350.org Launches Fossil Free US Campaign in Large-Scale Event the Day After the State of the Union
The day after the State of the Union, 350.org will launch Fossil Free U.S. in an immediate rebuke of the current administration’s assault on climate and communities with a clear call to action and road map for resistance. After a historic year of hurricanes devastating Houston, Florida, and Puerto Rico, floods across the South, and California and the Pacific Northwest’s wildfires, speakers including Senator Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Cherri Foytlin, Varshini Prakash, and more will outline a clear path for the climate resistance leading up to 2020.
On January 31, 2018 in a large scale event in Washington DC, which will be livestreamed to thousands around the country, speakers will communicate the urgent and clear road ahead: resist the administration’s ongoing attacks on our climate, win back power through 2018 and 2020, and secure the lasting change we need. The event takes place a year after the President’s first executive orders rolling back climate and environmental protections.
Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org said:
“2017 was tough — we resisted, but we lost a lot of ground. 2018 we take that ground back, and we’ll do it with this Fossil Free campaign that helps unite progressive environmentalists to move us off oil and coal and gas and on to a world that works. We move into high gear on January 31 — across organizations, across the arts and sciences, and across the country (with some help from our friends across the planet). If you can’t be there in person, you can still be there live–and you should be.”
Fossil Free U.S. calls for an immediate halt to all fossil fuel projects and a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy for all. Across the U.S., people are already building bold and necessary climate solutions that work for everyone, and the Fossil Free campaign will ramp up and connect these initiatives through hundreds of targeted local campaigns across the country.
The DC event is January 31, 2018, starting at 7pm, in the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, 730 21st Street NW, Washington, DC (livestream to be available). Speakers include:
- Senator Bernie Sanders
- Bill McKibben, Co-Founder, 350.org
- Reverend Lennox Yearwood, President and CEO, Hip Hop Caucus
- Cherri Foytlin, Director, BOLD Louisiana
- Adriana Voss-Andreae, Executive Director, 350PDX
- Jacqueline Patterson, Director of Environmental and Climate Justice Program, NAACP
- Varshini Prakash, Sunrise Movement
- Jessica Lorena Rangel, Eyes of a Dreamer
North Carolina watch events are planned in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Asheville NC; some starting at 7:30pm. Find events near you at gofossilfree.org/usa.
350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth. But solutions exist. All around the world, a movement is building to take on the climate crisis, to get humanity out of the danger zone and below 350. This movement is massive, it is diverse, and it is visionary. We are activists, scholars, and scientists. We are leaders in our businesses, our churches, our governments, and our schools. We are clean energy advocates, forward-thinking politicians, and fearless revolutionaries. And we are united around the world, driven to make our planet livable for all who come after us. See more at 350.org.
Source: Lindsay Meiman, 350.org
