Chesapeake Climate Action Network goes Forward on Climate Change

Forward on Climate Change

Chesapeake  Action Network goes Forward on Climate

Letter from Mike Tidwell, Director, February 24, 2013

We made history together last Sunday in Washington. Despite freezing temperatures and bitter wind, our movement for climate action came together — in bigger numbers and with bigger heart than I’ve ever seen before.

More than 40,000 of us gathered near the Washington Monument — grandmothers, students, Sandy survivors, indigenous activists, people on the frontlines of Keystone XL and, of course, hundreds of CCAN-ers. We marched around the White House demanding that President Obama stop the Keystone XL pipeline and move us forward on action to fight climate change. And, we got the world’s attention: the rally made news in dozens of countries and was covered by every major television network.

Special thanks to all of you who took part. Whether you were able to join us or not, you’re part of the powerful movement the rally brought together — and this is only the beginning.

For a big dose of inspiration, I hope you’ll check out the video recap of the rally and these beautiful pictures from the day.

Then, take a deep breathe before you read this: We learned earlier this week that, while we marched around the White House to urge President Obama to stop Keystone XL, he was playing golf with oil and pipeline executives in Florida.

As Van Jones addressed to President Obama last Sunday, “All the good that you have done — all the good you can imagine doing — will be wiped out by floods, by fires, by superstorms, if you fail to act now to deal with this crisis.”

By hitting the links with oil executives while thousands marched around his home to fight for a livable future, President Obama sent precisely the wrong message, and we need to call him out. We have lots of new momentum from the rally that we’re eager to put to work pushing for fossil fuel divestment, offshore wind power, and more, but we still need to know which side President Obama is on: Ours, or the fossil fuel industry’s?

So, I hope you’ll take action now to tell President Obama: Get off the links with big oil and into the trenches with us fighting climate change. Click here to send a letter to President Obama via our friends at 350.org.

Thanks for all you’re doing to grow this movement.

Mike Tidwell, Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network