ACTION ALERT: Climate Action in D.C. – Time to make your voices heard!

This week members of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee will consider a bill to address the most pressing issue facing God’s creation - our changing climate and the emissions that are causing our planet to grow warmer. This bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (HR 2454), is sponsored by Committee chairman Henry Waxman of California and Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts (a sample call script is provided at the end of this article).

This is a critical moment, and we are working hard to ensure that the Committee’s bill is strong and protects people living in poverty in the U.S. and around the world, but we need your help and your voice! This is a moment of opportunity and great urgency - please take a few minutes to call Representative Peterson and urge the congressperson to support strong climate change legislation!

Climate change’s impact already falls, and will continue to fall, most heavily on the people around the world who are least able to mitigate the impacts - people living in poverty in the U.S. and in developing countries. As a leading industrialized nation that has disproportionately contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, it is incumbent upon us to rectify this injustice through national legislation to reduce global warming.Please tell Representative Peterson to support strong climate change legislation that:

• Follows the recommendations of the scientific community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Currently this means legislation must ensure that we do not increase the Earth’s temperature by more than two degrees Celsius by reducing emissions by between 20 and 40 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050.
• Protects those living in or near poverty in the U.S. from the impacts of climate change and climate legislation. Legislation must ensure that low income Americans do not bear the disproportionate burden of increases in energy costs, must ensure that any increased costs do not push more people into poverty, and must provide for those whose jobs are impacted by climate legislation.
• Provides adaptation assistance for those living in poverty abroad. Those living in the most vulnerable developing nations around the world bear little responsibility for global warming and are already feeling the burden of climate change, with little ability to adapt. Through adaptation assistance, the U.S. can prevent the worst impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities around the world while helping them continue to lift people out of poverty. Climate change is a moral issue that elected officials are beginning to address on a national and international level. It is important that they hear the voice of the faith community as they make decisions that will affect the well being of God’s people and God’s Creation.

Together, let us respond to the challenge of climate change with compassion, lifting up the voices of our neighbors living in or near poverty, and striving to preserve God’s “good” Creation.


To call Representative Peterson:
Dial 888-784-0527 (toll-free, thanks to National Council of Churches) to reach the Capitol Switchboard. Ask the operator to connect you to Representative Peterson's office.

Sample Script for call:

"My name is [your name] and I am calling from [your town], Minnesota. I hope that Representative Peterson will support the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (HR 2454) and work to strengthen it. As a constituent and a person of faith, I am concerned that people living in poverty around the world will suffer first and most if we do not aggressively reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. I also urge you to support efforts to protect those living in or near poverty in the U.S. from the impacts of rising energy costs and to provide assistance to those living in poverty around the globe as they adapt to a changing climate."

Thank you for your advocacy work!
ELCA Washington Office