The following is an action alert from the Encounter for Our Common Home Campaign, a national Catholic climate campaign happening this Spring targeted at encouraging U.S. Senators to take bold action against climate change. MOGC is a leading member of the campaign. The following article was published in the May-June 2022 edition of NewsNotes.
The U.S. Senate plans to consider climate provisions within the budget reconciliation package once known as Build Back Better. This includes tax incentives supporting clean energy technology innovation, resilience investments to protect directly affected communities, and other incentives to decarbonize and strengthen the economy. Together, they represent the largest-ever federal investment in clean energy and would help the U.S. meet approximately half of the Biden administration’s pledge to curb national greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030.
Our nation and world continue to experience the impacts of climate change; poor and vulnerable neighbors bear the brunt of these harms. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reaffirms that we must dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine further demonstrates the need to move away from fossil fuel sources, as much of its war machine is funded by profits in oil and gas exports. Investments in renewable energy steer us away from dependence on fossil fuels, and the instability that comes with it.
As Catholics called to care for our neighbor, our common home, and our children today and who are yet to be born, we are faithfully asking our nation’s leaders to address the climate crisis. This action is in concert with the Vatican’s Laudato Sí Action Platform, launched last November. The platform asks Catholic individuals, families and organizations to embark on a seven-year sustainability journey to act and heal our relationships with God, our neighbors, and the Earth itself. Through a campaign of encounter with our Senators, we are heeding this call fueled by our faith in spirit, word, and deed - for the good of all humankind.
Please join Catholics across the country who are urging their senators to support $555 billion in climate solutions that lower national greenhouse gas emissions and help communities build resilience against the impacts of climate change.
Faith in action: Urge your Senators to take bold action against climate change. https://bit.ly/3y4FKVx