We're Not Going Anywhere

It’s becoming clearer that our biggest challenges just got much bigger. As President Obama and Congress wrap up their term in the lame duck session, and as President-Elect Trump prepares to take office, the list of corporate lobbyists who are facilitating the transition is frightening. They’re seizing any opportunity to cash in on influence-peddling. While any new administration brings changes, and while we can’t know for certain exactly what the Trump Presidency will bring, we are already seeing a major attack on the environment that includes denying climate science.

If you’re feeling discouraged in the face of these challenges, I understand that. We all need time to process what the results of the election mean for our country and our movement.

But today, I’m feeling inspired, and that’s because of supporters like you. Last night, I met with Food & Water Watch members who joined us on the phone and on Facebook for a virtual town hall. I shared with them what we’re up against after the election, particularly with a Trump White House, and how we’ll take this on together. Those challenges are massive, make no mistake. But I was so impressed and encouraged by the determination of the folks who joined us, who asked smart questions and clearly see the importance of continued action in the face of powerful corporate opposition. They’re worried, even afraid – but they know, as I hope you do, that difficult times like these are the times to get to work.

I’m so grateful to have you and all our members with us right now. In fact, as we announced on the town hall, one of our donors is so determined to stand up to Trump that she’s matching all donations right now. If you’re with us and ready to get to work, can you chip in?

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Donald Trump sold himself as a political outsider who wants change, but make no mistake: he’s appointing Washington insiders and corporate lobbyists who want to continue buying public policy. They stand for deregulation, for privatization of our essential resources like drinking water, and for decisions that benefit the polluters, not regular people. In the crucial first 100 days, we expect cabinet appointments who come from the corporate world or are industry-friendly – including the Department of Energy, where his reported top pick is a modern-day oil tycoon, and the Environmental Protection Agency, where he is reported to be appointing a climate change denier. With your help, we’ll oppose such appointments.

We also know that infrastructure will be a top priority in the first 100 days, and we’re already making plans for a major push to make safe, reliable water pipes part of any national infrastructure plan. This will be an uphill battle, but we can’t allow another Flint. We’ll need your help to make sure our elected officials hear that clean water matters to us all – and that drinking water matters more than corporate profits.

That’s not all we’ll take on in 2017. We’ll carry on the Clean Energy Revolution we began this year. Donald Trump doesn’t believe in climate change, but that doesn’t make its threat any less urgent; we can’t wait around for our leaders to decide to address it. We’re going to fight against every backward step on climate that the new administration proposes, and where federal gridlock prevents progress on the national level, we’ll work on the state and local level to continue to push for the transition to 100% renewable energy that we so urgently need. We’ll keep fighting against dangerous, polluting pipelines like the Dakota Access Pipeline. We’ll continue our efforts to ban fracking in local communities, on the state level, and everywhere. We know we can win on these issues locally: we saw that in Monterey County, California, where voters banned fracking last week.

And I promise you this: no matter what happens, we’ll carry on working with you to put people ahead of corporate profits, wherever new threats arise.

You can watch the full recording of the town hall here:

Many folks on the call asked about what this means for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, in the wake of rumors that this trade deal is dead. Food & Water Watch members have always fought hard to stop the TPP, which would undermine years of victories and make our upcoming campaigns that much more difficult to win, giving even more power to too-powerful corporations. We need to stay vigilant to keep the TPP from coming back in the lame duck – but its passage seems more and more unlikely, and that’s thanks to you.

The TPP is a great example of why we need to keep fighting even when the odds are against us. When it was first announced, it was broadly supported by elected officials. But we knew better, and people came together from across movements – environmentalists, labor activists, internet freedom activists, and more – to work against it. Together, we went all in to stop the TPP, and we persuaded more and more members of Congress to vote against it. Food & Water Watch and many of our supporters worked incredibly hard to make this happen. If the TPP is dead, it was you who helped kill it, against unbelievable odds – and if we can do that together, we can keep moving forward now.

We need your support more than ever. And right now, if you donate to support our critical efforts to stand up to corporations in 2017, your donation will be matched by a donor who also believes we need to keep fighting, no matter what. I hope we can count on your support.

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