As the concern over climate change continues to grow, so does the movement to boldly address this challenge. The Climate Emergency Resolution plan set by the New Haven Climate Movement urges the city of New Haven to declare a climate emergency. Sierra Club Connecticut has joined with the Climate Movement to sign a letter calling on Mayor Harp and the New Haven Board of Alders to pass this resolution, “entailing the mobilization of programs to offer mitigation, resilience, and education on global warming,” in order to restore a safe climate.

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The resolution acknowledges, “We face an existential climate emergency that threatens our city, region, state, nation, civilization, the natural world, and humanity.” As we continue to add dangerously high levels of greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere, we set new weather records and beat existing records: fires, droughts, floods and stronger storms. The threat grows as our oceans are being acidified and species are going extinct at an alarming rate.

 

Swift, decisive action needs to be taken. We must transition to net zero emission standards,  demand the right for clean air and water for every person, restore our natural lands and create a culture of sustainability. By passing the Climate Emergency Resolution, the city of New Haven will contribute to these aims, which also coincide with the Green New Deal effort.

 

This Green New Deal seeks environmental and social justice by identifying holistic solutions to a myriad of issues our country and communities face. The New Haven Resolution would “shift the economy from dirty energy to energy democracy, from funding highways to expanding public transit, from incinerators and landfills to zero waste, from industrial food systems to food sovereignty, from car dependent sprawl and unbridled growth to smart urban development without displacement, and from rampant, destructive over-development to habitat and ecosystem restoration.”

 

We must hold our government, organizations, businesses as well as ourselves accountable for our respective roles in climate change and lead the way in responding. “That’s what the climate mobilization is about: unleashing the power of truth for us as individuals, and for our society, so that we can rise to the challenge of our time before it’s too late.”

 

You can join with Sierra Club Connecticut and sign on to the letter, and continue to push forward on the climate movement.

 

References:

1, 2, 3 Safe Climate Emergency Resolution

4 Need for Emergency Action to Restore Safe Climate

 

Jessica Kurose is editor, The Quinnehtukqut, Sierra Club Connecticut.