Two damning new scientific reports — one from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and more recently, the U.S. government's own Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA) — reveal the scope of the serious and widespread impacts we are already feeling from climate change. These important studies reinforce the risks climate change poses to our environment, our economy, and our health. They also reveal that some of the most severe effects will come sooner than expected — unless we accelerate phasing out fossil fuels, drastically reduce our carbon emissions, and transition to cleaner, smarter energy right now.
The urgency of the climate crisis by the new National Climate Assessment makes President Trump's own ignorance on climate change that much more devastating. But the worst impacts can still be avoided if we compel local and national leaders step up and lead the fight against climate change.
Call on your officials to join us today.
Subject line: New scientific climate reports show that we must act NOW to save people and our planet
Dear lawmakers:
I am deeply concerned about recent scientific reports by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U.S. government's own Fourth National Climate Assessment that show the severity of the climate change impacts we are already experiencing, and the scope of the climate catastrophe that could come as soon as 2040 if we don't act fast to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a massive, global scale. The difference between 1.5°C and 2°C of warming could be life or death for millions of people and thousands of species.
We've already reached 1°C of warming and we're seeing the havoc that climate change-fueled disasters can wreak: Record heat waves, unprecedented wildfires, droughts, torrential rains, floods, sea level rise, and hurricanes that are growing in strength.
The science is clear. Climate change is caused by human activity, and we must phase out dirty fossil fuels and transition to cleaner, smarter ways to power our future, or we'll leave our children with a world of widening damage and growing peril.
We need bold climate action from lawmakers at every level -- from city halls and state houses to the Capitol and the White House -- if we are to have any hope of avoiding climate catastrophe.
[Your comments]
I'm calling on YOU to step up and help lead the fight against climate change NOW, before it's too late. Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
