Sierra Club: The climate crisis requires that we begin to plan for the unimaginable

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club’s National Director of Campaigns, released the following statement in response to the ongoing storms hitting the Midwest and Southern states and the dangerous situations being reported on the ground. 

“These unprecedented winter storms are leaving millions of people stuck at home with no electricity, heat, or water. The safety of these communities must be our first priority, while we also look ahead to the next disaster on the horizon. The climate crisis requires that we begin to plan for the unimaginable, from increased temperatures like those experienced by Californians in 2020, to the bitter cold causing millions of Texans to lose power. 

“We remain focused on supporting communities most impacted by this storm. While the fossil fuel industry and their supporters have rushed to falsely blame these blackouts on clean energy, the facts on the ground are clear - much of this failure lies at the feet of gas and coal power plants that couldn’t run in the cold, and an old electric grid that’s not sturdy enough for a changing climate. 

“As we emerge in search of a path forward, we simply cannot rely on the outdated thinking that led to a grid dominated by coal and gas power plants emitting climate pollution that make the problem worse -- a grid that wasn’t built for climate-driven extreme weather. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build an energy grid that relies on innovative solutions, better planning, community energy generation, and more resilient systems that can withstand the extremes of climate change. In the aftermath of these horrendous storms, our goal moving forward should be to keep people safe, make their homes and communities more resilient, and drastically reduce devastating climate pollution from fossil fuels. If we don’t, we’re only going to face more extreme circumstances that put millions of lives at risk.”