Regardless of where we each may be on the climate denial spectrum – and we’re all on it – the relentless news coverage about the earth-shattering records broken this summer (global earth temperatures, fires, floods and even the hot tub ocean) should be getting our attention.

Leading up to the U.N. Climate Ambition Summit in New York, the youth are organizing the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday, September 17^th.  They are joined by labor unions, faith leaders, environmental groups, artists, writers, the elderly, social justice and indigenous rights groups and, from New Mexico, the Progressive Democrats of America – Central New Mexico, and New Energy Economy. The goal of this action is to persuade President Biden to declare a climate emergency which will unleash additional executive powers to curtail fossil fuel production. It’s not too late to sign up to volunteer to help make the March a success. There are things we can do from as far away as New Mexico. With our record high levels of oil and gas production, New Mexicans who want to see a just transition to renewable energy should be well-represented in the March to End Fossil Fuels.

As reported in June 2023, there are many signs that the end of fossil fuels is on the horizon, including: (1) the world’s largest private oil trader Royal Dutch Shell was ordered to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by the end of the decade by a court in the Netherlands, (2) teenagers in the U.S. and Australia have taken on the oil and gas industry and they’re winning! (3) Chevron’s shareholders voted 61% in favor of forcing the company to slash its carbon emissions, (4) the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that there must be no more new oil, gas or coal if we are to reach net-zero emission by 2050, and (5) a number of prominent U.S. universities have pledged to divest from fossil fuels.

Our New Mexico delegation has the opportunity when they return to Washington to add their voices in support of strong climate action. S.Con.Res.9 and H.Con.Res.37 are concurrent resolutions that there is a climate emergency which demands a massive-scale mobilization to halt, reverse, and address its consequences and causes.  H.Con.Res.56 and S.Con.Res.13 are concurrent resolutions that recognize that the climate crisis disproportionately affects the health, economic opportunity, and fundamental rights of children, and that leadership by the United States is still urgently needed to address the climate crisis. The resolutions call on the United States to develop a national, comprehensive, science-based, and just climate recovery plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions, protect and enhance natural carbon sequestration, and put the United States on a path toward stabilizing the climate system. Representative Stansbury (D-NM-1) has signed on to both resolutions, but the rest of the New Mexico delegation are missing in action.

Our country’s failure to curb carbon emissions rapidly will have profound impacts on each of us, but there are some who are more vulnerable. The U.S. Census estimates nearly a quarter of the population is vulnerable to the extreme heat from rising temperatures, including the elderly, the unhoused, the uninsured, and those without a personal vehicle. New Mexico is dead center in this risk to extreme heat. Jeff Goodell, the author of The Heat Will Kill You First (2023), has captured the reality of rising temperatures in an engaging and informative book that should be a must read for all of us.  His hour-long discussion at the Commonwealth Club last month is worth a listen.  There are also shorter interviews, such as on Democracy Now. We each need to be prepared for rising temperatures.

Finally, the Los Angeles Times has published an extraordinary series on what we can do about climate change – check it out here. We’re never returning to the planet that we grew up in, even if CO2 emissions ended overnight, but we can prepare ourselves and our families for the world that’s unfolding very rapidly. And jump off the climate denial spectrum.

–Lora Lucero