Category: News & Opinion

In His Words: Representative Jamaal Bowman

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DemocracyNews & Opinion

Interview by Miho Suzuki-Robinson

Since his election in 2020, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York’s 16th district has been a vibrant voice for progressives. As his August 23rd primary date approaches, we asked for his thoughts on crucial issues. First we learned about his new bill designed to ease the pain of inflation. We also discussed fighting climate change while people are consumed with so many other worries. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The Cost Of Living Is Too High: Rep. Bowman’s Emergency Price Stabilization Act

You recently introduced the Emergency Price Stabilization Act of 2022. What led you to decide that this bill is necessary? What do you hope to achieve with this bill?

For lots of families in New York’s 16th congressional district, the cost of living is just far too high. While the prices of rent, utility bills, food, and other everyday necessities are rising, wages aren’t keeping up. 

The U.S Federal Reserve is attempting to tackle inflation by raising interest rates, but this is an inequitable, insufficient approach as higher interest rates will force businesses to cut jobs, increasing the risk of recession. Inflation will always disproportionately impact low-income households and we need an evidence-based, community-focused approach to economic stabilization. 

Through [the Emergency Price Stabilization Act], I hope to make vital resources more available to American families, ensure that our financial policies align with our sustainable development goals, and better engage constituents on economic policy. 

Read more about this bill.

As you’ve been speaking with people in your community, what are the issues they are most concerned about?

From close conversations with constituents, it feels [like] the most important issues are educational equity, community violence protection, and flooding prevention. 

Along with community-level issues, voters also want to feel heard and respected by representatives. To this end, I do my best to have meaningful conversations with as many people as possible to better advocate for the distinct needs of my district.

How To Balance Climate Action With Other Pressing Concerns

In a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, only 1% of voters named climate change as the most important issue facing the country. How do you feel about the fact that climate change is not a top issue for them?

The unfortunate reality is that we are facing so many critical and pressing issues at this moment. Families are struggling to put food on the table, people are struggling to afford health care, abortion rights are under attack, and the GOP is trying to undermine our democracy. 

It is understandable that so many voters rank another issue at the top of their list, but it doesn’t mean elected officials should not focus on it. We have a moral obligation to do more. 

We can—and must—walk and chew gum at the same time. We need to bring down costs for families and stand up to GOP attacks on abortion rights and on our democracy, while also taking bold action to combat climate change. 

How has climate change affected your community?

Extreme weather events are occurring more and more frequently in our district, and the associated flooding presents an ongoing threat to the people of NY-16. 

After Hurricane Ida in September 2021, severe flooding led to massive housing damage, temporary closures of schools and local businesses, and disruptions in traffic patterns. In response, I brought the US Army Corps of Engineers to tour our district so we can work together to figure out how to best protect our district from flooding. 

For years, we also saw polluted water threaten the health and safety of residents, particularly in communities with underdeveloped sewage systems. In partnership with Senator Chuck Schumer, I helped secure $3 million to hire engineers to evaluate the current system and create a thorough plan for sewage replacement in Mount Vernon, Westchester. 

But still, unless we take bold, comprehensive, and necessary action against climate change and water contamination, our infrastructure will continue to fall short, particularly in under-resourced areas.

Creating The Political Will For Renewable Energy By Movement-Building

You have called for a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. Given the lack of will and the presence of elected climate change deniers in Washington, this sounds idealistic. What makes you hopeful that this is an attainable goal? 

While a rapid, safe transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030 may feel ambitious, we can make it a reality by increasing the number of climate advocates in office and making sustainability a personal priority for all community members. 

It is paramount that we maximize the presence of climate-focused representatives. We can do this by organizing and mobilizing voters from historically underrepresented communities, who tend to be impacted most intimately by climate change. 

The movement for climate justice is already strong, we just need to keep building it. And when I’m out in my district, talking to voters, it is clear that people care deeply about our climate and working together to find solutions. 

We Need Supporters Like You To Make Winning On Climate Possible

Electing champions like Congressman Bowman will protect the progress we’ve made for a livable climate for us and future generations. We have many ways you can join us in supporting him and other allies running in the midterm elections. You can RSVP for events in your area, volunteer for our letter-writing team, texting team, or donate. Or we’d love to have you host a Get Out The Vote letter-writing party!

You can hear more from Rep. Bowman at Against All Odds, our annual benefit to protect our planet.

Fight for food we can trust, water we can drink, and air we can breathe. Not to mention, a democracy we can believe in!

