There's no time to hesitate. We've got a fresh, progressive, revolutionary plan, and now it's time to put it into action. The Select Committee on a Green New Deal is the best next step for tackling climate change here in the U.S., and we can't afford to let it slip through our fingers. We have to act quickly, efficiently, and most importantly effectively in order to get this proposition passed, but in order to do that we need to know what exactly we're working towards, what our deadline is, and the best approaches we can take to get the most amount of work done in the shortest amount of time possible. So, let's not waste any of that precious time, and start talking about how exactly we can help make the Green New Deal a reality.
The Sunrise Movement
First, it's worthwhile to talk about the organization that's at the forefront of the fight. The Sunrise Movement, an organization aimed at galvanizing young people to fight for climate change legislation, has up to this point been leading the charge for the Select Committee on a Green New Deal. Just last week, over one hundred of them met at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office to demand she create a real climate change plan. The event, and what I've been able to see of it, was extremely powerful, and you can check out some of the highlights by clicking here and here. Now, only a week later, they're gearing up to host a nationwide day of action, aimed at convincing representatives to join on to support the plan and show their approval for it. The major difference this time, though, is that they need your help.
The Goal
Obviously, the long term goal for the Green New Deal is not only to get the committee approved, but to ensure they stick to their goals, create the plan, and ultimately implement it. However, there are many, crucial steps we need to take before we can even think of doing that. First, and probably most important, we need to get key politicians on our side. Sunrise themselves refers to this number as a "critical mass", and while it would be great to get at least twenty, having as many on our side as possible never hurts. But what, you may be asking, does it mean to have politicians "on our side"? Well, essentially, it means that they have pledged to support the committee, and have agreed to stop taking money from fossil fuel industries. These two promises, if upheld, add more good people to the fight.
As of now, there are currently nine representatives who have chosen to stand with the Deal: Ro Khanna, John Lewis, Joe Neguse, Rashida Tlaib, Deb Haaland, Carolyn Maloney, José E. Serrano, Earl Blumenaur, and the legislation's proposer, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, are the people we have so far. But obviously, in order to get this committee approved, we need a lot more. (This number may have changed after the release of this post, so you can click here for an updated count).
Who Are We Targeting?
Well, because this is a house committee, and the house of reps. is going to be voting on it, we need to extend our focus towards our district representatives. If you're unsure of who exactly your representative is, you can find out by clicking here. Anyway, we need to get our own reps. on our side, but in order to ensure the highest chance of success, we need to find the ones who are most likely to support, and work our way out from there.
So, essentially, we're looking for progressive democrats. Since most republicans aren't supporters of climate change legislation, and non-progressive politicians aren't either, democrats are our best shot. Lucky for us, The Sunrise Movement has made it easy to find out who the best people to present these ideas to are. In fact, they have a constantly updating list of the five best politicians to get in touch with (a.k.a. the ones most likely to sign onto the deal). When one politician signs on, they're replaced by another who hasn't. We'll talk more about this tool in a little bit, but whether your representative is a democrat or republican, there are still things you can do to help move the New Green Deal along.
What we can do
This is the most important part. How can we help get this committee approved? Well, there are three major ways that you can help, either on the front lines, or from your very own home.
Tweet your reps- first, flood the targeted representatives with tweets. Obviously, our reps can't make good decisions without knowing what the people want. We have to ensure they know for a fact what our desires, and whether or not they decide to support it is up to them (and will ultimately define whether or not they are re-elected). The Sunrise Movement has prepared a great tool that allows you to quickly and easily send multiple tweets to all the targeted representatives at once, allowing the message to be spread quickly and concisely. Click here if you'd like to help.
Call your reps- the second big way to let our reps know what we want is to call them. Again, The Sunrise Movement has another great feature to accomplish this, complete with a readable script if you're unsure of what to say. I know that it doesn't seem like one tweet or one call would make much of a difference, but the truth is, it's not one call. In fact, over the past few days, hundreds of people have been filling these representative's inboxes, to the point where, at some times during the day, we can't even get through to them. So, we need to keep the momentum going! You can click here to view The Sunrise Movement's tools, and feel free to make calls not listed through the service!
Tuesday, November 20th
However, the ultimate way to help is coming up in just a few days. On Tuesday, November 20th, Sunrise is organizing a nationwide effort calling hundreds of people around the country to press their representatives to support the committee. People are going to be heading to their representative's local office and demanding for positive, radical change, as well as for their rep to support the Select Committee for the New Green Deal. It's going to be big, and they need all the help they can get. So, if you want to make your voice heard, then click here to sign up, step up, and get involved. After you sign up, then you can get in touch with Sunrise volunteers to learn about how exactly you can get involved in your area.
Conclusion
I can't stress this enough: there's no time for hesitation. If we want to get this committee approved, and push for a tangible, effective solution to climate change, we have to do it NOW. This is quite possibly the best shot we have of ending the climate problem once and for all. It's not the final struggle, but it is a crucial stepping stone towards finding and implementing a solution, and if we don't take advantage of it, then it's going to be that much harder in the future. So please, join the movement, and help to craft a better, fairer, cleaner future, for all those who live on this Earth. The time to act is now: we've got the plan, we've got the drive, and we've got the opportunity to show our leaders that we won't stand for apathy anymore. It's time for change, a time for improvement, and most importantly:
It's time to step up, or step aside, because we're not backing down.
All credit for information used in this post goes to
https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
Images:
https://www.raconteur.net/current-affairs/why-trump-is-a-climate-change-denier
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/peoples-climate-march_n_5857902.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/11/13/ocasio-cortez-addresses-environmental-protesters-waging-sit-in-in-pelosis-office.html
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ocasio-cortez-joins-climate-activists-protest-near-nancy-pelosis-office
https://twitter.com/
https://www.teaparty.org/breaking-nancy-pelosi-mental-breakdown-camera-217590/
http://www.onegirl.org.au/blog/how-can-i-help
https://www.laoistoday.ie/2017/11/19/top-tweets/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/bezel-less-phone-comparison/
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http://www.fccaltus.com/
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