Happy Earth Day! We hope you will take a moment to be outside today and sit with the great gift of our home, planet Earth.
As we celebrate Earth Month, we see planetary boundaries at risk, with heat waves across Africa threatening millions, unprecedented flooding in Dubai that has brought the recent host of COP28 to its knees, and a rise in ocean temperatures so sharp that polar ice is melting and changing the Earth’s rotation. Corals are experiencing mass bleaching, and sea life is being ravaged. Biden has just announced $508M to protect our oceans, but it is not enough. The sea shelf melting could cause a cataclysmic rise in sea levels threatening coastlines across the globe.
The UN’s climate arm, the UNFCCC, is running out of money, and the body’s chief Simon Stiell warned last week that humanity has merely two years left to ‘save the world’. The world must step up now, Stiell insists, in financing climate plans. At the Spring World Bank meetings, U.S. Senator Ed Markey has also called for an end to fossil fuel financing and surge in climate investment.
Stateside, Joe Biden Is Delivering on His Green Promises, says Michelle Deatrick of the DNC’s ECCC in Newsweek. Running on the President’s climate record is a winning strategy. This month the White House awarded $20B for the nation’s first ‘green bank’ network, which will most benefit disadvantaged communities. The Biden administration is expected to expand two California national monuments, and it will bar new drilling and mining in Colorado’s Thompson Divide. And just announced in the ‘America the Beautiful’ program, Conservation.gov. was launched to connect people with the tools, resources, and opportunities for land and water conservation across the country.
Earlier this month, the EPA finalized the strongest ever greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles, both protecting public health and keeping the American economy moving. The Department of Energy also announced $6 billion, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, for 33 projects across over 20 states to decarbonize energy-intensive industries.
Though U.S. Democrats are fighting hard to meet our environment and climate challenges, the road ahead is daunting and could be completely derailed with a Trump victory. Read our ECCC featured article, breaking down the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, on the avowed rollback of Biden climate provisions with a 2024 GOP victory.
We simply cannot allow this to happen. We must retain and build on Democratic control, while pressing our representatives to push for eradication of fossil fuel subsidies, ending fossil fuel reliance, and halting expansion of its infrastructure. Our climate and future must supersede the interests of fossil fuel lobbyists.
Thank you for reaffirming your commitment to democracy and to climate activism this month, this year, and beyond…by voting, speaking out, volunteering, living a greener life, and supporting us financially. Your voice matters. Your vote matters.
Dana Freling
Chair, DA Environment & Climate Crisis Council
The most consequential election cycle of our lifetimes is upon us, and we need your help, not only to continue addressing the climate crisis, but to help preserve democracy itself. Please register now (and tell your friends!) at VoteFromAbroad. If you are having issues or just need some guidance VFA offers one on one assistance via zoom. Check out the times or schedule an individual appointment here!
If you would like to help get out the vote this year, please get certified through our voter assistance training. If you have questions about your specific state elections or would like to join more localized efforts, check out our state teams. We also welcome phonebankers for the rest of this election cycle. Volunteer and get trained
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Watch our Earth Day Video! Democrats Abroad are asking its members around the globe to take some action on behalf of our beautiful planet this April, snap some photos, and share their reflections and images with us at [email protected] If you would like to just send pictures of your Spring or Fall (where ever you are), acknowledging the beauty of our home and the beauty worth preserving. We would also request any local communities planning events for the remainder of April, contact us at [email protected] to help share the information more broadly. Some ideas for activities to organize locally might include: beach/river/park cleanup efforts, tree planting, garden/herb planting, a nature scavenger hunt, petro-chemicals (including plastics) awareness campaigns, etc. |
Please join us on April 25th at 1:00 pm ET/7:00 pm CET for a vital panel to discuss youth perspectives on the climate crisis. Hear from some extraordinary youth climate leaders in the U.S. as we face off in the most consequential election of our lifetimes. Annika Krovi, the National Chair of High School Democrats of America, Paul Presendieu, the Chair of Young Democrats of America Environmental Caucus, and Ron Meehan, the Vice Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, will all be our special guests, as DA’s Global Youth Caucus and Environment & Climate Crisis Council join forces to explore this game-changing issue.
