Category: Climate

by Mia DiFelice

As we head further into the 2024 election season, the stakes for our planet and democracy are reaching fever pitch. But luckily, Food & Water Action has a strategy that’s proven to beat the odds — and it involves you! 

Building grassroots power and electing allies to office are some of the strongest ways we can protect our health, environment, and democracy. These allies are dedicated to protecting our families, our economic wellbeing, and our livable future on this planet. 

With our growing community of volunteers and supporters like you, Food & Water Action helps candidates win — even against conventional wisdom and predicted outcomes. We’ve played a key role in electing climate champions in western Pennsylvania, in the heart of fracking country, as well as in upstate New York, California, and more. 

This November, we’re poised for more wins. Here’s how we’ll do it, together.

Identifying and Endorsing Key Races

In 2024, the House is considered a toss-up that will come down to a handful of races. Side by side with you and thousands of fellow activists, we’ll be active in several of these.

To protect our planet at the polls, we’re taking on two major strategies. First, champion progressives who will fight for the bold policies we need. Second, fight for a Democratic majority that will give a progressive coalition more power and defend our government from right-wing extremists.

Endorsing Progressive Champions in Congress

No one has fought harder against the Trump and right-wing Republican agenda than the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and no one has fought harder for common sense food, water, and climate protections. They will stake out the bold positions we need and move the needle for the whole Congress. Progressive lawmakers have been key to everything from addressing corporate consolidation to building support for needed water infrastructure funding.

This year, we’re endorsing and organizing for progressive candidates like Dr. Clarence Lam in Maryland’s 3rd district. Dr. Lam directs the preventive medicine residency program at Johns Hopkins University, so he sees firsthand how harmful bad air quality and polluted drinking water are to his patients.

As a state senator, Lam introduced legislation to ban fracking chemicals, regulate a harmful pesticide, and more. He’s pledged to support a ban on oil and LNG exports and fight climate scams like carbon capture in Congress. With progressives like Lam in office, we’ll have real allies in the halls of power.

Defending and Flipping Key Seats for Democrats

Along with electing progressive champions, we’ll also be defending and flipping battleground seats for the Democrats. We know that with Democrats in office, progress is possible. If Republicans maintain control of the House and/or flip the Senate, even a strong progressive caucus will have much less power. And in a worst-case scenario, we’ll need a Democratic Congress to act as a safeguard against a second Trump presidency.

With the combined strength of our community, we took on this strategy in the 2022 midterms with big wins. For example, in battleground Pennsylvania, we elected Chris Deluzio, a progressive champion for workers. These wins were essential to reducing the predicted “red wave” in the House to a mere puddle. Now, we’re working to defend these incumbents in their races this fall.

At the same time, to bring back a Democratic House majority, we’re working to flip seats like that of New Jersey’s contested 7th Congressional District. Our endorsed candidate, Sue Altman, has a history of standing up for New Jersey families and has made environmental issues a top focus of her campaign. 

Building Power and Connections on the Ground

After endorsing our champions comes the fun part — Get Out the Vote! At a time when inboxes are overflowing and TV commercials blur together, we know that person-to-person communication can move voters.

Whether knocking on doors or sending handwritten letters, we make politics personal. That’s why, with supporters like you, Food & Water Action prioritizes tactics like door-to-door canvassing in hotly contested elections.

With work like this, we’ve created an established network of experienced volunteers who consistently help drive our grassroots actions. And, we’ve been building power in key areas around the country, including in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Florida.

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, in Pennsylvania alone, we knocked on 20,000 doors, turned out more than 220,000 phone calls, and sent 4,600 handwritten letters to get out the vote. As a result, not only did our endorsed candidates Reps. Deluzio and Summer Lee win their races; thousands of Pennsylvanians turned out to vote blue in tight races up and down the ballot.

With Your Help, We’re Ready for Wins

With victories like these, the Food & Water Action community is laying the groundwork for a strong democracy and a livable future for all. We’ve blocked many extremists, climate deniers, and corporate-backed cronies from gaining power in Congress. We’ve elevated climate champions across the country who fight for bold policies that will protect our food, water, and climate. 

