Get Political

The THIS LAND team is having exciting conversations with partners like Protect Our Winters and others who will be helping advise us on what policy steps we can help support and voter education actions we can all take throughout the year. Please sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on screenings and action items for those who want to look at conservation efforts through a lens of equity.

Organizations

Protect Our Winters

POW helps passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change. We are a community of athletes, scientists, creatives, and business leaders advancing non-partisan policies that protect our world today and for future generations.

National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)

The NPCA mission is to protect and enhance America's National Park System for present and future generations. They advocate to protect and preserve National Parks, Monuments, Culturally relevant spaces, wildlife habitat and much more.

Project Drawdown

Project Drawdown is a global research organization that identifies, reviews, and analyzes the most viable solutions to climate change, and shares these findings with the world.

Legislation

The Green New Deal

The Green New Deal is a comprehensive resolution known as H. RES. 109. It proposes moving every aspect of American society to 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030. It would do so by using the tactics employed in Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal for World War II economic mobilizations. That would mean job creation with the aim of securing clean air and water and creating climate-resilient communities. It would also aim to repair the historic oppression of frontline and vulnerable communities by concentrating jobs in previously disenfranchised communities, many of whom were not included in the original New Deal.

If you want to read the whole thing and get familiar, here is the legal language: H. RES. 109
 If you want to understand it in layman’s terms, here is a comprehensive summary created by New Consensus.
 
Want to take action to support The Green New Deal?
Have your representatives signed on to support the Green New Deal? You can look for their names on this list. If they haven’t you can send them a note asking them to using this template. Find the direct email address of your representative here. If they have, encourage them to keep it at the top of their agenda, especially in a time with unprecedented unemployment by using this template. If you prefer phone calls, here is a script you can use. Feel free to personalize, it’s nice for them to hear from you why it matters. Representatives have to account for every note they get from constituents. Sometimes it is the sheer volume that pushes legislation through. Be part of the movement.

Climate Equity Act

Senator and Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris of California and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York unveiled legislation aimed at ensuring that climate change plans benefit low-income communities. They described the measure as a key element of the Democrats’ Green New Deal.

Clean Future Bill

The Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act is an ambitious new climate plan to ensure the United States achieves net-zero greenhouse gas pollution no later than 2050.

LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) a federal program meant to conserve irreplaceable lands and improve outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the nation. The program works in partnership with federal, state and local efforts to protect land in our national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, national trails, and other public lands; to preserve working forests and ranchlands; to support state and local parks and playgrounds; to preserve battlefields and other historic and cultural sites; and to provide the tools that communities need to meet their diverse conservation and recreation needs. LWCF works in every county in the US. See where it is working in your state and get involved.

GREAT AMERICAN OUTDOORS ACT

The Great American Outdoors Act is the biggest land conservation legislation in a generation. It establishes a National Park and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund that will provide up to $9 billion over the next five years to fix deferred maintenance at national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and other federal lands, with $6.5 billion earmarked specifically to the 419 national park units. It also guarantees $900 million per year in perpetuity for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a flagship conservation program paid for by royalty payments from offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters. This act was passed in July 2020. There were 59 co-sponsors. Click here to see if your elected representatives supported this bill. If they did, think about reaching out to thank them, it lets them know their continues support of these measures matters.