Media Contact: Ricky Junquera, ricky.junquera@sierraclub.org
College Park, MD — Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its scientific findings that will inform its next major climate report, currently expected in 2022.
The alarming findings confirm that the climate crisis has continued to accelerate since the last IPCC report in 2018, and extreme weather events we are already experiencing -- including historic droughts and floods, superstorms, record-breaking wildfires, and unprecedented coastal flooding -- will continue to rapidly worsen unless the world cuts all carbon pollution in half by 2031 and invests in clean energy solutions that reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Yet even after the world moves to a 100 percent clean energy economy, the report confirms that we are already locked into the climate crisis for at least the next three decades; the full severity of the crisis is yet to be determined. These extreme weather events are most heavily affecting frontline, low-income, and communities of color.
In response, Josh Tulkin, Director of the Maryland Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“The world is on fire this summer. We see the undeniable nightmarish consequences of burning fossil fuels all around us, and time is growing short to act. Maryland is one of the most vulnerable states to climate impacts, such as sea level rise and severe weather.
“Any further investments in fossil fuels like gas, oil, or coal are wasted investments and usually uneconomic. We must accelerate the transition off these sources of energy, with a focus on reducing pollution in disproportionately impacted communities. We have the technologies in power production, transportation, and homeservices to do it. But, Maryland needs leadership from its public officials to act now.
“We must more rapidly expand solar, wind, and battery storage, while investing billions of dollars into public transit, walkable and bikeable communities, with smarter growth initiatives. We must retrofit our homes and businesses with clean, efficient heat pumps and other appliances that run on clean, renewable electricity, not dangerous and polluting fracked and fossil gas sent through thousands of miles of leaky and dangerous pipes right under our neighborhoods.
“There are no more excuses. Maryland will either treat this like the crisis it is, or we will let fossil fuel companies burn the planet for profit.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
Founded in 1892, the Sierra Club is America’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. The Maryland Chapter has over 75,000 members and supporters, and the Sierra Club nationwide has over 800,000 members and nearly four million supporters.