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Dear President Obama,
We write to you with renewed hope and urgency about Americas
response to climatedisruption.
Your speech at Georgetown University in June was historic: the
first time an AmericanPresident has tackled the challenge squarely,
with a strong executive plan and a
passionate call for engagement. Meanwhile, the facts on the
ground documented in the
IPCCs new report and illustrated from the Rockaways to the
Philippines confirm that
we must do more. Your Climate Action Plan represents real
progress in reducing carbonpollution, preparing for inevitable
impacts, and exerting American leadership in
international climate initiatives. Your commitment to place
responsible limits on carbon
pollution from large existing sources is particularly crucial.
We know how difficult it willbe to implement those limits, and we
are with you in that fight to win!
We especially appreciate your commitment to reject the Keystone
XL Pipeline if it
significantly increases climate pollution.In making climate
impact a threshold conditionfor evaluating Keystone XL, you
established a vital principle: we cant keep pouring new
capital investment into making the climate crisis worse. The
International Energy Agency
announced this year that most proven fossil fuel reserves must
remain unburned if we areto have a chance of avoiding catastrophic
climate disruption. Huge new commitments to
long-lived fossil fuel infrastructure make it virtually
impossible to keep that unburnable
carbon in the ground.
Such a step backwards would be particularly tragic now, because
the prospects for real
solutions have never been brighter. In the private sector and in
our communities, the paceof clean energy innovation is
accelerating. From crowd-financing for solar energy and
efficiency, to electric-vehicle technology, to the proliferation
of new transportation
choices in our cities, solutions are rapidly becoming more
available, more effective, andcheaper. Your bold stimulus program
in 2009 and 2010 helped spark many of todays
successful clean-energy initiatives, and a new generation of
young innovators and leaders
are driving these solutions forward.
As we adopt more and better clean energy innovations and climate
reality begins to set in,
fossil fuel markets are beginning to contract. Our biggest fear
is not that we cant develop
enough solutions; it is that huge, new, long-term commitments to
fossil fuel infrastructure
will needlessly prolong fossil fuel addiction past the point of
no return for a livable
climate. We find the argument that Keystone XL will not increase
emissions disturbingly
fatalistic. It rests on the assumption that the tar sands will
be fully exploited with orwithout this pipeline. But other routes
to market, including shipping crude by rail, are
considered by oil industry analysts to be much less economically
viable (which is, of
course, why the Keystone route was chosen.) Furthermore, the tar
sands are one of the
major global carbon reserves that must remain substantially
unburned if we are to avertchaotic climate disruption. Assuming
that they will be fully developed is simply
capitulating. The tenor and content of your climate speech
suggested strongly that you
mean to do the opposite.
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The no impact argument also ignores the crucially important
effect of large capital
investments on energy markets. Keystone XL will facilitate
further exploitation of tarsands by sinking capital, tipping the
balance of incentives toward more production.
These capital investments lock in emission increases for
decades, creating
overwhelming economic pressure to keep digging and burning, and
squandering thecapital we need for solutions. They make the problem
not just worse but intractable.
No single pipeline represents a large proportion of the vast sum
of global emissions.
But Keystone XL is substantively important. It is a big,
conspicuous example of what wemust categorically avoid: long-term
commitments that drive us deeper into fossil fuel
dependence and keep us stuck there. Whether it is the ideal test
of your Administrations
resolve on climate is beside the point. It is, as history would
have it, the real-world test,the one that will for better or worse
be remembered as the watershed. The decision is
about more than the pipeline; its about the principle you laid
out, the principle that we
must stop making the climate crisis worse.
Keystone XL has become a line in the sand for the climate
movement for one other
simple, crucial reason: The decision is yours. Only one human
being is the worlds most
powerful leader at this moment the first moment when we have
truly come face-to-facewith the dimensions of the climate crisis,
and very likely the last moment when we can
commit ourselves to solutions before climate disruption spins
out of control. Your
decision on Keystone XL will be the most visible, direct thing
you do with your power in
this fateful time. It will be the most potent signal you send to
the world, to Americans,
to our kids about our collective determination to do what is
right and necessary to
respond to this crisis.
