The Climate Mobilization

{{Infobox organization

|name = The Climate Mobilization

|image = Updated_TCM_logo.png

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|formation = 2014

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|type = NGO

|status =

|purpose = build political will for a WWII-scale climate mobilization

|headquarters = New York City

|location =

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|leader_title = Founders

|leader_name = Margaret Klein Salamon, Ezra Silk

|main_organ =

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|website = {{URL|https://www.theclimatemobilization.org|TheClimateMobilization.org}}

}}

The Climate Mobilization (TCM) is a grassroots environmental advocacy group working toward large-scale political action against global warming. It believes that the crisis of climate change requires a national economic effort on the scale of the American mobilization of the home front during World War II,{{cite magazine|last1=Merchant|first1=Emma Foehringer|title=Should We Respond to Climate Change Like We Did to WWII?|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/133423/respond-climate-change-like-wwii|magazine=New Republic|date=12 May 2016}} in order to transform the USA economy speedily.[https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/about/ About]

TCM was founded by Margaret Klein Salamon to confront climate change denial{{cite news|last1=Read|first1=Bridget |title=Margaret Klein: We Need to Talk |url=https://www.guernicamag.com/daily/margaret-klein-we-need-to-talk |accessdate=30 August 2016 |work=Guernica |date=19 September 2014}} and build the political will necessary to achieve the rapid and just transformation of the physical economy and society at large, delivering an integrated package of solutions for a regenerative, zero emissions and safe-climate economy, geared toward reversing global warming and the sixth mass extinction of species as rapidly as possible.{{cite web|title=The Climate Mobilization home page|url=https://www.theclimatemobilization.org|website=The Climate Mobilization|accessdate=16 February 2019}}

History

Since at least 2008, public figures like environmental analyst Lester Brown,{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Lester|title=We need climate action on the scope of the WWII mobilization|url=http://grist.org/article/a-wartime-mobilization/|work=Grist|date=4 December 2008}} former vice president Al Gore, author and energy expert Joseph J. Romm,{{cite news|last1=Svoboda|first1=Michael|title=Covering Climate: World War II-Scale Coverage For a World War II-Scale Effort?|url=http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2010/12/covering-climate-world-war-ii-scale-coverage/|work=Yale Climate Connections|date=12 December 2010}} New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman,{{cite news|last1=Friedman|first1=Thomas|title=The Earth Is Full|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=0|work=New York Times|date=7 June 2011}} writer Naomi Klein,{{cite news|last1=Klein|first1=Naomi|title=How will everything change under climate change?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/08/how-will-everything-change-under-climate-change|work=The Guardian|date=8 March 2015}} and climate activist Bill McKibben{{cite magazine|last1=McKibben|first1=Bill|title=We Need to Literally Declare War on Climate Change|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/135684/declare-war-climate-change-mobilize-wwii|magazine=New Republic|date=15 August 2016}} have called for governmental climate action on the scale of the World War II mobilization to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2011, the heads of leading environmental organizations including 350.org, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and Rainforest Action Network signed a letter to Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao calling for a "wartime-like mobilization" by the governments of the United States and China to cut carbon emissions 80% (based on 2006 levels) by 2020.{{cite web|last1=McKibben|first1=Bill|title=Getting the Message Where It Counts|date=22 January 2011 |url=https://350.org/getting-message-where-it-counts/|publisher=350.org|accessdate=22 January 2011}} However, environmental groups in the United States never organized politically for such an ambitious goal.

The Climate Mobilization was launched in September 2014, before the People's Climate March in New York City, specifically to organize politically around the concept of a rapid, World War II-scale government mobilization against climate change.{{cite news|last1=Dastagir|first1=Alia E. |title='Largest-ever' climate-change march rolls through NYC |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/21/nyc-climate-change-march/16008009 |work=USA Today |date=22 September 2014}} Margaret Klein Salamon, Ezra Silk and allies developed a pledge-based movement-building strategy in which signers agree to vote for political candidates who have signed the pledge over those who have not. The Climate Mobilization's "Pledge to Mobilize" calls on the United States government to commence a World War II-scale mobilization against climate change in order to decrease net greenhouse gas emissions 100% by 2025, deploy a system of removing greenhouse gases (GHG) from the atmosphere with wartime speed, and make reducing net GHGs 100% globally, with the same swiftness, a top political priority.