Every dollar donated helps to preserve our future.

donate now!

In Her Words: Summer Lee, Climate Champion For U.S. Congress

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DemocracyNews & Opinion

by Miho Suzuki-Robinson

Food & Water Action is proud to stand with Pennsylvania State Rep. Summer Lee heading into the November midterm election. She’s an anti-fracking activist and climate champion who will fight for real climate solutions. Pennsylvania, among other states, is central to the fossil fuel industry’s plans to deepen its hold on America’s energy production. That’s why electing climate superstars like Summer is critical to safeguard our future. 

We recently asked Summer to share her thoughts on our work together and her journey toward the U.S. Congress. 

Summer Lee: ‘Food & Water Action Shares My Vision’

“I have worked with Food & Water Action ever since 2018, when I was running for State Representative and helping my community stop a fracking well proposed in a densely-populated neighborhood.

Food & Water Action helped me win that election, and kept fighting for the community to eventually stop that fracking well. We won because we continued organizing during election time and year-round. In partnership with Food & Water Action, we worked together to elect climate champions to county and municipal government, and they helped me get reelected in 2020 despite aggressive industry spending.

Photo credit: CC-BY-2.0 / Mark Dixon, Flickr.com

My successful run for Congress in 2022 was a whole new challenge, with millions of dollars of corporate cash being spent to knock our movement down. Food & Water Action was there fighting alongside us for working people and a livable climate, and we won our biggest victory yet. Their volunteers sent thousands of handwritten letters in a narrow election that required every part of our movement pushing as hard as we could. I look forward to working with them as a member of Congress to push for real climate solutions that create millions of green jobs, and to continue to clean up the air and water here in southwest Pennsylvania where there is so much work left to be done.

They fight for what is right, what is just, which is why I am proud and grateful for their endorsement. Food & Water Action shares my vision for a climate-stable future for all of us, where people determine how we govern the care of our planet – not CEOs who get wealthy, at the expense of our health.”

We Need Supporters Like You To Help Make Winning On Climate Possible

Summer Lee has proven to be a captivating and inspirational candidate. Her candidacy increased voter turnout in her district’s primary by an impressive margin. We expect her presence on the ballot to boost turnout again, benefiting the Democratic candidates for governor and U.S. Senate. 

Electing more champions like Lee will protect the progress we’ve made for a livable climate for us and future generations. We have many ways you can join us in supporting Summer and other allies running in the midterm elections. You can RSVP for events in your area, volunteer to be a part of our texting team, or donate. Or we’d love to have you host a Get Out The Vote letter-writing party!

Fight for food we can trust, water we can drink, and air we can breathe. Not to mention, a democracy we can believe in!

Every dollar donated helps to preserve our future.

donate now!

Fighting For Communities & Climate in PA’s Battleground Midterms

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ClimateDemocracyNews & Opinion

by Sam Bernhardt and Mia DiFelice

Nestled between three rivers lies Pittsburgh, the steel capital at the heart of Southwest Pennsylvania. Once, the mills belched pollution into the air, blackening the shirts of steelworkers and steel magnates alike. Though the air has begun to clear, the region faces the legacy of that pollution and the growing threat of fracking development. Now, in this year’s midterm elections, it will be a battleground in our fight for a greener future. 

From Company Towns To A Green New Deal For Southwest PA

Southwest PA has a long history of extractive, polluting industry and environmental racism. The region is dotted with old steel towns that were once standard-bearers for U.S. production. When the steel industry left in the 1980s, it bled jobs and abandoned polluting infrastructure. The region still suffers from abysmal air quality and an outsized asthma problem.

In more recent years, the fracking industry has set its crosshairs on Southwest PA. Across the state, the industry has targeted Black and brown communities for siting their dangerous operations. In 2017, it was announced that Beaver County would become the home of a massive ethane cracker plant that will turn fracked gas into plastics, spewing more pollutants into the air and water.

These threats, old and new, make Southwest PA one of the most important places in the country for building a movement behind the Green New Deal. The Deal will bring clean energy jobs for the folks steel left behind. It will hold industry accountable for the public health crises it’s caused. And it will bring long-overdue environmental justice to all who call Southwest PA home.

Over the years, Food & Water Action has worked with local communities to stop fracking, town by town. In 2022, we’re taking that people power to the ballot box for the midterm elections. We won’t stop until we have the Green New Deal that Southwest PA demands.

