Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on your re-election victory.

Four years ago at this time I was inspired and hopeful that we had elected a leader who would tackle the difficult issues of our time.  Someone who would “prepare the nation for a new age,” as I heard you say in your inaugural address while wrapped in a thick blanket on that bitterly cold day on the mall in Washington, D.C.

Today, I am hopeful again—this time more cautiously so—that the next four years will be better than the last four in so many ways.

And that we will continue to have a President who will fight to address economic injustice and inequity and who will work to create peace in the world and not clamor for more war.

I also want a President who will understand and address the growing energy, climate, water and ecological crises that we face as a Nation and as a global community—which are unified in our dependence on our precious planet earth.

Though I am no economist, I worry deeply that our economic debt is symptomatic of the same behaviors and policies that create so many of our environmental problems: simply put, we are deficit spending our natural heritage at the expense of future generations. Our economic and environmental debts, when viewed together, create an even more worrisome picture of the future.

There is one universal challenge that all elected leaders face—to leave a brighter future for their citizens.

While you savor your victory and contemplate your vision for the next four years, I’d like to share my vision of how to create a brighter future for our environment and our people.

• Create a new, clean energy economy . We need a carbon tax whose basis is both moral and economic; fossil fuels are killing the planet and Sandy’s wrath is just the latest example that the climate crisis is upon us. While it’s true that Americans want energy independence, it’s also true that the continued use of fossil fuels is endangering other core freedoms like a clean, safe environment. That’s unacceptable.

• Safeguard America’s endangered species. Whether gray wolves, sperm whales or tiger beetles—all species have a right to exist. It’s our moral and ethical imperative to protect imperiled species, as is beautifully articulated in the Endangered Species Act. We must defend and strengthen the Act to ensure that future generations inherit an earth as beautiful and diverse as the one we enjoy today.

• Protect our wetlands and rivers. Aquatic ecosystems are vital, now more than ever, and the Clean Water Act is a cornerstone of protecting these vital arteries of life. In a warming, overpopulated world it is critical that we do more to ensure that rivers have secure flows and that wetlands are protected as filters to pollution and buffers to intense weather events.

• Defend our last wild public lands. One of the most enduring and unique aspects of America’s natural heritage is simply that we still have wild country left. That’s because we have public lands that keep these places wild. Places like the Greater Gila in New Mexico and Arizona, the Roan Plateau in Colorado and the Red Rock canyon country of Utah. We want you to not only defend the ideal of public lands, but also use your authority under the Antiquities Act to protect these last wild places.

I promise that WildEarth Guardians will do our part to keep the pressure on Congress—and frankly you and your administration as well—so that you have the popular support and the necessary mandates to create a worthy legacy over the next four years.

Finally, though vision alone won’t get the job done, we need a return to the expansive vision that you kindled in your first campaign and that inspired so many Americans.

An expansive vision, and the will to implement it, is what’s needed to rise up and solve the challenges of our time.

Good luck,

John Horning
Executive Director
WildEarth Guardians
jhorning@wildearthguardians.org

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