{"id":464659,"date":"2010-03-23T14:47:17","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T18:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2607"},"modified":"2010-03-23T14:53:07","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T18:53:07","slug":"asking-the-senate-to-act-on-clean-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/464659","title":{"rendered":"Asking the Senate to Act on Clean Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joining a month-long interfaith call for comprehensive climate change and clean energy legislation, the Religious Action Center today sent a letter of support<\/a> to all members of the Senate.
\nThe Reform Movement is one of many faith communities urging the Senate to pass comprehensive and equitable legislation that guards our planet and its inhabitants, especially the most vulnerable, from the effects of environmental degradation. You can add your voice to the mix by writing to Congress now<\/a> to demand comprehensive climate and energy legislation.<\/p>\n

Today’s letter, signed by our Director, Rabbi David Saperstein, highlights the need to act urgently and ensure that legislation is guided by principles of sustainability, stewardship, and social justice. Full text of the letter is after the jump:<\/p>\n

Dear Senator,<\/p>\n

On behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), whose more
\nthan 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million
\nReform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR),
\nwhose membership includes over 1800 Reform rabbis, I urge you to make
\npassage of comprehensive climate and energy legislation a priority this
\nyear.<\/p>\n

This month we join with a diverse faith-based coalition
\nurging Congress to work swiftly to enact legislation that will
\ndrastically reduce global warming pollution and ensure that all people
\nare protected from the impacts of climate change. It is past time for
\nthe Senate to address this environmental, economic, public health, and
\nsecurity challenge, and make our nation a global environmental and
\nclean energy leader.<\/p>\n

Comprehensive climate legislation should be rooted in the
\nprinciples of stewardship, sustainability, and social justice,
\nprotecting both God’s creation and all people, especially those most
\nvulnerable to the effects of both climate change and new energy
\npolicies. First and foremost, climate legislation must set ambitious,
\nscience-based targets for reducing global warming pollution and rapidly
\nincreasing clean energy production. To honor our call from the Book of
\nGenesis “to till and to tend” our world, we call for climate
\nlegislation that responds to the scientific consensus that warming
\ngreater than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels could be
\ncatastrophic for our planet and for millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n

Meeting this goal requires that the government maintain the
\nability to enforce existing legislation, and that we avoid
\nshort-sighted and unsustainable energy alternatives. We are discouraged
\nby the efforts of some in the Senate to attack our most effective
\nenvironmental laws and agencies and urge you to oppose any attempts,
\neither through comprehensive climate legislation or stand-alone bills,
\nto obstruct or delay the EPA in acting to protect human and ecological
\nhealth by regulating global warming pollution under the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n

Further, our community strongly opposes expanding oil and
\nnatural gas drilling off our nation’s shores, in the Arctic National
\nWildlife Refuge, and in other ecologically sensitive areas. Simply
\ntransitioning to domestic fossil fuel sources is a short-sighted
\nnon-solution that will not yield the resources to meet long-term energy
\nneeds, spur sustained economic growth, or ensure the environmental
\nprotection that will derive from moving to a truly clean and
\nsustainable energy economy.<\/p>\n

Protecting those living in poverty must also be a central
\nprinciple of climate legislation. In addition to aid for consumers in
\nthe U.S., climate legislation must provide adaptation assistance for
\nthe world’s most vulnerable communities in developing nations who are
\nalready facing climate change impacts that threaten food security and
\neconomic development. Several public and private studies estimate that
\nat least $25 billion per year will be needed to meet this need. As the
\nlargest historical emitter of greenhouse gases and a global economic
\nleader, our nation has a commensurate responsibility to help the
\npoorest people adapt to climate change. This is not only a moral issue
\nbut a prerequisite to achieving an international climate agreement,
\nwithout which the global community will be unable to meet the climate
\nchallenge.<\/p>\n

We are inspired by our tradition to fight for a climate and
\nenergy future that protects our earth and all of its inhabitants. Our
\nsages remind us to “Take care, lest you spoil and destroy my world,
\nbecause if you do, there is no one after you to make it right again”
\n(Kohelet Rabbah 7:13). We are also taught that “If all the sufferings
\nand pain in the world were gathered on one side of the scale, and
\npoverty was on the other side, poverty would outweigh them all” (Exodus
\nRabbah 31:14). As people of faith, we urge you to join us in working
\ntoward a healthier and safer environment and seeking justice for those
\nmost in need through climate and energy legislation that safeguards our
\nplanet and creates sustainable pathways to prosperity for all people.<\/p>\n

This year, you have an historic opportunity to put our nation
\non the course to a more sustainable and equitable energy and
\nenvironmental future, and we applaud those who are working to move
\nclimate legislation forward. At this critical moment, the Reform Jewish
\ncommunity urges you to protect our environment and all of its
\ninhabitants by working toward passage of strong, equitable,
\ncomprehensive climate legislation in 2010.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joining a month-long interfaith call for comprehensive climate change and clean energy legislation, the Religious Action Center today sent a letter of support to all members of the Senate. The Reform Movement is one of many faith communities urging the Senate to pass comprehensive and equitable legislation that guards our planet and its inhabitants, especially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-464659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}