MEMO: Public Demands Concrete Path Forward for Climate, Jobs, and Justice Investments in State of the Union

*** Senior Sierra Club policy staff and leadership, along with grassroots volunteers, are available to discuss the urgent need for meaningful action on historic investments. *** 

As President Biden prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1, he will do so after months of people across the country demanding that he meet this crucial moment with a clear plan to address the multitude of worsening crises we face. A barrage of recent reports, including today’s IPCC report, have highlighted the significant economic, environmental, and human costs of inaction on climate change. 

For the past year, the voices of millions — such as mine and steel worker union members, teachers, farmers, health care workers, and climate, Indigenous, and racial justice activists — have joined in a chorus of calls for historic investments in climate, jobs, and justice. Members of industrial unions, grassroots leaders, and a majority of members of Congress are all urging Biden to seize this opportunity to chart a path forward for transformational investments.

Sierra Club members and volunteers have been clamoring for Congress to take action on the climate crisis; the rising costs of childcare, eldercare, electricity, preschool, housing, and prescription drugs; critical pollution-related health threats; and disproportionately negative impacts of these crises in low-income communities and communities of color.

In the past several months, Sierra Club’s millions of members and supporters engaged in a groundswell of activity, including more than 109,000 taking action in support of historic investments to address these interlocking crises, which includes:

• More than 37,000 individual calls to President Biden and Congressional offices in support of investing in our shared future

• More than 32,000 personal messages to Congress

• More than 6,800 individuals registered for events such as lobby visits, rallies outside of congressional offices, community gatherings to contact members of congress, phone banks, and press conferences

• More than 1,100 attendees of activist trainings to organize for these historic investments

People across the country have made it clear that failure is not an option. In his State of the Union address, President Biden must outline a path forward for Congress to craft and pass a deal with sweeping investments in climate and environmental justice and clean energy jobs in order to meet his commitments to support working families, counter racial and economic injustice, and cut U.S. climate pollution in half by 2030. The eyes of millions of Sierra Club members and supporters and a movement of movements will be watching. 

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