NAACP Joins the Fight for Clean Energy At Centennial Convention, NAACP Partners with National Wildlife Federation
To Support New Energy Economy and Combat Climate Change
New York (July 14) – The ranks of clean energy advocates now includes the NAACP, signaling that Americans from all walks of life support taking action to combat global warming and recharge America’s economy. Today the NAACP approved a historic resolution addressing climate change for the first time in the organization’s history.
During the legislative session of the NAACP Centennial Convention, delegates ratified a climate change resolution “to work with the National Wildlife Federation” to support legislation that curbs global warming pollution. Calling on our nation’s elected leaders, the NAACP resolution pledges to “ensure that the response to climate change can take a higher ground than business as usual – one that ensures that we capture the real public benefits from the new energy economy.”
“At its Centennial Convention, the NAACP has opened a new front in the fight for clean energy,” said Jerome Ringo, past chairman of the National Wildlife Federation Board of Directors and president of the Apollo Alliance. “When the United States negotiates an international treaty in Copenhagen this year, Americans must be united in our commitment to curb global warming pollution. NAACP is signaling that unity will include the African American grassroots.”
“This is a breakthrough moment on the path to our clean energy future,” said John Grant, National Wildlife Federation Board of Directors and CEO of 100 Black Men of Atlanta. “Clean energy is the key that will unlock millions of jobs, and the NAACP’s support is vital to ensuring that those jobs help to rebuild urban areas.”
“Although everyone feels its effects, the impacts of global warming are disproportionately severe among communities of color,” said Marc Littlejohn, manager of Diversity Partnerships, National Wildlife Federation. “We need to protect low-income Americans, who spend a much larger share of income on energy-related expenses. We need to help Americans working in carbon-intensive industries transition to clean energy jobs.”
Passage of the American Clean Energy & Security Act in the U.S. House has provided a major opportunity to move legislation to the President’s desk this year. The White House and Congressional leaders are committed to making clean energy a priority. Now, we need to keep the clean energy bill moving in the Senate – and make it even stronger. Clean energy will allow us to begin cutting the pollution that is already affecting our communities and natural world, reinvest in our economy, and help families and workers.
National Wildlife Federation is America’s conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.
Contact: Aileo Weinmann, Communications Manager, 202-538-5038, weinmanna [at] nwf [dot]org
[...] Well, today the NAACP took a step that could help put these issues higher on the table and to help bridge that Black-White divide with passage of a resolution on clean energy at its centennial convention. [...]