Capitalism Solutions and Rocky Mountain Institute co-founder noted in her endorsement.
Please dig deep and be as generous as possible with a gift today (or mail to PO Box 3785, Santa Rosa, CA 95402). And please endorse Climate-Safe California today if you haven’t yet!
With your support, we will continue to advance our work to secure a climate-safe future for all. Thank you!
