Saving Our Climate Starts With The Decision To Fight Back
People everywhere are feeling called to do more when it comes to climate change. Every person has a duty to protect those we love from a future of climate chaos driven by greedy corporations. It’s time for every single one of us to join the fight; it’s time to fight like we live here.
Dear friends, supporters, and those joining us for the first time,
Protecting ourselves and future generations from the worst effects of climate chaos sometimes feels overwhelming — like it’s beyond what any individual can do. But think about all the unlikely wins that have happened when people have come together to mobilize for change. Every victory started when someone — even a seemingly ordinary person — decided to fight back!
We’ve all heard some version of the too-common complaint: “Someone should DO SOMETHING about the corporations that poison our water, pollute our air, and destroy our climate.” We all wish that someone would do something when we see the Amazon rainforest in flames, or climate-change-fueled superstorms destroying communities, or the frequent disasters caused by fracking and other deadly fossil fuel infrastructure. In 2005, when we founded Food & Water Watch, we decided that that someone would be us. That’s when we chose to stand up to form an organization that wasn’t afraid to call for the bold policies humanity really needs to survive and thrive, not just the weak half-measures that might seem politically possible. Back then, we knew that to ensure a livable future, we had to take on the big money interests that control the levers of government at almost every level and stop this ravaging of our resources at its source.
So — together with many of you — we took action. You believed in our shared mission so much that you helped mobilize a dedicated and powerful army of volunteers, members, donors, community coalitions, and scrappy organizers. We’ve done so much important work in the last 14 years and won so many important victories. Here is just a small snapshot of the progress we’ve won together:
— Banned fracking in New York, Maryland, Washington. Bans in other states, like Florida, are visible on the horizon
— Banned arsenic in chicken feed, first in Maryland and then nationally
— Helped pass historic legislation in Baltimore to protect water and taxpayers
— Pressured Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti to shut down three coal-fired power plants in favor of renewable energy
— Built the movement to ban fracking everywhere and set the stage for a REAL #GreenNewDeal
Today, in our toxic political environment, action is more important than ever. In fact, it’s so crucial that we developed another side to our organization called Food & Water Action, to wage the political fights that have the highest stakes for the environment and our resources. We’ve put that to work to achieve pivotal electoral victories. We win the battles that others think are impossible.
In the face of Trump’s shameless and shameful environmental rollbacks, our mission has only become more important. So we’ve decided to be bolder, and lead with Action. You’ll be seeing more from our Food & Water Action arm in the months and years ahead, as we champion the fighters like you who are making real, positive change happen. If you’d like to see more about our strategy, we want you on board. We’re ready for the fight, and our mission — to save our climate and protect people everywhere — has never been more urgent.
All the progress we’ve made in the last 14 years comes down to this: we came together, stood up, and decided to fight back. We’re doubling down on that formula for the fights ahead because we know it will work.
The clock is counting down in this perilous time. We need many more people who care to make that decision, too. Send them our way, won’t you? The fight for our climate and natural resources is a fight we must win, because this planet is the only one we get. Let’s fight like we live here.
If you’re ready to fight like you live here, join our email list and enlist friends to join, too!
