To: Madison's Aldermen/women

Divest Madison from Fossil Fuels

Madison should immediately freeze any new investments in fossil fuels, and divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within 2 years.

Why is this important?

Our local government has a responsibility to divest from an industry that is destroying the future of our earth, and reinvest in solutions to reverse the impending disastrous effects of climate change.

Madison, along with many other parts of the world, endured one of the hottest and driest summers in history in 2012, causing far below-average production on Wisconsin farms, loss of electricity due to overwhelming use of air conditioners, water shortages, and a national emergency. Scientists directly connect human abuse and addiction to fossil fuels to the increasingly destructive effects of climate change.

The opportunity to reverse the damage is now. We must end our fossil fuel addiction and become dependent on healthier alternatives to reduce pollution, thereby lessening the inevitable and irreversible damage of climate change. We must weaken the power of the fossil fuel industy by using the solutions we have at our disposal. Madison must decrease its need for fossil fuels by investing in more and improved public transportation, offering incentives for use of public transportation and bikes, and making public transportation more affordable and of higher quality. Madison needs better and more convenient bus routes and schedules. Access to free or inexpensive bike rentals is on the rise, but must continue to increase and become an even more popular trend. Public transportation must be accessible to all members of the Madison community and its surrounding cities and towns.

We won't see any political progress until we unite at the local, then state, then national level. We can not rely on the federal government, backed by its corporate and Big Oil sponsors. We the People need to make some noise, and we need to get louder...NOW.

We want to be able to tell future generations that we tried to reverse the unhealthiest human activities and use healthy alternatives to heal the planet and help people become healthier in the process. We want to be able to tell future generations that we succeeded in reversing climate change by putting ourselves in recovery from fossil fuel addiction. :)

How it will be delivered

I will deliver the signatures to the Madison Aldermen/women in person.

Madison, WI

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