California is phasing out gas cars. Ask New York and Illinois to follow suit to save our planet!

Cars are some of the largest contributors to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, both in the U.S. and across the world. Every year, cars and trucks together create approximately 20% of all emissions in the U.S. This is primarily due to these vehicles' heavy reliance on dirty fossil fuels, including oil and diesel.

In California, these numbers are even more stark: 80 percent of smoggy pollution and 95 percent of diesel-based toxic emissions come from personal and commercial transportation.

That's why it's so exciting that the governor of California, the largest economic powerhouse in the U.S. and the fifth-largest economy in the entire world, has now banned the sale of gas-only vehicles! Over the course of the next 15 years, all purchasing of gas-only cars will be phased out. The only passenger vehicles that Californians will be allowed to procure will all be zero-emission. Through this plan, Governor Gavin Newsom hopes to cut transportation emissions by 35 percent.

Sign the petition to demand that two of the country's other largest economies, New York and Illinois, enact the same ban!

The climate crisis has become undeniable. From raging wildfires all along the entirety of the whole West Coast, to poisonous unbreathable air, to record-breaking summer temperatures (including the new hottest temperature ever in Los Angeles, 121 degrees Fahrenheit in August 2020), to more intense hurricane seasons to rapidly melting polar ice caps, climate change is causing destruction everywhere.

We don't have much time to reverse this trend. Every year, droughts and heat waves will become more pronounced. More and more millions of acres will burn, killing countless families and animals. Hurricanes will increase in strength. And desperation-induced climate migration will transform whole regions.

But the only real way to make a dent in this overwhelming tidal wave of global warming is through direct and massive government action. We need our local, state, and national government officials to get involved now to ban greenhouse gas-causing vehicles — and more. But it starts with this. Even if Congress won't do anything, our individual state lawmakers and governors still can.

The states that need to take action next are New York and Illinois. As two of the three next largest economies behind California in the entire nation, as well as significant manufacturing hubs, their lawmakers need to take their responsibility to safeguard our futures and our Earth seriously.

Demand that the governors and state legislatures in Illinois and New York follow California's lead. Tell them to ban all emission-producing vehicle sales and require new cars to be emission-free!