Southwest PA Could Change The Climate Game On Multiple Fronts

There’s a lot at stake in the midterms. Time is running out to act on climate change, while Republicans and conservative Democrats have stalled the legislation we need. After a Supreme Court session that, among other blows, kneecapped the EPA’s powers to regulate power plant emissions, we can’t afford to lose in the midterms. Every single vote counts, and Southwestern PA is home to millions of those votes. 

In a single election, voters will see critical races for governor, state House and U.S. Senate on their ballots. These races could open new doors for climate legislation. We have the opportunity to elect a 51st Democratic Senator to make Joe Manchin irrelevant. We can also elect a majority-Democrat state House that could block attempts to hand over electoral college votes to the Republican candidate in 2024’s presidential election. 

Finally, we can elect a new governor who will actually hold the fracking industry accountable. The Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, has brought several lawsuits against the industry. Meanwhile, his opponent, Republican State Senator Doug Mastriano, personally attended the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. Mastriano also promises to ban abortion in Pennsylvania and encourages more fracking in our state and throughout the country.

In a battleground state like Pennsylvania, this race could be decided by just a handful of votes. That’s why we’re going all in on Southwest PA.

We’ve already had one major victory. In May, Summer Lee won the Democratic primary for the U.S. House seat in our 12th District. A community organizer and state representative, Lee faced millions of dollars in attack ads from corporate SuperPACs. But Food & Water Action mobilized volunteers to send thousands of letters and phone calls to drum up support. She won her primary by 978 votes — every vote mattered.

Working Toward a Greener Future For Southwest PA

Our work doesn’t end in 2022. After we win in November, we’ll pass ambitious climate legislation in Allegheny County. If county officials can’t step up, we’ll empower voters through a ballot measure. And we’ll continue to support communities to win local fights against fracking wells and pipelines. 

Southwest Pennsylvania has been a casualty for polluting industries for too long, and we’re fighting back. Food & Water Action is leveraging our long history of grassroots organizing and our relationships with communities on the ground. We will continue empowering communities here until we have a Green New Deal and a green new future for Southwest PA.

We’ll win this fight with your help.

donate now!

Big Oil’s Bet On Plastic Is Gambling With Our Future

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ClimateNews & Opinion

CC BY 2.0, Dying Regime / Flickr
by Mia DiFelice

Update (October 25, 2023): This week, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) reintroduced the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. This bill would be a massive first step to reducing plastic pollution and stopping the fossil fuel industry from locking us into more oil, gas, and plastic production.

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act would ban many single-use, non-recyclable plastic products (like single-use carry out bags) nationwide. It would also require makers of packaging, containers, and food service products to create waste management programs. 

Help us build a safer, healthier, more sustainable future by calling on your representative to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act!

Although we have a long fight ahead of us to transition off fossil fuels, the tide is turning. Consumers around the world are demanding greener power and more action on climate change. 

Big Oil has read the writing on the wall and has added a new tool to its arsenal — plastics. While public opinion turns against dirty energy, corporations are pushing petrochemicals to keep us hooked on fossil fuels.

Big Oil Is Betting Billions On Plastic

In the 2010s, the fracking boom created such a glut of natural gas that the industry scrambled to find new markets for it. Petrochemical companies were happy to step in. Ethane, a main raw material in many plastics, has doubled production in the U.S. from 2013 to 2021. Desperate to offload the surplus, U.S. companies send it around the world, often at bargain-bin prices. Ethane exported from the U.S. has gone from nonexistent to 300,000 barrels a day. The result — an explosion of plastic. Now, experts expect plastic production and consumption to triple by 2060.

The construction planned to expand the industry needs to stay in the blueprints. From cracker plants to pipelines, this infrastructure is expensive and dangerous. If all the planned projects are completed, emissions from plastics will double by 2050. These projects include 350 chemical plants that would introduce health risks to nearby communities. But since 2010, petrochemical companies have already spent $200 billion to expand plastics manufacturing infrastructure. 

At the same time, public opinion is getting hip to our plastic problem. Cities and states across America are banning certain kinds of single-use plastic. On a global level, Canada, India, France, and many other countries have placed their own bans just this year. Such measures predict shifting prices and future failure. Big Oil’s bet on the industry will entrench billions of dollars into infrastructure that will likely become unprofitable in a few years. 

Plastic Pose Growing Public Health Problems

If allowed to grow, the plastics industry stands to harm our families and communities in so many ways. For one, plastics release toxic chemicals all throughout their life cycle. From volatile organic compounds emitted during fracking, to heavy metals released during recycling, we absorb these toxins by breathing, eating or simply touching them.

