I Support The Green New Deal - We Need A Transformative Energy Plan Today

Governor Ralph Northam, Commonwealth of Virginia

To: Governor Ralph Northam: I support the Green New Deal Virginia and urge you to commit to work collaboratively with our diverse communities and our legislators to develop and implement a comprehensive state-wide energy transformation plan that centers environmental sensitivity, equity, transparency, justice and sustainability in its solutions.

On October 8, 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a special report that stressed the planet is in dire need of urgent care.  The world is currently 1°C above pre-industrial levels, and we are already experiencing the effects such as: extreme weather events, coastal flooding and threatened ecosystems.  If the global temperature is allowed to rise more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, impacts will worsen and may cause irreversible damages to ecosystems, the weather, land coverage, and communities around the world etc.

To further stress the need, particularly with a more domestic perspective, on November 23, 2018, the Federal Government issued the ‘Fourth National Climate Assessment Report’. The climate assessment study which details the damage climate change has already imposed on the American economy and how it will increasingly continue to affect important sectors of the economy and our daily lives including, water, air, agriculture/food production, human health, coastal flooding to name only a few.  It is imperative to limit global warming below 1.5°C. To do so, an unprecedented transformation of every sector of the global economy over the next 12 years will be needed.

In Virginia, everyone is being impacted, particularly marginalized populations, including people of color, immigrants, indigenous communities, elderly, low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and the unhoused who are already disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. This will continue to place an excess burden on frontline and fenceline communities as temperatures increase, sea-level rise, and natural disasters worsen. The majority of the warming can be attributed to the effects of human influences, particularly the affects from the emissions of burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and “natural” methane gas). We need an immediate, new and innovative approach to energy production. This needed energy transformation provides new opportunities to ensure the future of Virginia’s economy is ecologically sustainable, equitable and just for all.  

The plan for a Green New Deal Virginia, to create thousands of good jobs addressing climate change and restoring Virginia’s environment, will recognize that a statewide, industrial, economic mobilization of this scope and scale is a historic opportunity to eliminate poverty in the Commonwealth and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in this transformation. The Green New Deal Virginia believes in the following tenets:

1. A just and equitable ?% renewables plan that leaves no workers or communities behind.

2. Clean air, water and land for all Virginians.

3. Large investments and job-training programs in renewables, building an energy efficient smart-grid, residential and commercial energy efficiency, & more.

4. Investments in local-scale agriculture in communities across Virginia.

5. Prioritize equitable, affordable & clean transportation systems.

I support the Green New Deal Virginia and urge you to commit to work collaboratively with our diverse communities and legislators to develop and implement a comprehensive state-wide energy transformation plan that centers environmental sensitivity, equity, transparency, justice and sustainability in its solutions.

Petition by
Lee Williams
Richmond, Virginia

To: Governor Ralph Northam, Commonwealth of Virginia
From: [Your Name]

Office of Governor Ralph Northam
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218

To Governor Ralph Northam,

I support the Green New Deal Virginia and urge you to commit to work collaboratively with our diverse communities and our legislators to develop and implement a comprehensive state-wide energy transformation plan that centers environmental sensitivity, equity, transparency, justice and sustainability in its solutions.

On October 8, 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released a special report that stressed the planet is in dire need of urgent care. The world is currently 1°C above pre-industrial levels, and we are already experiencing the effects such as: extreme weather events, coastal flooding and threatened ecosystems. If the global temperature is allowed to rise more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, impacts will worsen and may cause irreversible damages to ecosystems, the weather, land coverage, and communities around the world etc.

To further stress the need, particularly with a more domestic perspective, on November 23, 2018, the Federal Government issued the ‘Fourth National Climate Assessment Report’. The climate assessment study which details the damage climate change has already imposed on the American economy and how it will increasingly continue to affect important sectors of the economy and our daily lives including, water, air, agriculture/food production, human health, coastal flooding to name only a few. It is imperative to limit global warming below 1.5°C. To do so, an unprecedented transformation of every sector of the global economy over the next 12 years will be needed.

In Virginia, everyone is being impacted, particularly marginalized populations, including people of color, immigrants, indigenous communities, elderly, low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and the unhoused who are already disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. This will continue to place an excess burden on frontline and fenceline communities as temperatures increase, sea-level rise, and natural disasters worsen. The majority of the warming can be attributed to the effects of human influences, particularly the affects from the emissions of burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and “natural” methane gas). We need an immediate, new and innovative approach to energy production. This needed energy transformation provides new opportunities to ensure the future of Virginia’s economy is ecologically sustainable, equitable and just for all.

The plan for a Green New Deal Virginia, to create thousands of good jobs addressing climate change and restoring Virginia’s environment, will recognize that a statewide, industrial, economic mobilization of this scope and scale is a historic opportunity to eliminate poverty in the Commonwealth and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in this transformation. The Green New Deal Virginia believes in the following tenets:

1. A just and equitable ?% renewables plan that leaves no workers or communities behind.

2. Clean air, water and land for all Virginians.

3. Large investments and job-training programs in renewables, building an energy efficient smart-grid, residential and commercial energy efficiency, & more.

4. Investments in local-scale agriculture in communities across Virginia.

5. Prioritize equitable, affordable & clean transportation systems.

I support the Green New Deal Virginia and urge you to commit to work collaboratively with our diverse communities and legislators to develop and implement a comprehensive state-wide energy transformation plan that centers environmental sensitivity, equity, transparency, justice and sustainability in its solutions.

Thank You