The threat of climate chaos from global warming is real. Today, global average temperatures are 1.0°C higher than before the industrial revolution, which spurred our now crippling dependency on fossil fuels. This warming has led to dramatic, planet-wide ecological and climatic changes. In 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that “recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems,” including increasingly frequent violent storms, droughts, floods, acidifying and rapidly warming oceans, and altered growing seasons.

These changes affect everyone. In 2015, nations of the world met in Paris at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and agreed that preventing the planet from warming 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels “would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.” This will require aggressive action to reverse our dependence on fossil fuels and achieve 100 percent clean energy worldwide. Protecting the planet and our ability to live on it requires transforming how we meet our energy needs.