Now, we’re once again pouring our all into winning key races. And we’re playing the long game: building the relationships, the infrastructure, and the grassroots energy we’ll need to continue winning for years to come. With you, we’re not only fighting like we live here — we’re winning.

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by Mia DiFelice

In February, President Joe Biden announced a temporary pause on the country’s buildout of liquefied natural gas. After approving the Willow drilling project and the resulting outrage nationwide, Biden is finally starting to take the hint. We cannot and will not accept the status quo on fossil fuels. 

Of course, former President Donald Trump couldn’t let the moment pass without reminding us of the threat he poses to our planet. The next day, he announced that he would “approve the export terminals on [his] first day back.” 

“We will drill, baby, drill,” he crowed. 

After yesterday’s Super Tuesday primaries, Trump effectively secured the Republican nomination for president — raising the stakes for our livable future.

We know Trump’s track record and his stance on our issues. It isn’t pretty. In 2024, we face a fork in the road: a path to more progress toward a livable future, or doors slammed shut in our faces. Here’s exactly what’s at stake.

1. Threatening the Green Energy Transition We Need

Well before the LNG export terminal boom made headlines, Trump had already staked out a position on transporting the fuel by rail. In 2020, he permitted the highly flammable fuel to be shipped on “bomb trains” without a special permit, threatening rail-side communities across the country. (Biden suspended the rule, but still needs to ban bomb trains completely.)

This is just one drop in the ocean of Trump’s terrible response to climate. He’s called climate concerns “nonsense” and downplayed his own administration’s research.

And, early on in his presidency, Trump pulled us out of the Paris Agreement, the foremost international effort on climate change. Thankfully, Biden re-engaged with these efforts.

This year, the U.S. attended the COP28 climate conference to continue negotiating international climate action. Though the resulting deal didn’t go nearly far enough, it did include something unprecedented — for the first time, COP included language for countries to “transition away” from fossil fuels. Just as we’re starting to make progress on the international front, a second Trump administration would almost certainly walk it back.

That’s not the only thing it would walk back. Trump would undo as much of our progress as he can. According to advisors and senior campaign officials, the former president intends to slash funds to clean energy programs and repeal regulations on the oil and gas industry. He would also cut spending and staff to government agencies key to food, water, and climate protections.

2. Siding with Profit Over People in Our Food System

Megacorporations dominate many corners of our economy, especially our food system, with disastrous consequences. Take, for example, the meat industry. The four biggest meatpackers process 85% of all U.S. beef cattle. Because of their size and power, monopoly corporations get away with a lot of bad behavior, like dangerous working conditions. Rather than rein them in, Trump paved the way for more abuses.

For one, the administration approved three massive mergers for seed and agrochemical giants. Trump’s USDA also greenlit faster inspections on hog lines and faster line speeds at poultry plants. The former led to more contamination violations in hog slaughter plants; the latter threatened even more injuries in an industry already notorious for its health and safety risks.

Biden not only withdrew the bad line-speed rules — he’s also tackling our country’s poisonous monopoly problem at the root. His administration (following organizations including Food & Water Action) sounded the alarm on how meatpackers use their market power to raise prices and profits. At the expense of both families and farmers, meat giants have seen skyrocketing profits since the start of the pandemic.

In 2021, Biden ushered in the biggest crackdown on monopolies in decades. That included directing the USDA to issue new rules to protect farmers and ranchers against corporate abuses. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to improve merger guidelines, which guide agency evaluations on the risks of mergers and whether they’ll step in to stop them.

A second Trump term jeopardizes this progress. The former president seemed only interested in tackling monopolies if it involved companies he had beef with. A second Biden term would steady the course on this work, which is essential to the health and economic well-being of families, workers, and farmers.

3. Allowing More Toxic Chemicals and Dangerous Water Water Pollution

The U.S. has a massive toxic chemical problem. For too long, our government has allowed corporations to make and sell products that pollute our water and endanger our health. The EPA is supposed to protect us from these harms — but Trump de-fanged the agency throughout his presidency.

