Some of Iowa's top leaders, including many state representatives, Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, and State Senator Rob Hogg, a leading candidate for US Senate, all Democrats, along with hundreds of Iowans, have signed the "Pledge to Mobilize," calling for “a World War II-scale mobilization” to fight climate change — and at a rally on Thursday, they called on presidential candidates campaigning in Iowa to do the same.
The Pledge calls on the US government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 by enlisting tens of millions of Americans to work on clean energy, agriculture, and carbon withdrawal projects — creating full employment in the process.
From Vice Motherboard:
It’s likely the most ambitious pledge to fight climate change put forward this election cycle, even if right now, it's a symbolic gesture aimed at drawing attention to climate policy during the high season of presidential campaigning.
“It is our unique opportunity as Iowans and our unique obligation as Iowans to talk to the candidates about climate change,” Hogg said in a statement. “Every presidential candidate in the 21st century needs a plan to address climate change… if we led an urgent, all-out effort globally on this issue, we could slow down, stop and reverse the buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and safeguard our people and our property from the real dangers of climate change.”
The “WWII-scale mobilization” framing has been around for years now, at least since the environmentalist Lester Brown argued that the world needs to see “climate action on the scope of WWII mobilization” back in 2008.
More from Vice below.
A grassroots campaign called Climate Mobilization has taken the framework to heart, and has been organizing around the concept. Their pledge had previously attracted a handful of state-level politicians and a much longer list of scientists, celebrities, and authors. Organizers with the group helped draft the pledge that the Iowa Democrats signed.
“Top environmental analysts have known for decades that our best hope to save civilization from runaway global warming is a massive, WWII-scale mobilization of the economy delivered at emergency speed,” Ezra Silk, the Deputy Director of the Climate Mobilization told me in an email. “The problem is that many within the environmental movement think a Climate Mobilization is politically unrealistic and have instead advocated market-based reforms that simply cannot decarbonize the economy quickly enough."
"Today’s event demonstrates that mainstream politicians can and will embrace a realistic approach to saving the climate if we demand it,” he added.
As ambitious and far-reaching as the agenda sounds, it’s goals are in line with the carbon reduction levels that scientists say we need to achieve to avoid catastrophic warming scenarios.
[...] The signees and organizers are, naturally, hoping that the urgent climate message will be amplified under the glare of the Iowa primary circus. So far, the only candidate to articulate a climate plan that approaches the ambition laid in the pledge is Martin O’Malley, who aims to run the US on 100 percent clean energy by 2050—organizers say that neither Republicans nor Democrats have articulated plans that would reduce pollution enough to avoid catastrophe.
“The science is clear—we must urgently act to safeguard our people and our property from the dangers of climate change,” Hogg said in a statement. “The good news is we have many solutions that work for our businesses, our workers, our farmers, and our health. Every Presidential candidate should put forward plans that address climate change and explain how effective they will be in limiting future damage from climate change.”
Check out
The Climate Mobilization's blog for a more in-depth account, or watch the
video of the whole event.
Des Moines Register: Iowa activists demand war on climate change
Vice: Iowa Democrats Call for a ‘WWII-Scale Mobilization’ to Fight Climate Change
Democracy Now: Broad Global Support for Greenhouse Gas Limits