We remain hopeful, because the person with this power is
you.
Wendy Abrams
Chicago, IL
Getta and Kamesh Aiyer
Cambridge, MA
Betsy Aubrey
San Francisco, CA
Holly Badgley
Mill Valley, CA
Allan BadinerSan Francisco, CA
Nicey and Steve Berkenfeld
Melville, NY
Elwyn Berlekamp
Piedmont, CA
Wendell Berry
Point Royal, KY
Loren Blackford
New York, NY
David BlittersdorfBurlington, VT
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Jabe Blumenthal
Seattle, WA
Suzanne Booker-Canfield
Winnetka, IL
Louise and Robert Bowditch
Brookline, MA
Peter Boyer and Terry Gamble BoyerSan Francisco, CA
Beth BroderickAustin, TX
Mimi and Peter Buckley
Mill Valley, CA
Mark Buell and Susie Tompkins Buell
San Francisco, CA
Leslie Walker Burlock
San Francisco, CA
Kathleen Barry and Bob Burnett
Berkeley, CA
Cassie and Jim Carroll
Seattle, WA
Patience Chamberlin
Exeter, NH
Nina Chen
New York, NY
Aimee Christensen
Washington, DC
Marilyn Clements
Stamford, CT
Noel CongdonDenver, CO
Terry Crowley
Woodinville, WA
Blythe Danner
New York, NY
David desJardins
Burlingame, CA
Meredith DewittChicago, IL
Shirley DinkinsPleasanton, CA
Chris Dolan
San Rafael, CA
Marion Edey
Silver Spring, MD
Andrew Faulk
San Francisco, CA
Calvin and Frances Fayard
New Orleans, LA
Christopher Findlater
Miami, FL
Elizabeth Fisher
San Francisco, CA
James Fournier
Nicasio, CA
Reba and Robert Fournier
Portola Valley, CA
Charles Frank
Highland Park, IL
David Friedman and Rabbi TirzahFirestone-Friedman
Boulder, CO
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Shelby Gans
San Francisco, CA
Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson
Toronto, Ontario
KC Golden
Seattle, WA
Adelaide GomerIthaca, NY
Neva GoodwinMedford, MA
Tony Crabb and Barbara Grasseschi
Healdsburg, CA
Richard Graves
Washington, DC
Julie Gribble
New York, NY
Ken Grossinger
Washington, DC
Eileen and Paul Growald
Shelburne, VT
Andrew Gunther and Teresa Burns
Gunther
Oakland, CA
Martin Gutierrez and Margaret-Takei
GutierrezSan Francisco, CA
Tom HainesNew York, NY
Lawrie Ryerson Harris
Berwyn, PA
Paul Hawken
Mill Valley, CA
Karen Heath
Wilton, ME
Marshall Herskovitz
Santa Monica, CA
Anne HessNew York, NY
Aaron and Barbarina HeyerdahlShelburne, VT
Daniel Hildreth
Falmouth, ME
Gary Hirshberg
Concord, NH
Lawrence Hui
New York, NY
Marion Hunt
New York, NY
Wes Jackson
Salina, KS
Frank Jernigan
San Francisco, CA
Joan Jett
Long Beach, CA
Guyton JinkersonLos Altos Hills, CA
Laurene Powell Jobs
Palo Alto, CA
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Brielle Johnck
Menlo Park, CA
Susan Castner and Mark Kaltenbach
Lake Mary, FL
Joel Kanter
Vienna, VA
Judi KanterMiraga, CA
Larry KeeshanBerkeley, CA
Arthur Keller
Palo Alto, CA
Danny Kennedy
Oakland, CA
Robert Kennedy Jr.
