We Know the Solution
My speech from the September 20th Climate Strike in Salt Lake City.
Listen to this speech on SoundCloud
I don’t need to tell you why we’re here, you showed up. I don’t need to tell you that the 1 degree warmer world we live in today is already killing thousands and displacing millions. I don’t need to tell you that air pollution in Utah causes thousands of deaths and miscarriages every year. I don’t need to tell you that a world warmed more than 1.5 degrees is genocide and child abuse. Because you know, you showed up.
Take a moment to make eye contact with the friends, family, and strangers standing beside you. We’re here together. Look them in the eyes — we’re in this together. This is what democracy looks like! This is what our power looks like! When we share this power with each other, it grows.
My name is Russ Fugal, and this is humanity’s race. This is our race to save the future. When our planet is under attack, what do we do?
STAND UP FIGHT BACK!
Climate science tells us that current policies of allowing fossils to burn will warm the world 1.5 degrees by 2030. We don’t know what a 1.5 degree warmer world looks like, but we know what a 1 degree warmer world looks like. It looks like Cyclone Idai, like Hurricane Maria, like Harvey and Dorian. It looks like Paradise, California; like smoke filled skies, deadly heat waves, and algae blooms on Utah Lake. It looks like refugees in the Bahamas told to get off the boat. It looks like detention centers in Texas, where teenage mothers soak shirts with breast milk while their children cry in cages. We don’t know what a 1.5 degree warmer world looks like, but scientists have painted a frightening picture of their predictions. The house is on fire.
Do me a favor; hold hands.
We have our hands on the thermostat. Now say this with me.
We will choose, we will decide, we will fight to turn the tide.
We have our hands on the thermostat. This is what our power looks like. This is what democracy looks like. This is what our humanity looks like.
Climate science tells us that current policies of allowing fossils to burn will warm the world 1.5 degrees by 2030. It also tells us that if we will stay below 2 degrees, not to mention 1.5 degrees, we need economy changing reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and an end to all emissions by 2050. We are out of time, the time to act is now.
They knew that global heating was a threat 30 years ago, when the average U.S. Senator of today was my age. In those 30 years they’ve knowingly added as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as they did in the previous 200 years. One third of fossil burning emissions in all human history have polluted our air in just the last 16 years. They knew that global heating was a threat 30 years ago, when the average U.S. Senator was my age. We don’t have 30 more years. Before I reach their age, burning fossils will be illegal. Business as usual is suicide. Business as usual has no tomorrow.
This changes everything, the economy and the politics we need to secure our future do not exist right now, but the technology and the solution does. We know the solution. No more coal, no more oil. Keep carbon where?
IN THE SOIL!
Say it with me.
No more coal, no more oil! Keep your carbon in the soil!
Economy changing reductions in carbon emissions are needed by 2030. A just transition must include benefits to uplift and empower workers who may be hurt by the transition to a more green economy, including those currently employed in the fossils industry.
We have our hands on the thermostat. Look around you. When our planet is under attack, what do we do?
STAND UP FIGHT BACK!
We will choose, we will decide, we will fight to turn the tide. Who will choose?
We will choose.
Who will decide?
We will decide.
Say it with me.
We will choose, we will decide, we will fight to turn the tide.
It takes a lot of energy to heat up the air, the land, the ice, and the sea. Large amounts of energy, these tend to get measured in tons of TNT — explosives. The bombs this country dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki released the energy equivalent of 40,000 tons of TNT, killing about 100,000 people on the days of the bombings, and many more in the weeks and years afterward.
So all this carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it captures energy, reflecting heat back to earth. Half a degree or one degree of warming can sound so small, but the energy these man-made greenhouse gases have captured is equivalent to hundreds of millions of bombs like the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since scientists weaponized splitting the atom in Trinity, New Mexico, humans have been capable of causing our own extinction. What’s saved us so far is that no one has been crazy enough to use these weapons in combat since; not yet. We are safe as long as we do not allow these weapons to be used again, as we’ve done.
But burning fossils is different. We don’t simply store coal, methane, and oil, just in case. Business as usual, within most of our lives, will kill millions more than the Holocaust did. If Adolf Hitler had the atomic bomb we would have done anything to stop him, we would have transformed our economy, we would have spent anything, we would have fought. And that’s what our mothers and fathers, their fathers and mothers, that’s what they did. People today are making enormous profits and consolidating power today by burning fossils, they will not stop, and they must be stopped. Business as usual has no tomorrow.
Look around you. We hold the power in our hands. This is what democracy looks like. If you have friends, family, and coworkers who are not here, you need them here next time. This race against time, this isn’t my race, or his race, or her race, or their race. This is our race, this is humanity’s race. This is our race to save the future. And we have a plan to win.
This document here, it’s called the Green New Deal. It’s only 14 pages, and I want you all when you go home to read it. This congressional resolution doesn’t authorize any money to spend, and it doesn’t outlaw cows, or ice cream, or vacations, or anything. This is an inspirational document, a standard and a vision, that clearly and concisely states the problem and outlines the framework of what a solution looks like. This is our plan to win. It talks about decarbonization and a just transition. It talks about the economic consequences and opportunities. It talks about frontline communities, about coal miners out of work, about environmental justice, about rewilding, soil health, and access to healthy food. It talks about jobs and training. It talks about living fully when economic pressures are dehumanizing.
This document does not need to pass the Senate; it doesn’t even need to pass the House. Simply by existing and being talked about, this document has already changed the conversation. This vision is our plan to fight. This is our D-day. This document and Greta Thunberg, together at once inspired me to be an activist. It inspired me today to run for Congress.
When you go home today, read this document. The crisis we face — the climate crisis, the economic crisis, the political crisis — these crises we face cannot be solved with green consumerism, though we need to be green. They cannot be solved with a vote every one, two, or four years, though we need to vote. The politics, economics, and innovation of the last 30 years have done nothing to reduce emissions. We need to stand together, holding hands and raising voices in the streets. We need to stand together, often and in real life, and not lost in likes and shares online. We need to read the Green New Deal, talk about a Green New Deal, book club a Green New Deal, advocate for a Green New Deal, dream about a Green New Deal, and demand a Green New Deal. I’m Russ Fugal, and this is Humanity’s Race. To support my campaign, please go to HumanitysRace.com. Thank you for showing up!
Further Reading