Throughout 2015, citizen activists in California, Iowa and elsewhere in the U.S. began rallying for World War II-scale national climate mobilization, and spreading the Climate Mobilization pledge to local political candidates.{{cite news|last1=Merchant|first1=Brian |title=Iowa Democrats Call for a 'WWII-Scale Mobilization' to Fight Climate Change |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/iowa-democrats-call-for-a-world-war-ii-scale-mobilization-to-fight-climate/ |access-date=30 August 2016 |work=Vice: Motherboard |date=5 November 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Cook|first1=Linda|title=Group rallies to sign climate change mobilization pledge|url=http://qctimes.com/news/local/group-rallies-to-sign-climate-change-mobilization-pledge/article_f7ce5106-fd69-5aa4-a85b-b4b7fb919363.html|work=Quad City Times|date=22 September 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Petroski|first1=William|title=Iowa activists demand war on climate change|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/11/05/iowans-demand-war-climate-change/75224760/|work=Des Moines Register|date=5 November 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Konstantinovic|first1=Aleksandra|title=San Diegans Rally for Climate Mobilization at City Hall|url=http://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2015/03/15/san-diegans-rally-for-climate-mobilization-at-city-hall/|work=Times of San Diego|issue=15 March 2015}}

In January 2016, The Climate Mobilization sponsored a "Climate Emergency Caucus" in Des Moines before the Iowa caucuses, which simulated the state's 2016 Democratic presidential primary caucus.{{cite news|last1=Haley|first1=Charley|title=Sanders a favorite at climate change rally|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/30/sanders-favorite-climate-change-rally/79551596/|work=Des Moines Register|date=30 January 2016}} Former U.S. Senator Tom Harkin spoke on behalf of candidate Hillary Clinton, and climate advocates Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Nebraska, and Iowa politician and radio host Ed Fallon spoke on behalf of candidate Bernie Sanders. Sanders won 67% of the vote, reinforcing the perception that voters highly concerned about climate change strongly preferred Sanders over Clinton, and that climate voters were a key voting bloc contributing to his competitiveness in Iowa and later primary states.{{cite news|last1=Sheppard|first1=Kate|title=Bernie Sanders Wins On Climate Change In Mock Iowa Caucus Of Activists|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-climate-iowa_us_56afdaf9e4b0b8d7c2304d9b|work=Huffington Post|date=1 February 2016}}{{cite news|title=Iowa Progressives Weigh Clinton vs Sanders as One of Whitest U.S. States Kicks Off Presidential Race |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/1/iowa_progressives_weigh_clinton_vs_sanders |work=Democracy Now! |date=1 February 2016}}{{cite magazine|last1=Leber|first1=Rebecca|title=Bernie Sanders might want to thank climate change voters if he wins tonight|url=https://newrepublic.com/minutes/128871/bernie-sanders-might-want-thank-climate-change-voters-wins-tonight|magazine=New Republic|date=1 February 2016}} Throughout his presidential campaign, Sanders discussed fighting climate change "in military terms",{{cite news|last1=Hains|first1=Tim |title=Bernie Sanders: We Must Fight Climate Change "In Military Terms", Fossil Fuel Money Controls GOP |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/03/15/sanders_fighting_climate_change_in_military_terms_fossil_fuel_industry_controls_gop.html |work=RealClearPolitics |date=15 March 2016}} saying at one point during a debate against Clinton that "if we approach this as if we were at war", the U.S. could be up to the challenge, as it was during World War II.{{cite news|title=Bernie Sanders frames climate change as an urgent existential war|url=http://theweek.com/speedreads/618655/bernie-sanders-frames-climate-change-urgent-existential-war|work=The Week|date=14 April 2016}}

