Issues

CLIMATE CHANGE

Project Green and Grey’s only priority is addressing climate change. Because of our changing climate, we are already seeing damage to communities across the U.S. and the world. Effects include severe droughts, more powerful storms, larger wildfires, flooding, sea level rise and economic impacts. 2012 was the hottest year (July, 2015, the hottest month) on record in the continental U.S. The decade between 2001 and 2010 was the warmest our planet has ever seen.

We are paying a high price for inaction. According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, extreme weather events are costing the U.S. $485 billion per year.

We must reduce carbon pollution and other heat-trapping gases responsible for global warming by modernizing the way we produce and consume energy. Today, much of our energy comes from fossil fuels—coal for electricity and petroleum to power our vehicles. These dirty sources are emitting the majority of greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming. Our response should include using less energy, energy efficiently, and promoting clean energy like wind and solar power. These changes will create millions of American jobs, improving our health and strengthening our national security.

MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY

The media spent 5% LESS time covering the climate in 2015, a year that included the full implementation of the Clean Power Plan and subsequent stay in the Supreme Court, Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change, the rejection of the Keystone pipeline, and the historic agreement in Paris. This number would have been even worse except it included the substantial amount of coverage of climate denial and criticism from FOX News.

According to a February, 2016 report by the group, Media Matters, “The decline was primarily driven by ABC, whose climate coverage dropped by 59 percent; the only network to dramatically increase its climate coverage was Fox, but that increase largely consisted of criticism of efforts to address climate change. When the networks did discuss climate change, they rarely addressed its impacts on national security, the economy, or public health, yet most still found time to provide a forum for climate science denial. On a more positive note, CBS and NBC — and PBS, which was assessed separately — aired many segments that explored the state of scientific research or detailed how climate change is affecting extreme weather, plants, and wildlife.”

EXECUTIVE ACTION

Project Green and Grey supports President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the first national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants. Power plants account for roughly 40% of the pollution driving climate change. This plan builds on the successful actions many states have already taken to clean up their power sector and provides a flexible framework that allows states to craft the solutions that work best for them.

CLEAN ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION

Federal policies to reduce greenhouse gasses and promote clean energy are necessary to tackle the climate crisis. It is critical that we enact national policies to tackle climate change but the politics are not conducive to passing a bill at this time. Project Green and Grey is working hard every day to ensure we are ready when the opportunity to pass federal legislation presents itself.

Project Green and Grey also opposes laws that set barriers on clean energy sources, such as the fees recently placed on residential solar arrays by state governments in Wisconsin and Arizona. We support the bi-partisan, Climate Solutions Caucus in the US House of Representatives established in February of 2016. We also support the Keep It in The Ground bill concurrently introduced in the US House and Senate in February of 2016.

TOWARD A GLOBAL CLIMATE SOLUTION

Project Green and Grey supports establishing a global climate treaty. We worked for grassroots support for the substantial goals met by the United States at the United Nations’ International Climate Conference (COP21) in Paris in December of 2015.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

Project Green and Grey recognizes that one of the biggest barriers to climate action on the federal level is the influence of big money in politics, made much worse by the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. We support actions, such as Constitutional amendment efforts, that would overturn this case in order to bring a more democratic process back to the American political system.