Tell your Senators: Protect communities from Big Polluters.

The climate crisis cannot be solved without addressing the role of agriculture. But Congress is trying to use agriculture as a means to allow Big Polluters to keep polluting frontline communities.

The proposed Growing Climate Solutions Act would allow farmers to receive credits for storing carbon that can be sold to Big Polluters -- giving them a green light to continue business as usual. We need your help to stop this bill from harming communities already struggling with pollution and our planet.

Dear Senator,

I’m writing to urge you to oppose the Growing Climate Solutions Act. This legislation would fail to solve both the climate crisis and the farm crisis we are currently experiencing. On the contrary, it would likely exacerbate these crises.

More than a decade of carbon trading has shown clearly that carbon markets have been gamed to benefit polluters, have failed to reduce emissions in line with science, and have even led to increased emissions in many cases. Less than a decade remains to have any reasonable chance of keeping global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions must be absolute reductions without any possibility of offsets.

Carbon trading has exacerbated pollution hotspots in low-wealth communities and communities of color in the U.S. and throughout developing countries. Inadequate safeguards have led to human rights abuses, violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and forest dwellers, land rights conflicts, and environmental devastation.

Additionally, this bill will not help America’s small-to-medium scale, beginning, diversified or socially disadvantaged farmers. Voluntary carbon markets are a guise for Big Ag to greenwash their operations and continue to pollute communities. Similar programs have historically disproportionately benefitted the largest operations and left family farmers behind.

The companies supporting the Growing Climate Solutions Act want USDA to endorse their Big Data operations meant to collect as much on-farm data as possible and monetize it. There are currently no mandatory protections for farmer data, and USDA recommending these programs will provide cover for shady data dealings.

I urge you to oppose the Growing Climate Solutions Act.

Thank you for your consideration of this pressing matter.

Sincerely,
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{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~Postcode}

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