In April 2016, The Climate Mobilization organized a "die-in" outside the United Nations building in New York City during the signing of the COP 21 Paris Agreement,{{cite magazine|last1=Merchant|first1=Emma Foehringer|title=Today's signing of the Paris agreement has environmentalists split|url=https://newrepublic.com/minutes/132940/todays-signing-paris-agreement-environmentalists-split|magazine=New Republic|date=22 April 2016}} meant to protest what the group called the agreement's inadequacy in relation to the scale of the threat of climate change.{{cite news|last1=Fulton|first1=Deirdre |title="Global Elite's Theater": Paris Deal Is Mere Starting Point for Climate Justice |url=http://commondreams.org/news/2016/04/22/global-elites-theater-paris-deal-mere-starting-point-climate-justice |work=Common Dreams |date=22 April 2016}} TCM deputy director Ezra Silk called the agreement "historic in the sense that the Munich Agreement was historic—a catastrophic act of appeasement meant to maintain business-as-usual arrangements."{{cite news|last1=Ware|first1=Doug G.|title=Kerry, 174 leaders sign 'powerful' Paris climate change treaty amid skepticism, protests|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/04/22/Kerry-174-leaders-sign-powerful-Paris-climate-change-treaty-amid-skepticism-protests/9481461283504/|work=UPI|date=22 April 2016}} He explained: "It's widely recognized that this agreement is not even close to what is needed... It doesn't really convey a sense of urgency [so] we wanted to sort of inject some reality into the discussion. We need to go on to an emergency war footing like right now ... The climate is already dangerous, we're already in an emergency. It is understood within the climate movement that this is the kind of approach that is needed. It's just considered politically unrealistic. Our goal is to change the political possibility."{{cite news|last1=Oberhaus|first1=Daniel|title=Paris Accord Protesters: 'We Need to Go to an Emergency War Footing Right Now'|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/paris-accord-climate-mobilization-protest/|work=Vice: Motherboard|date=25 April 2016}}

In July 2016, the national platform committee of the Democratic Party of the United States approved an amendment submitted by Climate Mobilization activist Russell Greene{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=Russell|title=Beyond Paris: Finding the Courage to Face the Climate Emergency|url=http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/07/19/beyond-paris-finding-courage-face-climate-emergency|work=CommonDreams|date=19 July 2016}} committing the party to a World War II-scale international mobilization against climate change: "We believe the United States must lead in forging a robust global solution to the climate crisis. We are committed to a national mobilization, and to leading a global effort to mobilize nations to address this threat on a scale not seen since World War II. In the first 100 days of the next administration, the President will convene a summit of the world's best engineers, climate scientists, policy experts, activists, and indigenous communities to chart a course to solve the climate crisis."{{cite news|last1=Romm|first1=Joe|title=Democratic Platform Calls For WWII-Scale Mobilization To Solve Climate Crisis|url=https://thinkprogress.org/democratic-platform-calls-for-wwii-scale-mobilization-to-solve-climate-crisis-d2f84c22f9ca#.uzmsq72cc|work=Think Progress|issue=22 July 2016}}

Politicians who have signed the Climate Mobilization pledge include San Luis Obispo mayor Heidi Harmon, Des Moines mayor Frank Cownie; Iowa State Rep. Dan Kelley; Iowa State Senator and U.S. Senate candidate Rob Hogg; New York State Senate candidate Debbie Medina; and U.S. congressional candidates Peter Jacob of New Jersey, and Tim Canova,{{cite web|last1=Canova|first1=Tim|title=On the Issues: What Will They Think of Us?|url=https://timcanova.com/issues|website=TimCanova.com|accessdate=30 August 2016}} Darren Soto, and Alina Valdes of Florida.

Advisory board

TCM's advisory board includes:{{cite web|title=Advisory Board|url=http://www.theclimatemobilization.org/advisory_board|website=The Climate Mobilization|accessdate=30 August 2016}}