Dear Refugio,
The oil industry is getting nervous with all this talk about morality and climate change.
Already, more than 5,000 Presente members have demanded that Gov. Brown and the CA state legislature support SB 350, and momentum is growing. Can you help us double that number? This will send strong a message to legislators that we will not allow the oil industry to drown out our voices.
Tell Gov. Brown and the state legislature to support SB 350!
Since Governor Brown visited the Vatican, the California Driver’s Alliance — an oil-backed front group — has launched ads targeting Democratic legislators in their districts to vote against SB 350. The ads stoke fears of economic damages if we cut petroleum use by 50 percent. But the ads say nothing about the deeper costs of not acting on climate change pollution — rising sea levels, droughts, more wildfires, and our children being more vulnerable to illnesses.1
Support for bold action is growing. Just last week, the Sacramento Bee came out with an editorial urging attention to climate change and to take a look at SB 350 and SB 32 — especially in light of most Californians being in favor of doing more on the climate crisis. And with President Obama coming out this week with a new Clean Power Plan, taking action on greenhouse emissions is front and center in the news.2
Tell Gov. Brown and the state legislature to support SB 350!
Below is the full email we sent Presente members.
Thanks and ¡adelante!
— The Presente.org Team
Sources:
1. Can California Cut Gasoline Use In Half In 15 Years? Probably Not, Capital Public Radio, August 4, 2015
2. Step outside – climate change is here, The Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2015
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Dear Refugio,
Governor Jerry Brown is in the Vatican this week to meet with Pope Francis and discuss a plan for how our state can lead efforts to address climate change and extreme drought, while dramatically increasing green energy production.1 But big oil and energy companies are working hard to derail these efforts, despite that they would benefit Latinos and other communities of color the most.
Our communities suffer the worst effects of air pollution and climate change. And while climate change reforms are generating important investments in our communities, it’s simply too little to mitigate decades long environmental degradation. That’s why State Senator Kevin De Leon is sponsoring SB 350, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015. It’s a bold plan to increase our state’s commitment to stopping climate change AND to make sure that communities of color reap the benefits — cleaner air, cheaper energy, healthier lives, and shared prosperity.2
Tell Gov. Brown and the state legislature to support SB 350!
This fragile political moment is being threatened by California’s oil and energy companies who stand ready to spend millions of dollars and deploy their allies in the legislature — including some Latino politicians — to defeat this important bill,3 a bill that would lead to materially better the lives of Latinos and communities of color. SB 350 is nearing final passage, having cleared the Senate and Assembly policy committees. As time runs out, we cannot let the fossil fuel industry and their allies in the legislature stand in the way of progress.
Sen. De Leon’s SB 350 would reduce greenhouse emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, increase renewable energy by 50%, reduce petroleum use by 50%, and double energy efficiency by the year 2030.4
And SB 350 would focus on local production of clean energy, creating green jobs in California, and it would prioritize disadvantaged communities to access the green economy. That’s why oil and energy corporations want to torpedo the bill’s clean energy targets, claiming that they go too far. Why should we ever let an industry that prioritizes fossil fuel over clean energy continue to shut Latinos and other communities of color out of the growing clean energy economy? They’ve profited off of polluting Latino neighborhoods enough!
Don’t let the fossil fuel industry and their allies reap huge profits while destroying the earth and endangering our health and safety. They’re mobilizing to influence corporate Democrats and certain members of the Latino caucus, once again, to stop the SB 350 plan.5
Tell Gov. Brown and the state legislature to support SB 350!
Pope Francis is right. Current climate change policies like the Cap and Trade program, while providing critical benefits, has important limitations when it comes to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable communities and requires central corrective measures to succeed — measures like SB 350. SB 350 is the indispensable leg of California’s climate legislative package that attacks the environmental crisis and advances the Pope’s vision.
Continuing a Cap and Trade program without passing SB 350 would prevent the necessary environmental and economic justice provisions from moving forward. This would also deal a major blow to the state’s efforts to halt climate change and rebuild a green economy that benefits all of us.
Thanks and ¡adelante!
— The Presente.org Team
P.S. Can you donate $5 to support our work? We rely on contributions from people like you to see campaigns like this through.
Sources:
1. Jerry Brown will visit Vatican for climate change talks with Pope Francis, The Sacramento Bee, July 9, 2015
2. Sides square off over climate change proposals by California Democrats, LA Times, February 20, 2015
3. California’s Big Oil Dirty Dozen, Truthout, April 28, 2014
4. SB 350 Myths and Facts, California Climate Leadership
5. Empresas de energía acusadas de pagar a políticos en CA, La Opinion, August 22, 2013.