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--U.S. Climate
Emergency Council--
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Over 1,000 People in all 50 States Fast
to End Global Warming
Religious, Student, Climate Leaders Convene on Capitol Hill, Call on Congress to
Pass Meaningful Climate Legislation
WASHINGTON,
D.C—National religious, student, and climate leaders joined together on Capitol
Hill today to explain why they and more than a thousand other people from every
state in the nation are fasting on this day, and why some will not be eating
for weeks. The fasters are calling on Congress to enact strong climate
legislation this fall, which is why the fast is taking place today, the day that
Congress begins its fall session.
Ted Glick,
Coordinator of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council and whose fast will be
open-ended, going for weeks, explained that, “We are not eating as a way to
remember those who can’t eat because of food shortages. Their numbers will grow
significantly if we don’t address the climate crisis. Move severe droughts and
flooding, Hurricane Katrina-, Dean-, and Felix-like storms, glacial melting and
sea level rise will lead to extensive crop failures and economic and social
disruption on a massive scale. The U.S. must give world leadership to
slow, stop and reverse global heating.”
The Climate
Emergency Fast is the first-ever national action of this kind. It was initiated
and is being coordinated by the U.S. Climate Emergency Council (http://www.climateemergency.org).
The fast has been heavily promoted by faith groups across the U.S. Spokespeople
from three major religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – spoke at the
press conference, including the Reverend Bob Edgar, former General Secretary of
the National Council of Churches.
“The
climate crisis is a moral issue,” explained Rev. Bob Edgar. “Humankind has a
responsibility to be good stewards of the earth and it is time for the U.S. to
take global warming far more seriously and enact meaningful legislation to
address the crisis at hand.”
Fasters are
calling upon the U.S. Congress to pass strong climate legislation, which would
include a moratorium on any new coal plants, a freeze and major reductions of
carbon emissions, and a $25 billion down payment in fiscal year 2008 for
conservation, efficiency and renewables.
Those
fasting around the country include author and activist Bill McKibben, Rev. Bob
Edgar, former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Rev. Jim
Wallis of Sojourners, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus, Rt. Rev.
Chilton Knudsen, Episcopal Bishop of Maine, Rabbi Warren Stone, Environmental
Chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Brent Blackwelder,
President of Friends of the Earth, Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, Van Jones of
the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate
Action Network and Ilyse Hogue of MoveOn.
The
U.S. Climate Emergency Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
rigorous grassroots action in the fight to stop global warming and promote a
clean energy future.
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