[Petition] Do not withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement
As a mother and a legislator, I trust and value science. So when the vast majority of climate scientists agree that climate change is real, that human activity is a major factor, and that global warming is an immediate threat, I believe them and I work on solutions.
With 2016 on its way to being the hottest year on record, we simply do not have time to reverse course in the fight against climate change.
As the rhetoric of the presidential campaign ends, we need President-elect Trump to confront the threat of climate change right away. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to make a lot of noise to be heard over all of the friends of big oil who Trump has appointed to his cabinet.
That’s why we need to start applying pressure now.
Our first order of business should be saving the Paris Agreement, which lays out a global action plan to reduce the risks of and damage from climate change.
President Obama, who signed the agreement, called it a “a turning point for our planet.” On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump promised to “cancel” the agreement within his first year in office.
As the top Democrat on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Environment Subcommittee, I take very seriously my responsibility to protect the environment and address the effects of climate change. Sadly, I’ve had to play a defensive role on that committee for the last several years.
That has prepared me, however, to take on Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Pruitt has said that climate science is “far from settled.” Instead of fighting climate change, he’s actually suing the EPA in an attempt to dismantle the plan that’s designed to reduce pollution and curb toxic emissions from power plants.
In no way should Pruitt be running the EPA – the agency charged with protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink and, importantly the agency charged with implementing the action items the United States has agreed to as a part of the Paris Agreement.
It’s going to take all of us raising our voices to protect our planet and address climate change.
