To: Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago
Help Support a Bold Environmental Initiative Making Chicagoland First in the US to Launch Cap and...
How about that weather lately? Think there's nothing you can do? You're wrong. In honor of Earth Day, I am an average Joe with big dreams in creating this petition to launch a domino effect that starts with Mayor Emanuel in Chicago and cascades throughout the world. It's non-partisan and really important. So EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT A CHICAGO RESIDENT BUT SUPPORT THE IDEA... please sign and pass it on so our domino can come to a city near you. Mamma Nature thanks you :).
Why is this important?
What I'm proposing is for Chicago to implement a Cap-and-Trade emissions policy for carbon within the city limits, thus creating a proven model that can be replicated and spread throughout the United States and world. The details to be worked out by Mayor Emanuel involve MAJOR producers of greenhouse gases having to buy permits to put a certain amount of emissions into the air. Originally a Republican solution (Reagan, and Both Presidents Bush), this policy would financially incentivize voluntary reductions and conversions to cleaner energy sources. And according to Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in a 10/14/09 USA Today article, the cap and trade impact on employment would be small.
The Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.epa.gov/clearskies/captrade.html) and Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, as well as moderate Republicans and Democrats support this as a viable, market based solution to global warming. We therefore want to start in Chicago and go from there.
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Need more details? Here's a short summary from the US EPA:
"Cap and trade is an environmental policy tool that delivers results with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply. Successful cap and trade programs reward innovation, efficiency, and early action and provide strict environmental accountability without inhibiting economic growth."
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL cap and trade programs IN THE USA include the nationwide Acid Rain Program and the regional NOx Budget Trading Program in the Northeast.
Additionally, EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) on March 10,
2005, to build on the success of these programs and achieve significant
additional emission reductions."
In other words, it has been done in the past and we can do it again. City by city, this petition starts in Chicago. Named the 2014 Earth Hour Capital of the US by the World Wildlife Fund, Chicago is second to none and this proposal will prove that WE DO HAVE THE POLITICAL WILL to change the course of what the U.S. Secretary of State called in a February 17th article on CNN.com "... the greatest challenge of our generation, and we can create the future that everybody dreams of".
You are being called to rise to the greatest challenge to human existence in the 21st Century. I challenge you to get off the couch, sign and spread this petition to answer the call. Be the change that you want to see and thank you.
The Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.epa.gov/clearskies/captrade.html) and Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, as well as moderate Republicans and Democrats support this as a viable, market based solution to global warming. We therefore want to start in Chicago and go from there.
---------------------------------------
Need more details? Here's a short summary from the US EPA:
"Cap and trade is an environmental policy tool that delivers results with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply. Successful cap and trade programs reward innovation, efficiency, and early action and provide strict environmental accountability without inhibiting economic growth."
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL cap and trade programs IN THE USA include the nationwide Acid Rain Program and the regional NOx Budget Trading Program in the Northeast.
Additionally, EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) on March 10,
2005, to build on the success of these programs and achieve significant
additional emission reductions."
In other words, it has been done in the past and we can do it again. City by city, this petition starts in Chicago. Named the 2014 Earth Hour Capital of the US by the World Wildlife Fund, Chicago is second to none and this proposal will prove that WE DO HAVE THE POLITICAL WILL to change the course of what the U.S. Secretary of State called in a February 17th article on CNN.com "... the greatest challenge of our generation, and we can create the future that everybody dreams of".
You are being called to rise to the greatest challenge to human existence in the 21st Century. I challenge you to get off the couch, sign and spread this petition to answer the call. Be the change that you want to see and thank you.