But one thing is settled: We have huge challenges ahead of us. We must unite to solve them.
Among the most urgent of our challenges—and many of these are things we can fix quickly and strongly under existing law.
The carbon and methane pollution disrupting the stability and safety of our climate.
The chemicals spewing from petrochemical refineries and the cracker plants making the building blocks of plastics.
The toxic chemicals in our stuff that threaten the health of babies and children.
The damage caused by pollution in what we conveniently call “sacrifice zones”—neighborhoods where people have lived and raised families for generations, neighborhoods of people employed by the very oil and gas industries making them sick.
The EPA rollbacks that have under mined our right to clean air.
The billions of dollars in subsidies and rollbacks propping up a faltering oil and gas industry that refuses to stop polluting and pay for the damage they have done.
The pipeline of money from investment banks propping up a faltering oil and gas industry that refuses to stop polluting, fix what they’ve broken and abandoned, and pay for the damage.
The legislative and tax roadblocks to full deployment of solar and wind energy,
The aging infrastructure not up to the challenges of the 21st Century.
BUT EVERY CHALLENGE IS AN OPPORTUNITY.
An opportunity to create 21st Century jobs. An opportunity to get us to climate safety. An opportunity to protect our health and wellbeing. An opportunity to create an America that works for all of us.
An opportunity to pull together and face the future with determination and optimism and pride and leadership. And hope.
We can fix many of our problems with existing law. But we need new laws, too. Laws to fund the rebuilding of a transportation infrastructure for the 21st century: A SuperchargeUS law. Laws to fund an economic stimulus that creates hundreds of thousands of new jobs across the country. Laws with climate safety mechanisms built into them.
We know what to do. We have the willpower.
There’s no magic wand, and there never will be. There’s no one thing that solves everything. That’s actually a good thing; there’s safety in a diversity of answers. But the chain of solutions is only as strong as its weakest link.
We have a lot of work to do—and we intend to do it with focus and joy. Thank you to all our members of Moms Clean Air Force for working with us.
United we stand. With justice for all. Justice in every breath.
Onward.