STATE OF THE UNION: THE UNITED STATES IS NOT PREPARED FOR CLIMATE IMPACTS IN THE GULF SOUTH OR APPALACHIA

President Biden gave his third State of the Union Address last night, and for the third year in a row, the initiatives to address the United States’ role in abating the global climate crisis were neither visionary nor sufficient. While the president did touch on several issues related to global warming, including cutting down on carbon emissions, creating thousands of clean energy jobs and land and water conservation, his solutions fall short of addressing the root causes of the problem, including the extraction of fossil oil, gas and coal. Instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. and other countries continue business and consumption patterns that create and maintain this global ecological imbalance.

Communities in the Gulf South and Appalachia are on the front line of climate change, facing compound pollution, violence against women, loss of biodiversity and a growing economic wealth divide. This comes from industries like Oil and Gas, which are most responsible for accelerating the global climate crisis, and creating an economic imbalance that will make it hard for people to plan, prepare or recover from the anticipated impacts.

The following statements can be attributed to Taproot Earth’s Executive Leadership Team,
Colette Pichon Battle and Anthony Giancatarino:

“Communities of the Gulf South and Appalachia have been on the frontlines of fossil energy extraction in the United States for decades. Along with toxic jobs and generational health impacts, the combination of government neglect and corporate greed have created some of the largest wealth divides in our nation while accelerating the climate crisis across our world. The science shows that the planet is warming faster than we anticipated. The data shows that the impacts will be global, with the worst impacts on those who contribute least to the problem. This is not a moment for more investments in the fossil fuels infrastructure greenwashed as incremental change. We cannot continue to applaud policies that sacrifice working-class communities and entire regions built on legacies of extraction and harm. And we cannot ignore the role that our nation’s consumption patterns, trade policies and financial systems play in this global climate crisis. Now is the time to redefine labor as more than jobs that harm our health and destroy our planet. Now is the time to prioritize our collective health as our collective wealth. Now is the time for leadership with the courage to abandon the practice of profits over people. We must choose now. Time is running out.”

– Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., Vision & Initiatives Partner

“We believe that solutions must come from the bottom up. We call on President Biden to advance the vision of climate justice arising from the frontline communities of his working-class Appalachian and Delaware watershed roots. President Biden calls for a future of possibilities, but incremental climate and immigration policies rooted in scarcity or fear will only limit our ability to reach the horizon where we can all live, rest and thrive in the places we love. We need bold and transformative solutions at home and abroad, starting with our very borders. As a climate justice organization, we know that the crisis at the border is fueled by many realities including the loss of land and water due to extractive economic practices and a lack of healthy and safe democracies due to the global rise of fascism and authoritarianism. The climate crisis will only exacerbate these challenges. Frontline communities have already shown solutions of welcoming climate migrants, building sustainable housing for all, and supporting community care of water, energy and land. We urge President Biden to listen to the people experiencing the climate crisis. President Biden and all our leaders must be brave in the face of fear and not give into the politics and policies of border walls, isolationism, and individualism. If we want to survive, we must choose now to advance the common good.”

– Anthony Giancatarino, Strategy Partner

Taproot Earth strives to create a world where we can live, rest and thrive in the places we love through adequate climate justice, democracy and black liberation. We choose now to call on political leaders to acknowledge and repair the harms of extraction and racialized capitalism, as we continue to build power and cultivate solutions among frontline communities.