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An Open Letter to President Barack Obama: Moment of Truth for Your Climate Legacy

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An Open Letter to President Barack Obama: Moment of Truth for Your Climate Legacy AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR YOUR CLIMATE LEGACY September 2, 2015 Dear Mr. President, The moment of truth for your climate legacy has arrived. More than four years ago, you received an open letter from some of the nation’s top planetary protection leaders urging you and the president of China to publicly declare a global climate emergency by committing our respective nations to 80% carbon cuts by 2020. Because that urgent call was not heeded, we have lost precious time in the race to save civilization and must now set our sights even higher. It is with a deepening sense of dread over the fate of humanity that we call on you today to use the powers of your presidency to champion a U.S. goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Innovating our way to zero emissions through an all-hands-on-deck societal mobilization at wartime speed is not only our best hope for averting climate catastrophe – it is key to revitalizing our economy and putting America back to work. In three months, you and leaders from more than 190 nations will gather in Paris for the UN Climate Conference to negotiate a global climate accord. Intergenerational justice demands that the centerpiece of that accord be zero emissions, a goal UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls “ambitious but achievable.” Three months is ample time for your administration to draft a legally binding zero emissions commitment for Paris. As you know, Pope Francis wrote in his recent encyclical: “Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most.” Since the U.S. historically contributed the most to global climate pollution, and is in the strongest position to respond, we have a moral imperative to lead the zero emissions charge in Paris. The current weak U.S. target of 26-28% carbon cuts by 2025 cannot be described as honest, courageous or responsible in the face of a crisis that threatens the continued existence of humanity. To pretend otherwise is to recklessly gamble with the fate of future generations. For the sake of our children, and those to follow, it is time to stop promoting “All- of-the-Above” and start protecting all that we love. Respectfully, Lindsey Allen, Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network Craig S. Altemose, Founding Executive Director, Better Future Project Rev. Jim Antal, Conference Minister & President, Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ* Jean Arnold, Co-Founder, Association for the Tree of Life Lydia Avila, Executive Director, Energy Action Coalition Harvard Ayers, Author & Executive Director, Climate Voices US* Ed Begley, Jr., Actor & Activist Medea Benjamin, Author & Co-Founder, CODEPINK Michael Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Bristol* Ven. Santussika Bhikkhuni, Founder, Buddhist Climate Action Network & Director, Buddhist Global Relief Brent Blackwelder, President Emeritus, Friends of the Earth U.S.* David Blittersdorf, President/CEO, AllEarth Renewables, Inc. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Chairperson, Buddhist Global Relief Ryan Brill, Co-Founder, The Climate Mobilization Lester Brown, Former President, Earth Policy Institute Schuyler Brown, Founder & Director, Sightful Alison Burchell, Co-Founder, Clean Energy Action Anne B. Butterfield, President, Clean Energy Action Sandy Butterfield, Former Chief Engineer, National Wind Technology Center, NREL* Stephen Bygrave, CEO, Beyond Zero Emissions Patrick Carolan, Executive Director, Franciscan Action Network Richard Cizik, Founder & President, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good David Cobb, Outreach Director & Founding Member, Move to Amend* Gerry Dameron, Executive Director, Go Green Culture Foundation Lisa Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Windustry Laura Dawn, Founder & Director, Art Not War John W. Day, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Louisiana State University* Alice & Lincoln Day, Filmmakers, Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War Michael Dowd, Eco-Theologian & Author Ian Dunlop, Member, The Club of Rome & Former Chair, Australian Coal Association* Rev. Gerald L. Durley, Pastor Emeritus, Providence Baptist Church* Tim DeChristopher, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center Brock Evans, President, Endangered Species Coalition* Jodie Evans, Author & Co-Founder, CODEPINK Ed Fallon, Founder, Great March for Climate Action & Director, Climate Action NOW! John Foran, Author & Co-Director, The Climate Justice Project Josh Fox, Director, GASLAND, GASLAND Part II Paul Gilding, Author, The Great Disruption & Former Executive Director, Greenpeace International* Paul Gipe, Author, Wind Energy Comes of Age Leslie Glustrom, Co-Founder, Clean Energy Action Dave Harman, Author & Finance Director, Climate Voices US* Randy Hayes, Founder, Rainforest Action Network & Executive Director, Foundation Earth Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Marine Scientist & 2014 Prince Albert II Climate Change Awardee Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute* Marshall Herskovitz, Former President, Producers Guild of America* Julia Butterfly Hill, Activist, Author & Founder, Circle of Life Lisa Hoyos, Director & Co-Founder, Climate Parents Lee-Sean Huang, Co-Founder & Creative Director, Foossa Suzanne Jones, Executive Director, Eco-Cycle G. Paul Kemp, Coastal Oceanographer & Geologist Ray Kocur, Director, The Youth Climate Report, A Climate of Change Robert Kolodny, Founder & Coordinator, New York Buddhist Climate Action Network Jack Kornfield, Co-Founder, Spirit Rock Center and Insight Meditation Society Winona LaDuke, Executive Director, Honor the Earth Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun magazine & Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives Itzcuauhtli Martinez, Youth Performance Director, Earth Guardians Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Youth Director, Earth Guardians Marti Matsch, Deputy Director, Eco-Cycle Chloe Maxmin, Co-Founder, Divest Harvard Brian D. McLaren, Author, Activist & Theologian Michael Mielke, Co-Founder, Association for the Tree of Life Moby, Musician & Activist Micah Parkin, Executive Director, 350 Colorado Daniel Pinchbeck, Author & Founder, Center for Planetary Culture Tamara Rose, Founder & Executive Director, Earth Guardians Mark Ruffalo, Actor & Activist, The Solutions Project* Vanessa Rule, Co-Founder & Organizing Director, Mothers Out Front* Margaret Klein Salamon, Founder & Director, The Climate Mobilization Yeb Saño, Former Climate Change Commissioner of the Philippines, Climate Activist & Leader, The People's Pilgrimage Marshall Saunders, Founder & President, Citizens’ Climate Lobby* Ezra Silk, Co-Founder, The Climate Mobilization David Spratt, Co-Author, Climate Code Red Philip Sutton, Manager, RSTI (Research and Strategy for Transition Initiation) & Co-Author, Climate Code Red David Suzuki, Co-Founder, David Suzuki Foundation Terry Tamminen, Former Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency & Co-Founder, R20 Regions of Climate Action* Joe Uehlein, Founder & Executive Director, Labor Network for Sustainability Lise Van Susteren, Advisory Board, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard School of Public Health* James A. Walker, Former President, American Wind Energy Association* Peter Ward, Professor of Biology and of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington* Tom Weis, President, Climate Crisis Solutions Terry Tempest Williams, Activist, Naturalist & Award-Winning Author Diane Wilson, Author, An Unreasonable Woman Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President & CEO, Hip Hop Caucus *Institutional affiliation listed for identification purposes only .
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