We sent a letter to the 17 brave House Republicans who stood up for action on climate change

Monday, March 20, 2017

To the Sponsors and Co-Sponsors of the Republican Climate Resolution,
Representatives Carlos Curbelo, Elise Stefanik, Ryan Costello, Mark Amodei, Don Bacon, Barbara Comstock, John Faso, Brian Fitzpatrick, John Katko, Frank Lobiondo, Mia Love,  Brian Mast, Pat Meehan,  Tom Reed, David Reichert, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Mark Sanford,

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you!

We are Before It’s Too Late, an initiative led by almost 40 students from nine universities, using interactive storytelling and simulations in virtual reality to awaken and unite people to take action on climate change. We are writing to thank you for being courageous and inspiring voices during this imminent crisis facing our generation.

Climate change is an urgent threat, yet many people are not motivated to act, and it has even become a partisan issue rather than the all-American issue that it is. In this unnecessarily politicized environment, your actions give us hope and faith in our leaders. We are deeply grateful to your team for joining your voices to highlight this as an important issue and to demand swift, bold action to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Thank you for being the Republican representatives who have broken the partisan divide to focus on an American issue.

Our team is currently working with the Southeast Florida Climate Compact to develop our first virtual reality experience for South Florida, which has been dubbed “America’s ground zero for climate change.” We are bringing attention to the calamities, solutions and interdependent systems around sea level rise in South Florida, including impacts to freshwater supply, jobs, housing, the Everglades and the ocean ecosystems. We are also building empathy and narratives for the diverse people and communities within Miami, from those who are most vulnerable to the bold solutions drivers among our community, business and municipal leaders. We are tremendously excited about our partnership with South Florida, not only because the effects are visual, current, and we believe our platform has the potential to drive real change, but because the stakeholder group in Southeast Florida is so strong. There is a real communication across four counties and regional organizations to drive bipartisan solutions.

In conclusion, we reached out to thank you for being the voices for solutions on an urgent issue within a challenging political environment. It fuels us with more energy to pursue our initiative, which we are proud to share with you.  We think that the time is vital for Americans all around, from our systemic leaders such as yourselves, to our grassroots citizens such as us, to unite and engage in a challenging dialogue to drive necessary action and solutions.  We hope that together we can transform the narrative on climate change by opening hearts and bringing people together behind a common cause #beforeitstoolate. To learn more, you can visit us at vrbeforeitstoolate.org and follow us on twitter @vr_bitl.

Thank you again.
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Sincerely,
​The Before It’s Too Late Team

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and Adriana Marquez (Hult), Albert Elias (FIU), Anastasia Forte (FIU), Anna Hassan (George Mason), Annabelle Santos (FIU), Armando Rubi (UMiami), Catherine Mieses (FIU), Cindy Castro (FIU), Erick Pinos (MIT), Jacob Lowenstein (MIT), Jen Ballen (MIT), Johanna Falkenhagen (FIU), Leslie Ovalle (FIU), Lisa N. Johns (UMiami), Lisbette Castillo (FIU), Maanya Condamoor (Yale), Mike Drachkovitch (MIT/Harvard), Natasha Doherty (UPenn), Roxanne Rahnama (MIT), Russell Darrow (UMiami), Sara Rafsky (MIT), Sean Charles (FIU), Shelby Servais (FIU), Tatiana Delgado (FIU), and Trevor Thompson (Yale)