The administration weakened regulations and enforcement for toxic chemicals and paved the way for new ones to enter the market. It halted bans for chemicals the EPA had already found dangerous. According to whistleblowers, Trump’s EPA bent over backward to accommodate corporations that want to profit from their toxic products as soon as possible. 

In contrast, Biden has taken major strides in protecting our health and drinking water. For instance, his EPA finalized new rules for regulating PFAS forever chemicals and proposed new lead-in-water rules.

For years, community activists and groups like Food & Water Action have demanded more protective policies. While these rules aren’t strong enough and we still have a long way to go, Biden has taken unprecedented steps in the right direction.

We Need to Defend Our Livable Future at the Polls

Over the past few years, we have won incredible victories that lay the groundwork for securing a livable future for all. We know we have the power to continue making huge strides. But if Trump returns to office, our work will become much harder. We can expect some massive steps backward that will further jeopardize our livable future.

This is underscored by the fact that Trump has sunk deep into the pockets of polluting corporations. The oil and gas industry is one of the top donors to the former president’s campaign. He pocketed $7.37 million last year from Big Oil — 10 times more than Biden. Trump also took in triple the amount of donations from agribusiness compared to Biden.

Though Biden has not come close to taking the action required to adequately address the climate emergency, we have made some progress with the potential for more, bolder action in a second term. While Trump can more easily ignore us, Biden can’t — he’s accountable to us, his base.

This year’s LNG pause showed that we can and do move the President to act. We’d lose that power with Trump behind the wheel.

That’s why Food & Water Action is going all-in on get-out-the-vote ahead of November. We know how to mobilize folks across the country to vote on the issues that matter to them. It’s gotten us amazing wins, and we’re poised to win more this year. But we need your help. 

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The science couldn’t be clearer: in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to rapidly transition off fossil fuels and onto 100% renewable energy. To do that, we need elected officials at every level of government who will oppose any expansion of fossil fuels and fight for real climate solutions. 

We know that the climate crisis can’t be solved while still depending on coal, oil, and gas, so we’re exposing Capture and Storage (CCS) — the fossil fuel industry’s biggest scheme. Right now, the federal government is planning to spend billions of dollars on this technology, which has never fully succeeded in capturing emissions. Read more on the carbon capture scam here.

This year, Food & Water Action is asking candidates to take the pledge to stand against fossil fuel industry schemes and help us lead the transition to renewable energy.

Pledge Language

I accept the science that says humankind’s use of fossil fuels is the primary driver of dangerous global climate change.

Therefore, as a candidate for elected office, I pledge to put people and the planet before corporate profits by leading efforts to stop new fossil fuel development and achieve a just transition to 100% clean, renewable energy. The catastrophic impact of fossil fuels on public health and climate change-driven extreme weather events shows that we must act now.

If elected, I will 

• oppose any policies that will expand or extend fossil fuel production, use, or transport, including carbon capture and hydrogen, which will keep us dependent on oil and gas. 
• advance efforts to quickly transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, including policies to increase electrification and energy efficiency;
• support efforts to address the toxic legacy of fossil fuels in our communities, especially those most impacted including indigenous peoples, communities of color, low low-income and rural communities;
• support the declaration of a national climate emergency.

Are you a candidate for elected office? Sign the pledge here.

Current List of Signers

Has your candidate taken the pledge?

• Check back soon for our first round of signers!

Get Involved

Getting candidates to sign the pledge is an important way to educate leaders on climate solutions and identify the candidates who will fight for them, if elected. Food & Water Action volunteers will be asking candidates in their communities to sign the pledge throughout the 2024 election cycle. 

Questions? Email: [email protected]

Candidates listed on this page have signed the End Fossil Fuels Candidate Pledge. Signing this pledge does not constitute an endorsement by Food & Water Action or any other organization.

Time to face it~it’s people or plastics.~We can’t have both.

Become a plastic pollution fighter this Earth~Day and have your gift MATCHED $3-to-$1!

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