Then, there are the pipelines. To make plastics, companies first extract ethane from natural gas liquids. Moving those NGLs requires miles of new pipelines. But NGLs are volatile and flammable, meaning pipelines have a host of health, safety and environmental risks. Yet, most of these lines aren’t regulated, sited or permitted by the federal government. Many states don’t step in, so miles and miles of hazardous pipelines have no oversight at all.

On top of that, the petrochemical industry has a long history of environmental racism. Companies have often cited polluting plants near low-income communities and communities of color. In Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” dozens of petrochemical plants dapple the shores of the Mississippi for 80 miles. The emissions from those plants rain yellow droplets of pollution and kill birds mid-flight. The mostly black and brown residents in the region have some of the greatest risks for cancer in the country.

Despite What Big Oil Tells Us, Recycling Doesn’t Work

For decades, petrochemical companies — often owned by the same oil and gas giants — touted ad campaigns (to the tune of $50 million a year) to keep us buying more plastic. They funded projects and created regulations, signaling that we could solve our plastic problem with some blue bins. But most of what we throw in those blue bins will never see a recycling facility. Only 1 in 10 plastics made from 1950 to 2015 have been recycled. In 2021, that number dropped to 1 in 20. 

Even the plastics that make it to a recycling center can’t be properly recycled. Instead, they’re downcycled, or turned into a lower-quality plastic. After that, they can only be downcycled once or twice more before they have to be tossed into a landfill. 

The newest flavor of the recycling myth goes by “advanced recycling,” which uses chemicals and high heat to break down plastics. The process, which is expensive and emissions-intensive, usually just results in a low-grade fossil fuel. Advanced recycling actually creates more greenhouse gasses than sending the plastic to a landfill or incinerating it. 

Yet, the plastics industry has pushed several states to loosen advanced recycling regulations, or even subsidize them. Taxpayers are funding Big Oil’s schemes to make plastic socially acceptable — when in fact, they’ll just create more problems and worsen climate change. 

We Can’t Let Big Oil Get Away With Plastics

Plastics are a danger to human health and climate. While they have a few important uses, Big Oil is pushing way more plastic than we need. The lie of consumer demand needs to be unraveled. In reality, packaging makes up 40% of produced plastics — which consumers have little say in.

The more Big Oil builds out its infrastructure and floods the market with plastics, the bigger the problem becomes. 

We can stop them in their tracks, starting with:

  1. Banning single-use plastics. These include water bottles, packaging and utensils, and they make up most of plastic waste. They end up in landfills, incinerators and our waterways. Like all plastics, they break down into microplastics, where they move much more easily and stealthily. Now, we find plastic in our sea salt, seafood, beer, honey, sugar and so much more.
  2. Banning fracking and new petrochemical facilities. We’ve known for years that fracking does irreparable damage to our environment and our communities. Petrochemical facilities are just as harmful. They’re also feeding the plastic problem, and stand to make it much, much worse. 

Help us stop Big Oil’s Plan B. Tell your members of Congress to support the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act!

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Drilling Won’t Lower Gas Prices. Here’s What Will.

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ClimateNews & Opinion

by Mia DiFelice

It’s the hallmark experience of summer 2022. You’re rolling down your local street, heat waves shimmering off the asphalt, breeze blowing through open car windows. But when you stop at the light, an impossible number catches your eye. Huge and stark, the sign proclaims “REGULAR: $4.95.” It was $4.70 just last week!

Gas prices have been rising for months. Experts first pointed to an unexpected, rapid demand as global COVID lockdowns lifted. Oil and gas corporations saw bankruptcies and negative gas prices in the worst months of the pandemic. But rather than respond to returned demand, industry titans doubled down on profits.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, countries around the world began sanctioning Russian oil. Eye-watering gas prices have piled onto a seemingly endless list of crises and pain points for consumers. 

So of course, gas has become a political tool that Republicans use to condemn the climate policies of the Biden administration. Pointing at the president is a convenient pretense as they defend the interests of fossil fuel corporations.

But media coverage of gas prices swings between incomplete, misleading and downright false. The truth is, gas prices have little to do with White House decisions, and there are few quick fixes.

Consumers — especially the most vulnerable — need relief. But that won’t come from more drilling, as many politicians are demanding. In fact, more drilling would keep us at the mercy of future oil shocks. And it would attach our economic and environmental health to an industry with a long history of volatility and corporate greed.

