The San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition, a chapter of The Climate Mobilization out of New York City, has met nearly every Saturday morning since 2015.
We are grateful to all who have participated in our meetings and rallies as we call upon the federal government to implement a national World War II-scale mobilization to build a wind, water and solar energy system to replace fossil fuels. Such a mobilization has been called for in a letter to former President Obama and the President of China by a group of America’s top scientists, as well as in an article in New Republic magazine by Bill McKibben, an author, professor and founder of 350, a preeminent climate action group. The mobilization is also called for in the national platform of the Democratic Party. Pacific Beach wetland scientist, Budd Titlow, makes the same request in “Protecting the Planet,” a book on the climate emergency he wrote with his daughter Mariah, a Harvard professor.
We in the Climate Mobilization movement are inspired by the work of Mark Jacobson, a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering who has computer modelled and planned the conversion of the U.S. and 149 other countries to renewable wind, water and solar energy to end the burning of fossil fuels. The plans include storage for everything. He has been working on these plans for 11 years.
Jacobson is also one of the founders of the Solutions Project, online, whose motto is “100% Renewable is 100% Possible.” The significance of Jacobson’s work is that it shows that the world can replace fossil fuels with a new renewable energy system. In other words we would no longer be threatening the existence of all life on earth by emissions from fossil fuels.
Jacobson has the plan to save us. All that is missing is the political will to put Jacobson’s plans into effect. If we as a society ever decide to act on the plan, we will create a world that is more secure, more healthful and more environmentally just.
To move in the direction of Jacobson’s plans, we ask everyone to write a letter to President Biden with one request: “Please declare a national emergency to address the global warming crisis.” That’s all the letter needs to say, because if a national emergency is declared it gives the President power to spend money on green energy without going through Congress. It is important that the letter be handwritten and sent in a hand-addressed envelope. We are told that handwritten letters get the most attention in the White House.
The President’s address is: President Joe Biden, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500.
The bottom line is that fossil fuel burning must end and renewable energy must begin, and not just in the U.S. but throughout the world. Fossil fuels are the enemy of every single person on the planet. The possibility here is that if the U.S. leads the way the whole world may at last come together as one human family in order for our species to survive. Otherwise the future doesn’t look good for the smart ape----us.
-- Derek & Nancy Casady, founders of the San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition. Nancy ran as the Green New Deal candidate for Congress in the 52nd District in the 200 Primary Election.