President Bush’s Energy Plan
Your help is needed to ensure that perspectives of faith and values help shape the national discussion on energy policy.
On May 18, 2001, thirty-nine of the nation’s most senior religious leaders released an open letter to President Bush, the Congress and the American people, calling for moral reflection on the country’s energy policy. Describing conservation as a “personal and a public virtue – a comprehensive moral value,” they urged that all Americans “reflect carefully and speak clearly from their deepest moral and religious convictions about the President’s recently announced energy plan.”
While the President’s energy plan does offer some new programs and investment in conservation and efficiency, the plan does not yet meet Biblical standards of stewardship and justice. It will not help the environment, it will not protect our health, it will not do much for low income people with high energy bills, it won’t help consumers facing blackouts and high gasoline prices, and it won’t even help us be less dependent on foreign oil.
The President’s plan doesn’t even acknowledge the most lasting impact of our energy policy – it’s effect on global warming. Global warming is a proven fact, and it threatens the whole planet, especially poor people around the world. The President’s plan is just another step in his retreat on global warming. It’s only going to make the planet hotter.
Conservation is a personal and a public virtue, a comprehensive moral value, through which we fulfill obligations to our Creator, creation itself, future generations, and people around the world. Energy conservation is faithful stewardship of creation. Energy conservation is intergenerational responsibility. And in light of global warming, energy conservation is justice for all people and all nations. Conservation should be the foundation of our national energy policy.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Answering the call of our nation’s most senior religious leaders, tell President Bush that we have “a moral obligation to choose the safest, cleanest and most sustainable sources of energy to protect and preserve God’s creation.”
Sign the attached postcard to President Bush. And pass out postcards in your synagogues and community centers and to people attending “Let There Be Light” events in your community. COEJL will forward postcards in bulk to President Bush just before the International Climate Negotiations: COP 6.5 in Bonn, July 16-22, 2001.
“Let There Be Light” (Gen 1:3): An Interfaith Call for Energy Conservation and Climate Justice
Dear President Bush,
As a Jew, it is my belief that we have a moral obligation to protect God’s creation, provide for future generations, and effect justice here and abroad. Energy policy must reflect these values. To do so requires us to quickly transition away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy and choose the safest, cleanest, and most sustainable sources of energy. The most lasting impact of our energy policy will be its effect on global warming. Your plan ignores this, even though you agree global warming is a major challenge. Through conservation, efficiency, and new technologies, we have the opportunity to create a clean, bright, and sustainable energy future. Though your plan offers modest support for some conservation programs and new technologies, it is steeply titled toward expanding our use of energy sources which cause global warming, foul the air with pollution, and poison the land with radioactive waste. We must do better – for our children and grandchildren, for the earth, for the poor and vulnerable around the world – and, ultimately, for our Creator.
Sincerely,
Signature:_______________________________
Name:__________________________________
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Address:_________________________________
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