Urgent Call to Write Letters to Newspapers & Editors
It is important to keep pushing for a comprehensive Climate & Energy bill. Writing a letter to your hometown newspaper is a good way to raise key points for a fair and just climate bill.
Below are some talking points and sample letters. Feel free to choose one and adapt it to your style. (Please let us know if you send a letter – especially if it gets published!)
Note: Newspaper editors tend to publish short letters and to the point. Be sure to mention your Senators by name: their staffers will see that and bring it to their attention.
Also, your letter will have a higher likelihood of placement if it comments on a recent article. So look to see what coverage your paper has given to Climate Change and Energy legislation, and reference your letter directly to that.
Overall Message:
Urge Congress to Pass Comprehensive Clean Energy and Climate Legislation
Not sure where to start when you're discussing comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation? Here are some talking points to help as you write your letter to the editor. Just remember to use your own words and include a personal twist – that way it has a better chance of getting published.
Talking Points:
The most important way that federal government policy can protect the poor here and around the world from the impacts of climate change is to begin to solve the problem by reducing CO2 emissions.
The world God created is one of abundance for all, but one that also has finite resources. To effectively fight climate change, those of us here in the U.S. can utilize new clean energy technology and innovation to promote conservation practices that will lower carbon pollution.
People of faith are guided by the values of justice and solidarity, especially for the poor of the world. Environmental sustainability requires that we protect biological and social systems that nurture and support life.
A primary responsibility of government is to protect all of its citizens from undue harm, be it from external or internal threats or pollution that impacts global health and security.
We need to be faithful stewards and caretakers of God’s creation by limiting the future impacts of global warming. Already, climate change has damaged the precious balance of God’s creation by melting Arctic ice, intensifying storms in some parts of the world and causing long-term drought in other regions.
Religious leaders have called on governments to move forward with action to protect the planet from climate change. There is growing concern about the economic and political resistance to combating the degradation of the environment.
Sample Letters:
Sample Letter #1
The political news is dominated by the financial crisis or health care, but it is the climate and energy crisis that may have a greater impact on the economics, health, environment, and livelihoods of (town/city/state) residents. It will certainly have an impact on vulnerable people around the world.
What would be the cost of not dealing with climate change at this time? Considering that Hurricane Katrina cost more than twenty billion dollars, we get an idea what is in store as droughts, violent storms, and floods hit our communities as a result of climate change. The poor and vulnerable will be hurt first and worst.
The Senate needs to move forward legislation that seeks to halt the causes of global warming by lowering greenhouse gas emissions and creating incentives for renewable energy. We should all encourage our Senators (names) to complete this legislation quickly. Their leadership can help sustain a healthy world for the sake of generations to come.
Sample Letter #2
As policy-makers struggle to craft a policy to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global climate change, there is growing opposition to enactment of legislation on the basis of cost: it will cost too much to address the problem, therefore, we should not act.
However, responding to climate change is fundamentally a matter of conscience and morality, not just financial cost, especially when the well-being of hundreds of millions of human beings, their way of life, livelihoods and communities are at stake.
Economic cost has eclipsed consideration of the larger consequences of failure to limit CO2 emissions for those who are most vulnerable, such as innocent people living on low-lying islands or coastal areas, most in impoverished regions of the world. But even regions of the U.S. and other wealthy countries are predicted to experience prolonged drought or extreme weather events. The impacts of climate change are projected to exacerbate scarcity of water and food, giving rise to environmental refugees.
The planet will continue on regardless of climate change, but a significant portion of humanity will be forced to endure adverse conditions and a blighted future. As we determine our response to climate change, we must ask ourselves: Have we been in service of a higher good, both to humanity and creation? Have we loved our neighbors as ourselves? Have our actions alleviated, rather than contributed to, the suffering of others?
Sample Letter #3
It's time for change. Because of our dependence on oil, we send hundreds of billions of dollars to dangerous and unstable areas of the world. We’re fighting wars on multiple fronts and we’re polluting our planet. As long as we continue to allow our economy to remain shackled to oil, we will continue to create more problems than we can possibly solve. Is it fair to turn that over to our children?
We have a choice. We can take America in a new direction. We can make clean energy investments that will allow us to become the world's leading exporter of renewable energy. We can take steps to ensure that we leave behind a livable planet for our children and our grandchildren. We can help the poor and less fortunate around the world who will be the first to suffer under climate change.
Comprehensive clean energy and climate policies will help create whole new industries while protecting the climate from the carbon pollution that causes global warming. Across America, we are seeing a growing coalition of businesses, labor unions, environmentalists, faith groups, and others who support a transition to a clean energy economy.
Sample Letter #4
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) was passed by the House of Representatives last year. Why isn’t the Senate acting on the crucial need for clean energy? If they have cold feet, then they should heed the scientific evidence that the earth could warm to disastrous temperatures in a generation or two. Legislation is vital to building a clean energy future that will create jobs, cut our dependence on oil, and reduce the carbon pollution that causes global warming.
But the Senate needs to start acting. It is in our nation’s great interest that we pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. We need their policy-making to unleash investment in clean energy sources (like wind and solar), increase energy efficiency to save consumers money, boost the economy, strengthen national security, and limit global warming.
We need climate legislation now to create jobs and spur our economic recovery. Delay is not an option. We need to overcome the opposition that is blocking progress for America. I fear that some are stalling because they have no plans besides protecting business as usual (and the profits that come with it).
We need to move to a clean energy future that will make America a global leader for the 21st century, not stuck with 19th century technologies and dirty fuel.
