Sen. McCaskill: We Need You to Take Action on the Climate Crisis.

Climate change is real. We have all seen its impact already. It constitutes a major threat to our security. The draft National Climate Assessment (NCA), a joint project of 240 scientists representing 13 Federal agencies, was released in January. It begins with the following:

“Climate change is already affecting the American people. Certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense including heat waves heavy downpours and in some regions floods and droughts. Sea level is rising, oceans are becoming more acidic and glaciers and arctic sea ice are melting. These changes are part of the pattern of global climate change, which is primarily driven by human activity.”

Peaceworks members have repeatedly visited Sen. Claire McCaskill’s office to speak with her staff

and share our concerns about the climate crisis. We’ve explained that addressing the climate is necessary for Real Security. We brought copies of the NCA and asked, repeatedly, what the Senator is proposing to do to address this existential concern.

On our most recent visit, March 14, 2013, we were once again told by the staff member meeting with us that she did not know Sen. McCaskill’s position on climate change, but she did know that Claire supported the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline.

We asked for an answer to our question from the Senator’s DC office and, on March 20, we received a brief e-mail from her staff member Cindy Hall that stated:  
“At this time, Sen. McCaskill does not have a specific agenda involving Climate Change, and she won’t have one beyond what Allison spoke with you about last week.” (That is, that she supports K-XL.)

We found this to be a rather shocking admission. For a United States Senator to not take a position or support any particular actions to address what is arguably the gravest threat to our future is, we believe, unacceptable.

We are asking you to join us in urging Claire McCaskill to embrace an agenda that will promote the rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This entails moving away, as rapidly as possible, from fossil fuels and taking steps to dramatically increase both energy efficiency and the use of clean, sustainable renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal energy. It also requires that we not make misplaced investments in dirty energy infrastructure, including pipelines, refineries, off-shore drilling, fracking wells, gas terminals, etc.

Please CLICK HERE  to send a message to Sen. McCaskill today.