From Bill McKibben:
Last night's (actually longer ago than that) Democratic debate was a disappointment for anyone who cares about the future of our planet. After an historic climate summit in Paris
It's too bad, because Bernie’s new climate plan is the kind of deep, powerful plan we really need. I hope that you’ll sign on to support it.
It gets us started fast — 40% reductions in carbon emissions by 2030 would put the country and the world on a new pathway.
Bernie’s plan would create ten million jobs — and make sure that they’re shared with those communities that usually get left out of our economic booms.
But here’s what’s really important: Bernie’s climate plan comes with unique credibility. Because he’s worked hard for change when it wasn’t popular or easy. I know this because he’s a fellow Vermonter who I’ve watched for decades. And I know it in my bones because, in the early days of the fight against the Keystone Pipeline, he was almost the only person on Capitol Hill who signed on to help with the fight. He was dogged, and sometimes he was grumpy, and he never let up.
That’s the spirit we’re going to need going forward. As the revelations of the last few weeks have made clear, the biggest and richest of the oil companies, Exxon, knew everything there was to know about climate change decades ago, and yet helped spread the disinformation and deceit that have held back progress for a quarter-century.
To stand up to that kind of power requires backbone and passionate commitment. And it requires a leader who can mobilize a movement.
When we talk about alternative energy, there’s solar, and there’s wind. And there’s Bernie Sanders.
In solidarity,
Bill McKibben