Extreme Weather Messaging

Intensified hurricanes, wildfires, and heat waves are converging at the height of a pandemic, putting communities all over the country at risk. The need for climate leadership from Washington has never been more dire.

As hurricanes barrel down on the Gulf South and Atlantic, and fires rage across the West, we cannot settle for incremental change. 

We need solutions that match the scale of the crises in front of us. The THRIVE Agenda presents a bold new vision to revive our economy while addressing climate change, racial injustice, public health, and economic inequity. 

We can take steps right now that help our communities recover and leave them stronger than they were before. We need leaders who are working to make sure we can weather any storm. The THRIVE Agenda lays the foundation for a country that can respond to climate disasters, take care of our communities and first responders, and start building a future we can all believe in.

Any response to climate-fueled disasters must put people first. The THRIVE Agenda centers the leadership of frontline workers, Black and Indigenous communities, communities of color, and those most affected by climate change, racial injustice, and economic inequity.

Talking Points

Climate-fueled extreme weather events have staggering impacts on people and communities. 

• Our greatest concern is for the communities in the path of these increasingly frequent and devastating events and the first responders putting their lives on the line. We owe it to them to do everything we can to fight for real climate solutions. 

• More people than ever are feeling the devastating impacts of climate change. They deserve allies on Capitol Hill who will carry forward the visionary promise of the THRIVE Agenda to build a more just, healthy, and equitable society.

• The THRIVE Agenda centers communities faced with climate crisis, environmental injustice and economic transition in decisions about what their future looks like.

• The THRIVE Agenda will ensure that in the long term, communities on the frontlines get the resources they need, including health care, mental health support, infrastructure revitalization, climate resilience assistance, family-sustaining jobs, and restoration of wetlands and forests, and more.

For decades, scientists have warned us that climate change will lead to bigger, more intense, and more frequent extreme weather events.

• Warmer oceans mean stronger winds, more rainfall, and increased risk of flooding when hurricanes and tropical storms make landfall. Sea level rise is likely to make future coastal storms even more damaging. 

• Higher temperatures, increased aridity, invasive species, and earlier melting of snowpack all lead to larger and more intense wildfires. Record-breaking heat waves across the West have left more dry wildland vegetation to kindle the fires.

• The THRIVE Agenda will invest in averting climate and environmental catastrophes. The plan puts us on the path to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, avoid increasing climate disasters, and build resilience to keep communities safe.

• The THRIVE Agenda presents a long-term plan for addressing climate change, which makes extreme weather disasters more intense and more frequent. New investments will spur the largest expansion in history of clean, renewable energy, emissions reductions, climate resilience, and sustainable resource use. 

Climate disasters are double dangerous during a pandemic.

• The same communities bearing the brunt of climate disasters are still reeling from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These crises cannot be managed in isolation, because they are all interconnected. 

• Western fires present a cumulative threat with the respiratory virus COVID-19, posing greater risks to those with respiratory conditions and communities with air pollution, while also forcing evacuations that could risk potential exposure to the virus.

• According to the CDC, exposure to air pollutants in wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, alter immune function, and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections, likely including COVID-19. (source)

• The THRIVE Agenda addresses these interlocking crises of pollution, climate change, environmental injustice, and public health in a comprehensive vision to build a healthy, just, equitable future for all.

Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working class communities feel the impacts of climate-fueled extreme weather first and hardest. 

• Across the country, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working class communities are most likely to live near toxic facilities vulnerable to flooding and often have the fewest means to evacuate or rebuild when disasters strike (source).

• Government response to climate impacts can’t stop at immediate relief, but must also deliver systemic transformation that centers justice and long-term resilience.

• The THRIVE Agenda calls for 40 percent of investment to go to communities that have been excluded, oppressed, and harmed by unjust practices to support job creation, pollution reduction, and climate resilience. 

Climate denial is not a victimless crime.

• Lives are already being lost to climate-intensified extreme weather disasters. These events are tragic reminders that the fossil fuel industry must be held accountable for its role in the climate crisis, not bailed out at taxpayers’ expense. 

• For years, scientists have warned us that climate change will lead to bigger, more intense, and more frequent major storms. But they're not the only ones that knew; the fossil fuel industry did too — decades ago. 

• While millions of people were struggling to pay rent and put food on the table during the coronavirus pandemic, big oil and gas companies received more than $70 million in bailout loans (source).

• The long-term safety of our communities relies on reducing climate pollution — keeping forests healthy to draw down climate pollution and moving away from fossil fuels.

The THRIVE Agenda is a bargain, it’s the climate crisis that’s going to break the bank. 

• Climate-fueled disasters cost the global economy $150 billion in 2019 alone (source).

• Between 2010 and 2019, the United States experienced 119 climate disasters that caused damages of $1 billion or more. That’s more than double the previous decade (source).

• Climate-fueled disasters are already fueling conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises around the world (source).

• The economic cost and catastrophic loss of life that will result from unabated crises of climate change, mass unemployment, racial injustice, and a global pandemic will be far more damaging than paying to work on solutions now. By passing legislation that abides by the principles of the THRIVE Agenda now, we save money — and lives — down the line. 

Dos + Don’ts

For positioning THRIVE in the context of hurricanes, fires, and climate-fueled weather events. 

DO

Emphasize that climate change makes extreme weather disasters more intense and more frequent, and refer to the best available science on the topic. 

Point to the human impacts of extreme weather events, with particular emphasis on marginalized and underserved communities. 

Position the THRIVE Agenda as a long-term vision for addressing climate impacts and inequality. 

Wherever possible, use these phrases: climate disaster, extreme weather, climate-fueled, climate-intensified, wildfire

DON’T

Imply that climate change caused any particular extreme weather event, unless referring to a specific attribution study about that event.

Talk about extreme weather events abstractly without discussing human impacts.

Position the THRIVE Agenda as immediate relief in the context of any given extreme weather event. 

Avoid these phrases: natural disaster, forest fire, tragedy