To: Rep. Ben Luján (NM-3), Sen. Tom Udall (NM-1), and Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM-2)
Fight Climate Change--Stop the TPP!
Don't fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a corporate trade deal that will fuel the dramatic increase in carbon emissions and sabotage serious efforts to combat climate change, enslaving governments to the will of multi-national corporations and unelected tribunals in the pockets of the polluters.
Why is this important?
In December, the world will reach its deadline to hash out a global-climate treaty, some calling it our last chance to save the planet. But what good is a climate treaty if the nations that sign it lose their sovereignty to multi-national corporations?
Trade deals such as NAFTA and the TPP bestow corporations with outrageous new powers, including the right to directly challenge participating governments for enacting any measures that jeopardize their profits. These corporate grievances are heard by unelected, unaccountable trade tribunals—and as history has shown, the energy and mining giants will seize on them to try to gut all manner of environmental laws. The expansion of such agreements has gone hand in hand with the accelerating rise in greenhouse gas emissions. In short, this corporate free trade model that the TPP represents isn't only destabilizing our economies—it's also a key reason why our governments have failed to come to grips with the climate crisis. If President Obama and the U.S. Congress are going to be serious about climate change, they need to start by rejecting the TPP.
Trade deals such as NAFTA and the TPP bestow corporations with outrageous new powers, including the right to directly challenge participating governments for enacting any measures that jeopardize their profits. These corporate grievances are heard by unelected, unaccountable trade tribunals—and as history has shown, the energy and mining giants will seize on them to try to gut all manner of environmental laws. The expansion of such agreements has gone hand in hand with the accelerating rise in greenhouse gas emissions. In short, this corporate free trade model that the TPP represents isn't only destabilizing our economies—it's also a key reason why our governments have failed to come to grips with the climate crisis. If President Obama and the U.S. Congress are going to be serious about climate change, they need to start by rejecting the TPP.