New York, NY
Vinod Khosla
Palo Alto, CA
Michael Kieschnick
Palo Alto, CA
Steve Kirsch
Los Altos Hills, CA
Peter Goldman and Martha Kongsgaard
Seattle, WA
Sarah Kovner
New York, NY
Orin Kramer
New York, NY
Betsy Krieger
Baltimore, MD
Kenny and Meryl Laguna
Delray Beach, FL
Lyn and Norman Lear
Los Angeles, CA
Stephen Lewis
Toronto, Ontario
E. Steve LichtenbergSan Francisco, CA
Crea and Phil LinthilacShelburne, VT
Ruth Lipscomb
Bellevue, WA
Cynthia Daniel and Douglas Lipton
Healdsburg, CA
Henri Lipton
Healdsburg, CA
Oliver Lipton
Healdsburg, CA
Alexandra Loeb
Seattle, WA
Stephanie Low
New York, NY
Mitch Mandich and Rebecca Vitale
Mandich
Palo Alto, CA
Yann Martel
Toronto, Ontario
Mike Mathieu
Seattle, WA
David McClain
Piedmont, CA
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Anna Hawken McKay and Rob McKay
San Francisco, CA
Marni McKinney
Indianapolis, IN
Christina and Murray Mednick
Pacific Palisades, CA
Wilhelm MerckHamilton, MA
Alida MessingerMinneapolis, MN
Eric Michelman
Seattle, WA
Dan Miller
Berkeley, CA
Roger Milliken
Cumberland, ME
Belinda Muoz
San Francisco, CA
Nancy Fleck Myers
Evanston, IL
Terry and Tom Newmark
St. Louis, MO
John OFarrell
Atherton, CA
Anne Bartley and Larry ONeill
San Francisco, CA
Diana Dillaway and David Olsen
Ventura, CA
Richard OttingerWhite Plains, NY
Yolanda Parker
Los Angeles, CA
Dennis Pence
Sandpoint, ID
Carol and David Pensky
Washington, DC
Jamel PerkinsSan Francisco, CA
Robert PerkowitzWashington, DC
Barbara Carlson and Lisa Peters
San Francisco, CA
Mary Pipher
Lincoln, NE
Zach Polett
Little Rock, AK
Catherine Raphael
Pittsburgh, PA
Dee and Mel Raff
Takoma Park, MD
Harry Plant and Amy Rao
Palo Alto, CA
Randy Repass
Watsonville, CA
Mike Richter
Greenwich, CT
Charles Rodgers
Boston, MA
Clayton RubyToronto, Ontario
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Carla Meyer and Vin Ryan
Vero Beach, FL
Guy and Jeanine Saperstein
Piedmont, CA
Tom Sargent
San Anselmo, CA
Terron SchaeferNew York, NY
Baifang and Orville SchellBerkeley, CA
Margaret Schink
Portola Valley, CA
Steve Schmidt
Menlo Park, CA
Wendy Schmidt
Atherton, CA
Heike Schmitz
Palo Alto, CA
Claire Silberman
New York, NY
Rebecca Sive
Chicago, IL
Daniel Solomon
Bethesda, MD
John Sorensen
Truckee, CA
Tina Spring
San Francisco, CA
Margo King and John SteinerLongmont, CO
Nancy Stephens
Los Angeles, CA
Peter Stern
Mill Valley, CA
Faye and Sandor Straus
Lafayette, CA
James SturdevantSan Rafael, CA
Johanna SurlaSeattle, WA
William Susman
Chicago, IL
David Suzuki
Vancouver, British Columbia
Rachel and Ritchie Tabachnick
Carnegie, PA
Margery Tabankin
Marina Del Ray, CA
Brian Arbogast and Valerie Tarico
Seattle, WA
Betsy Taylor
Takoma Park, MD
Ann B. and Glenn Thomas
Louisville, KY
Marisa Tomei
New York, NY
Lynde Uihlein
Milwaukee, WI
Jon UngarScarsdale, NY
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Francesca Vietor
San Francisco, CA
Christy and Scott Wallace
Bethesda, MD
Kathy Washienko
Seattle, WA
Patricia WeberCorvalis, OR
Marcia WeeseVoorhees, NJ
Daniel Weise
Seattle, WA
Nancy Meyer and Marc Weiss
New York, NY
Patricia West
Philadelphia, PA
Marsha Garces WilliamsSan Francisco, CA
Laura YedwabSeattle, WA
To respond to this letter, please contact Betsy Taylor,
Breakthrough Strategies and
Solutions, at (301)-920-1444 [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
