The Trump administration released a climate report from federal scientists warning that climate change will disrupt the economies of every region in the United States, with costs ballooning to hundreds of billions of dollars annually by the middle of this century. Trump chose to release this critical report on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. In response to the climate report and the timing of its release, Greenpeace USA Climate Director Janet Redman said,
“The Trump administration burying information as critical to the public interest as the federal climate report on Black Friday is like withholding from a medical patient that smoking could lead to cancer. The report’s findings are clear. Climate change is real, it’s here, and it’s because of fossil fuels.
Devastating fires in California, hurricanes ravaging our coasts, and historic flooding in the South are already changing the lives of people across this country, but the federal climate report says the economic impacts are expected to be far worse if carbon emissions continue unabated.
Thankfully, passionate voters are energizing new leaders in Congress to tackle climate change urgently and ambitiously, as evidenced by the popularity of the Green New Deal. The fossil fuel industry will no doubt try to defeat, delay or dilute any strong climate, energy or infrastructure legislation making its way through the new Congress. False solutions like a weak, Exxon-backed carbon tax bill are already circulating on Capitol Hill. A Green New Deal and a path to a climate-safe future must have impacted communities at its center and leave companies like Exxon permanently on the bench.”
Contact:
Cassady Craighill, 828-817-3328 [email protected]