Let’s break it down. 

White hand pumps gas into a white car.

More Drilling Is Not A Quick Fix For Gas Prices

Citing economic principles of supply and demand, political pundits call for Biden to increase the U.S. oil supply — that is, to drill more. We need more gas than we’ve got, the logic goes. Prices have risen. If supply grows to meet demand, prices will drop.

This argument misses key facts. First, Biden is not blocking the flow of American oil. In fact, he’s opened the tap more than Trump. The current administration issued more than 3,500 drilling permits in 2020 alone; that’s a third more than during Trump’s first year. And under Biden, U.S. oil production has grown from 9.7 million barrels a day to 11.6 million.

Yet oil and gas corporations are staying away from new drilling projects. Currently, 4,400 approved and drilled wells have yet to produce oil. Oil and gas executives show no sign of ramping up production. 

High Gas Prices Are A Boon For Investors

Oil executives themselves have revealed the reason for their inaction — profits. The oil and gas industry is seeing record cash flow. In the first quarter of 2022, the five biggest fossil fuel companies made their highest profits in more than a decade. Last year, four major companies (Shell, BP, Chevron and Exxon) made $75 billion. 

Their investors are demanding more of that windfall. So, instead of investing record profits in more drilling infrastructure, oil corporations are sending money back to investors through stock buybacks and payouts. In a March poll, 59% of oil executives admitted that investor pressure for profit, not government regulation, is the real reason they’re not drilling.

But blabber about drilling misses the mark. And it’s not like we usually use lots of Russian oil that we’re now missing. Of all the petroleum products used in the U.S. in the last decade, only 2% were Russian imports. So how do Russian sanctions affect U.S. gas prices?

The Oil Market Is A Complex Rollercoaster

Oil is a global market, which means prices are set by global supply and demand. The market could be rocked by tons of factors outside of U.S. control. Factors like natural disasters near production centers, the whims of oil-producing states and war. Such events create uncertainty about the future of supply and demand, which leads to more volatile prices. On top of that, speculators and their fleet of AI routinely bet on the future of the oil market. When prices go up, investors see dollar signs — and the more money they put down, the higher prices fly. 

In 2021, the U.S. exported more oil than it imported for the first time. Our crude oil production is soaring to record highs. Yet the price we pay for oil has still fluctuated wildly over the past few years. We are still vulnerable to oil price shocks.

The additional drilling pundits have proposed are a drop in the bucket of global supply. Far more influential are international disasters that clog supply chains, worry investors and prevent new development. Domestic production won’t insulate the U.S. from the global oil market. In fact, if more of our economy ran on fossil fuels, it would make us even more vulnerable to turbulent markets.

Price Controls and Renewables Are Real Solutions to Rising Gas Prices 

In the short-term, our government can help consumers with two tools. First, price controls would keep gas prices low, especially for those who need it most. Our country’s dirty oil addiction should not hurt workers and families. Second, we need an export ban on gasoline and other fuels. Despite the current crisis, U.S. exports on gasoline and diesel are nearing record-highs. With such exports, corporations send our domestic supply to the highest bidder. This ramps up market prices for everyone — including those of us who depend on gas for daily life and work.

Looking ahead, we need long-term solutions that will get us off the oil market rollercoaster. That means ramping up renewable energy. Renewables will insulate us from global oil shocks much more than domestic drilling ever could.

But we have to pick up the pace of development while stopping new oil and gas. Our infrastructure and investment decisions today will have ripple effects for decades. More drilling won’t help struggling Americans tomorrow or even this year. But it will lock us into a future of dangerous emissions, climate disasters and high prices. 

In April, Rep. Cori Bush, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jason Crow introduced the Energy Security and Independence Act. This legislation will send $100 billion to the renewable energy sector and to programs that lower utility bills for consumers. It will give the sector the boost it needs to help us transition off fossil fuels — a vital step toward real independence from the oil market’s rollercoaster.

Tell Congress to pass the Energy Security and Independence Act.

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The Climate Champions We Need in Washington

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ClimateDemocracyNews & Opinion

As Election Day moves closer, Food & Water Action is fighting to elect climate champions. We understand the anxiety surrounding the midterms and the importance of protecting the Democratic majorities in Congress. So we’re mobilizing support for candidates who share our vision and will fight for safe food, clean water and a liveable climate for all of us. 

Here are the candidates Food & Water Action endorses in 2022.