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Staring into the Abyss on Earth Day: Breaking Down the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 |
Media articles:
⚒ A California firm may have a concrete way to help the planet with cleaner cement
📣 Joe Biden Is Delivering on His Green Promises
🚎 Electric school buses help tribes bridge the energy transition
🔆 Texas got more electricity from solar than coal last month
⛏ Interior reverses Trump coal mining oversight rule
🚰 EPA puts limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water
💣 In Utah, climate concerns are now motivating candidates
🚛 The EPA’s push to clean up trucking goes way beyond 18-wheelers
🏦 EPA’s new $20B ‘green bank’ will benefit disadvantaged communities most
🌋 DOE eyes 20 times more geothermal power
Video clips:
💻 Scientists harness power of artificial intelligence to battle wildfires
🌐 How the UN is Holding Back the Sahara Desert
♻️ Not The End Of The World: How To Build A Sustainable Planet - Hannah Ritchie
Volunteer with the ECCC – Contact us at eccc@democratsabroad if you’d like to get more involved. Join our working groups, the Watchdogs Research Group, the Legislative Tracking Group, or to help out with a variety of tasks including social media and communications.
Tune in: EPA: National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) Meetings
- Date: April 23-25, 2024, 9:00am-5:00pm CT
- Registration Link: https://usepa.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_XCcn6m9MRLayKStwN9Hr2w - /registration
Summary: The EPA Tools and Resources Webinar Series translates EPA research and shares research resources and information that are useful, practical/applied and available to meet stakeholders' research needs.
Write your representative-
Guide to the IRA – This Guide Can Help You Save Money and Fight Climate Change
Guide to the IRA’s Investments in Indian Country; tax incentives and funding programs: Inflation Reduction Act Tribal Guidebook
Guide to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Guidebook
Energy Cost Resources to lower your energy costs, make your home safer and more comfortable, and help the planet: Energy Savings Hub | Department of Energy
Biden-Harris Vision for a Climate Resilient Nation -guide for climate resilience investments and activities by the federal government and its partners: National Climate Resilience Framework
🌎 Watch our February Climate Café – Considering the Urban Tree: Growing the Life Between the Buildings
🌎 Watch our December Climate Café – COP28 Roundup with Democrats Abroad
🌎 Watch our November webinar, The Road to COP28: Why Electing Democrats in 2024 is Key to the Global Climate Agenda with Senator Ed Markey and Michelle Deatrick, the Chair of the DNC's Climate Crisis Council
🌎 Watch our September Climate Café – Can the Private Sector Help Biodiversity Conservation
🌎 Watch our July Climate Café – The Rise of Cell-cultured Meat
🌎 Watch our May Climate Café – The U.S. and China and the Race to NET ZERO
🌍 Watch our ECCC Earth Day Video 2023
🌎 Watch our April Climate Café – The U.S. and E.U.: Race to Electric Vehicles
🌎 Watch our March Climate Café – African Women Entrepreneurs: Green Energy Innovators
🌍 Watch our February Climate Café - Preserving the Lungs of the Planet: Brazil's 2nd chance!
🌍 Watch our December Climate Café – Arts and Climate Activism, with special guest Michelle Deatrick
🌍 Watch our November Climate Café - COP27 Round up: Live from Sharm El Sheik with Sam Goodman
🌍 Watch our YOUTH v GOV Voices Webinar
🌍 Did you miss our Co₂nsequences: Global Climate Rally in April? You can watch it here. We had a lot of great speakers and performers.
🌍 Want to make your lifestyle greener? Boost your knowledge. Check out our Earth Care Toolkit.