HOW TO STOP A PETRO-CRIMINAL

Shared below are excerpts from the Climate Action Now weekly enewsletter.  I have been spending a few minutes each day taking “planet-saving actions” on the amazing, easy-to-use, free app Climate Action Now.  Impact to date: “274,418 planet-saving actions taken by our community — up 10,527 from last week!”  And you earn tree plantings too!

PUTIN’S FOSSIL-FUELED WAR

How to Stop a Petro-Criminal

​​While the fossil fool industry and its shills have seized on the Ukrainian crisis to call for ramping up oil, gas and coal production, the rest of the world is beginning to draw a very different conclusion.

As usual, Bill McKibben was one of the first to see that our global addiction to fossil fuels is directly financing Putin’s horrifying war on Ukraine. He entreats President Biden to immediately invoke the Defense Production Act, which he could do without the approval of Congress, to produce millions of heat pumps and send them to Europe in time to dramatically weaken Putin’s oil-based chokehold on the continent.

Last week, Ukrainian leaders sent an open letter to governments around the world calling on them to “reject and ban the importation of Russian oil and gas, and rapidly phase out all fossil fuels in the name of peace.” (Climate Action Now also signed the letter.) “Reliance on coal, oil and gas is the intentional embrace of death, misery, and collapse at a global scale. It is our duty to finally get real about that if we want to have a livable future.”

And next week, according to the New York Times, the leaders of the European Union are expected to announce a proposal to “accelerate the clean energy transition and reduce permanently our dependence on imports of natural gas.”

What all of these people see that the fossil fools can’t see by dint of their self-interest is that getting off fossil fuels is now an urgent matter of national security.

Get. Off. Fossil. Fuels. Now.

CLIMATE ACTION NOW SUCCESS STORIES

A new program in Burlington, Vermont is incentivizing apartment owners to build EV charging stations. If successful, it could provide a national roadmap for providing the 36% of Americans who rent their homes with access to reliable EV charging.

One country really got the message about ditching oil for peace and freedom. This week, in response to the crisis in Ukraine, Germany committed to 100% renewable energy by 2035—a full 15 years ahead of its previous target.

It’s official—a global plastics treaty is coming! UN delegates promised on Wednesday that a treaty addressing the full life cycle of plastics will be signed by 2024.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“A different tomorrow is feasible. A tomorrow free from Putin and other petro-dictators. A tomorrow free from climate-hostile and war-feeding fossil fuels… Our joint, brighter future demands nothing less.” – Excerpt from Ukrainian activists’ letter to global leaders

The Climate Action Now community is made up of like-minded people committed to fighting climate change. Our Climate Action Now app is the hub of the community and the tool that lets us take, collectively, thousands (someday, millions) of planet-saving actions each and every day.