Summer Lee 

(Pennsylvania’s 12th District – Primary winner)

“The people in our community have been fighting back against fossil fuel corporations’ fracking proposals for decades, and I am proud to continue to stand with them.”

Food & Water Action volunteers sent thousands of handwritten letters and made thousands of phone calls to drive voter turnout for Summer Lee. She faced millions of dollars in attack ads from corporate SuperPACs. Ultimately, she won her primary by a margin of 978 votes – every letter and call mattered.

With a history in community organizing, Lee knows how to mobilize supporters and push for real change on the ground. She led the charge against a fracking well in her community and has made her stance clear — fossil fuel drilling has no place in PA. Lee’s election will be a huge victory in a state that has seen uncontrolled fracking and drilling for a decade. 

Jamie McLeod-Skinner 

(Oregon’s 5th District – Primary winner)

“I am running because we are in a time of crisis for our environment, our families, and our democracy.”

Food & Water Action had another major primary victory in Oregon’s 5th District. Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an outspoken advocate on climate and racial justice, defeated an entrenched incumbent who valued Big Pharma donors more than the needs of people and the planet. She won without taking a single cent in corporate money.

A former union member with working-class roots, McLeod-Skinner will be a progressive voice championing policies that put climate, justice and families first. Her race in November will be a nail-biter. Food & Water Action supports her unwaveringly as she runs against a Republican peddling Trump’s anti-democracy conspiracies.

Maxwell Alejandro Frost 

(Florida’s 10th District – Primary on August 28)

“If there is a future, it is a green future. We cannot hesitate and we cannot let big oil, big business, and the 1% decide our fates for us.”

Sending Maxwell Alejandro Frost to Congress won’t just win another vote for climate action; it will send a movement-builder to Washington. A staunch supporter of the Green New Deal, he’ll crack down on corporate polluters so that everyone has access to clean water and air and healthy food.

Along with Food & Water Action, Frost is supported by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, six members of Congress and several progressive advocacy groups.

Representative Andy Levin 

(Michigan’s 11th District – Primary on 8/2)

“Saving our one, precious Earth is a moral imperative, but it’s also an economic opportunity.  I’m an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal, which would create millions of good jobs while solving the climate crisis…”

Andy Levin is a proven champion for the environment. He has fought his entire career against corporations that have endangered our communities and our planet. This year, he’s running in a newly-drawn district against a more conservative colleague in a rare incumbent-on-incumbent race. 

Levin, an original co-sponsor of the WATER Act and the Green New Deal, has led on key legislation including the BUILD Green Act, Buy Green Act and the EV Freedom Act. He wrote and passed the PFAS Safe Disposal Act to keep toxic forever chemicals out of the air. He’s also fighting to shut down Line 5, a dangerous pipeline that cuts across 645 miles of Michigan.

Representative Jamaal Bowman 

(New York’s 16th District – Primary on August 23)

“The scale, scope and urgency of [climate change] surpasses anything we have faced in generations, and the Green New Deal is the only solution that matches our current crisis.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman is running to keep his seat in New York’s 16th District. In 2020, he won a longshot victory against a 16-term, old-guard Democrat in one of the biggest political upsets in favor of the progressive movement.

He became a proud member of the “Squad” as he advanced the progressive agenda, championing education equity, voting rights, environmental justice and the Green New Deal. While in office, he introduced the Ending Corporate Greed Act, led by Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, calling out corporations for price gouging while the American people are getting squeezed. He’s fighting to transition this country to 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030.

David Segal 

(Rhode Island’s 2nd District – Primary on September 13)

“Protecting and improving the environment has long been a priority of mine … I called for a Green New Deal in 2010, and I’m calling for the same thing today.”

Throughout his career, David Segal has fought corporate greed. In 2003, he was the first Green Party candidate to win office in Rhode Island as Providence City Council member. Since then, he’s pushed for expansive investments in renewable energy to transition off fossil fuels. 

In 2022, Segal is the only candidate running in Rhode Island who has taken the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge and he’s the only Green New Deal champion running in his district. Together with Food & Water Action, he’s backed by Senator Bernie Sanders’ political group, Our Revolution, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. 

Your Help Can Change The Outcomes Of These Races

As the climate crisis grows more dire, we need bold policies now. These candidates fight with hope and passion for the future we all want to see, not only for us, but for future generations.

Give today to help these climate champions fight for a seat in Washington!

Every dollar donated helps to preserve our future.

donate now!