In 2019, the 47th Ward Green Council declared a climate emergency, calling on Ald. Martin and City Council to do the same. Ald. Martin introduced a resolution in January 2020 and it was approved by the full City Council the following month. Now, we as a city must act like it’s the emergency we declared. While the Green Council seeks to educate residents about actions they can take to show care for the environment, we recognize that individual action alone is not enough. We must seek systemic change that holds polluters accountable and prioritizes decarbonization as quickly as possible. The climate emergency declaration by the Green Council follows:
Today we face an existential crisis. Carbon pollution is causing the warming of average global temperatures, leading to increased and intensifying wildfires, floods, rising seas, diseases, droughts, and extreme weather. Scientists at the United Nations have warned that limiting warming to even the dangerous level of 1.5 degrees Celsius will require an unprecedented transformation of every sector of the global economy by 2030. Restoring a safe and stable climate requires an emergency mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II in order to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Therefore we, the 47th Ward Green Council, declare that a climate and ecological emergency threatens our ward, city, state, nation, civilization, humanity and the natural world. We commit to a mobilization effort to reverse global warming and the ecological crisis. We strongly encourage community organizations and individuals within the ward and the wider city to similarly declare a climate emergency and to act accordingly.