California is in a climate emergency. Year after year, our state grapples with escalating climate impacts. Wildfire seasons are getting worse. We’re either in a drought or preparing for the inevitable drought. Carbon emissions fueling the climate crisis are polluting communities and leaving families to deal with the public health consequences now.
There is an urgent need to address the climate crisis quickly. Scientists have set a 2030 deadline for policymakers to take climate action and avert climate catastrophe. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a groundbreaking report that is a “code red for humanity”, laying out different climate scenarios based on different levels of climate action our leaders take.
Let’s be clear: The climate crisis is here and Black, Indigenous, people of color have been bearing the burden of our pollution-based economy for generations. We have the solutions to stop climate change, but we lack the political will to do it at the necessary rate and scale.
However, we know now these solutions go beyond conservation. To reflect this shift, we are changing our organization’s name to CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS (EnviroVoters).
Since its founding in 1972, our organization’s mission has evolved. Land and water conservation remains a critical priority for our organization, but if we focus on conservation alone, we won’t be able to protect our public lands or natural resources. California’s landscapes and public lands are being ravaged by the climate crisis, but conservation is not enough to save them. We can’t talk about conservation without talking about climate, and CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS reflects this shift.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS is an inclusive moniker that encompasses our organization’s priorities. While Conservation remains a critical part of our mission, we must look at the bigger picture if we are to solve the climate crisis. This includes innovative solutions in the areas of Agriculture, Clean Energy Economy, Natural Resources, Public Lands & Resiliency, Strengthening Democracy, Toxics & Pollution, Transportation & Land Use and Workforce Transition.
Conservation on its own will not solve the climate crisis and protect our future and environment. It will require a transformation of our economy towards clean energy solutions that phase out oil and gas industries, which have been the single largest source of global warming. To accomplish this, we need climate champions to have the courage and vision necessary to lead the way.
At CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS, our vision is to build resilient, connected, healthy communities, and create a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all. This means:
- Building power to include underrepresented voices from communities of color—Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AAPI and other people of color, who have been bearing the biggest burdens of the pollution-based economy for generations—to have a voice in the democratic process.
- Using climate action to advance justice, and
- Creating a global roadmap for bold climate action which exports solutions to the climate crisis globally.
We only have until 2030 to avert major climate catastrophe, so we must be laser-focused on using all the tools at our disposal to accomplish this goal. This means in addition to conservation, we must look at climate justice, clean energy, and expanding democracy.
Solutions to the climate crisis exist, but the political will to implement solutions at the rate and scale science tells us is needed does not.
California, as the fifth largest economy in the world and a progressive environmental leader for decades, plays an outsized role in leading the transformation. Voters across the state and party lines agree – protecting our environment and solving the climate crisis are top priorities. We’re going to need everyone in the fight against the climate crisis, and CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS (EnviroVoters) reflects the current moment.
