Protect the Poor in Climate Legislation
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Contact your Senator now (http://actioncenter.crs.org) and urge that the
resulting from the legislation by providing the same level of funding for low-income assistance as in the House bill;
. At a minimum allocate $3.5 billion of funding generated by the bill to international adaptation programs starting in 2012 and increase rapidly to $7 billion annually by 2020 so that people living in poverty around the world can be protected from the effects of climate change.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will likely vote on this climate change legislation this week. This begins a serious and overdue effort to face up to our moral and environmental challenges.
CRS, CCUSA and USCCB seek climate legislation that achieves two fundamental goals: care for creation and protecting the poor and vulnerable—both at home and abroad—who contribute least to climate change, but suffer its worst consequences. While we are encouraged by language in the Kerry-Boxer bill acknowledging the need to protect poor people worldwide, we are deeply concerned that the level of funding for these provisions is well below what is needed.
The Catholic Church brings a unique voice to the climate change debate by lifting up both the moral dimensions of caring for God’s creation and the needs of the most vulnerable among us. The Catholic bishops’ primary concern is to place the life, dignity and needs of the poor and vulnerable at the center of climate legislation. Poor people should not bear an undue burden of the impacts of climate change or the global adjustments needed to address it. To learn about Catholic teaching on climate change, read the June 2001 statement by the United States Catholic Bishops,
The Church promotes prudent action in the face of the growing impacts of global climate change and is seeking common ground for the common good in a very polarized debate. CRS has already witnessed the tragic consequences of climate change in the daily lives of people living in poverty and is working diligently to help affected communities through health, agriculture, water, and emergency preparedness programs in 100 countries. USCCB, CCUSA and CRS are members of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change (CCCC) that invites Catholics to join the Catholic Climate Covenant. Through the Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative, USCCB and CRS are mobilizing one million Catholics to learn, pray and act in support of policies that will help address the effects of climate change on poor people worldwide.
| TAKE ACTION NOWJohn Kerry, MA (sponsor)
Barbara Boxer, CA (sponsor) Richard Lugar, IN Benjamin Cardin, MD Joseph Lieberman, CT Max Baucus, MT Thomas R. Carper, DE Frank R. Lautenberg, NJ Bernard Sanders, VT Amy Klobuchar, MN : Contact your senators (http://actioncenter.crs.org) below who are members of the Environment and Public Works, Foreign Relations and Finance Committees now – through e-mail, phone calls, or FAX letters. |
Sheldon Whitehouse, RITom Udall, NM
Jeff Merkley, OR Kirsten Gillibrand, NY Arlen Specter, PA George Voinovich, OH Lamar Alexander, TN Robert Menendez, NJ Bob Casey, PA
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“What will the year 2009 bring?”