Dear Opponents of the Clean Power Plan
Why should you support this plan and other environmental policies? Read on…
Dear Opponents,
There are many news articles and polls that clearly illustrate the major complaints for ‘Clean’ policies. Three common complaints are listed loss of jobs, something with the economy, and National Security.
I want to be clear and say that I understand your concerns. Everything seems topsy-turvy because of the damage we’ve done as a species to our planet. It’s hard to change and stop doing things we’ve been doing as a species for centuries, but it’s a crucial step for our today and future.
It’s time to wake up and breathe in the smog that perforates and kills over 3 million human beings each year. Maybe you and your family are lucky and live in a place with pristine air, but ask the families who suffer from the effects of air pollution how pristine their breathing is.
- Over 4,000 people in China die each day because of air pollution
- During the Great Smog in London in 1952, over 4,000 people died in 4 days.
- 5.5 million human beings worldwide die each year due to air pollution (indoor & outdoor)
- 200,000 die of air pollution/year in Europe
- 80,000 die of air pollution/year in the United States
“By the time the Clean Power Plan is fully implemented in 2030, over half of the contiguous U.S. is likely to be arid or suffer from high or extremely high water stress.”
“Alternatively, states can invest in renewable energy like wind and solar photovoltaic power, which require almost no water at all.”
- “166 million Americans live with unhealthful levels of air pollution”
- “Continued emissions and the warming climate are projected to increase stagnant air conditions, which then makes the formation of pollutants favorable…such as ozone”
The fossil fuel industry has extensive influence over many world governments. They hire Merchants of Doubt to spread disinformation and uncertainty about the science and economics of climate change, and spend billions of dollars in campaign contributions to American political candidates in order to delay the low-carbon transition that would benefit the global economy and most people.
“Climate impacts have the power to destabilize the regions where they occur as well as places thousands of miles away.”
“Climate change has contributed to the emergence of civil war, refugee flows and other elements of instability,”
6 Ways Climate Change Affects National Security (released by the U.S. intelligence community)
- Threats to the stability of countries
- Heightened social and political tensions
- Adverse effects on food prices and availability
- Increased risks to human health
- Negative impacts on investments and economic competitiveness
- Potential climate discontinuities and secondary surprises
It’s time to stop attributing the cause of the problem to something else. It’s natural, Earth has been going through cycles, it’s the sun….and whatever excuse that can be come up with instead of accepting that this Climate Change is anthropogenically caused; we did this and still are.
We all have one life to live on this Earth (religious beliefs aside), are you really going to spend it denying someone else the right to live in an unpolluted environment with clean water?
We, the human beings who take responsibility for our part in Climate Change, who understand the lives at stake now and in the future, and the planet we depend our very existence upon:
- refuse to suffer at the bloody hands of politics
- refuse to allow another child to have to ask: Why can’t I breathe?
- refuse to put a price on a human life
- refuse to be controlled by deep-pocketed businesses and individuals who don’t give a d*mn
We’re done waiting for you to stick your head out of the sand (check the pH of the water while you’re at it).
Wake up. Splash some leaded water on your face. Take a breath of that polluted air.
If you’re going to choose money and politics every time and any time over human lives, then step aside.
- Stop deciding for people when they’re going to die.
- Stop deciding that children don’t deserve to grow up with fully developed lungs.
- Stop deciding which species can live, which forests to flatten, which bodies of water to blanket with oil
There’s no where to run to — we’re living in the sandbox of devastation we’ve created for ourselves.
Earth is our home, let’s start acting like it.
Here’s a list of news articles and published scientific journals that I recommend (including the ones I’ve used to provide the information above). There’s so much more out there than what I included below. Please read these. Thank you for being so openminded and willing to accept the facts (backed by scientific data). The people living today and the rest of tomorrows will thank you for helping turn the tides on Climate Change by supporting policies that will allow them to live the life every human being deserves to live. Everyone is impacted by the consequences, including you. No one can hide or run away.
- China’s coal crisis: Air Pollution is Killing 4000 People Every Day
- The Upside of the Airpocalypse
- Iran closes capital’s schools due to air pollution
- Air Pollution Kills More than 5 Million People Around the World Every Year
- The Clean Power Plan Isn’t Just About Energy — It’s About Water Too
- Citi report: slowing global warming would save tens of trillions of dollars
- Climate Change and National Security
- Impacts of oil spills on seabirds: Unsustainable impacts of non-renewable energy
- Amazon aquatic biodiversity imperiled by oil spills
- Coal Mine Air Pollution and Number of Children Hospitalizations because of Respiratory Tract Infection: A Time Series Analysis
- Introduction: Climate Change and World Food Security
- Climate change and human health: present and future risks
- Scientific consensus: Earth’s climate is warming
- Causes of Climate Change
- Effects of Climate Change
- Evidence of Climate Change
- The top ten global warming ‘skeptic’ arguments answered
- California has nation’s dirtiest air
- The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment
- Carney backs green finance to cut emissions and boost growth
- Mary Wenzel, Wells Fargo: Going 100% Renewable is a “Risk-Mitigation Strategy Which Benefits Everyone”
- Stagnant Air on the Rise, Upping Ozone Risk
- From climate change to jihad: U.S. recognizes security importance of battling global warming
- White House Announces Steps to Address Climate and National Security Alongside New Intelligence Assessment
- Cigarettes, asbestos, now fossil fuels. How big business impacts public health
- Jobs, Justice, and the Clean-Energy Future
- Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost
- As coal mining declines, community mental health problems linger
- Mountaintop removal country’s mental health crisis
- The Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Central Appalachian Coalfields (2011 Final)
- The science behind the Flint water crisis: corrosion of pipes, erosion of trust
- Melting glaciers, shifting biomes and dying trees in our national parks — yet we can take action on climate change
- Repeat Photography of Alaskan Glaciers
- Global patterns in the vulnerability of ecosystems to vegetation shifts due to climate change
- Poleward Shifts in Winter Ranges of North American Birds
- Impact of a Century of Climate Change on Small-Mammal Communities in Yosemite National Park, USA
- Climate and wildfire area burned in western U.S. ecoprovinces, 1916–2003
- Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States
- Who politicized the environment and climate change?
- Cuyahoga River Fire
- Climate Change, Human Impacts, and the Resilience of Coral Reefs
- Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification
- Climate change in the Amazon
- Is lagging on climate change a political liability?
- Drying in the Amazon rainforest — what could it mean for climate change?
- Climate Threats and Solutions
- Climate Change Threatens World’s Coffee Supply, Report Says
- JetBlue Makes Biofuels Deal to Curtail Greenhouse Gases
- Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun
- Poverty, Drought and Felled Trees Imperil Malawi Water Supply
- Miles of Algae and a Multitude of Hazards
- Scientists See Push From Climate Change in Louisiana Flooding
- Looking, Quickly, for the Fingerprints of Climate Change
Forever an advocate of our life-sustaining Earth,
Claudia A.
- Here’s to breathing without crying, wondering when the pain with stop.
- Here’s to drinking clean water.
- Here’s to dancing upon green grass and gazing at blue skies
