Last week, three tornadoes ripped through South Jersey, including one here in Burlington County. Dozens of homes were completely destroyed – so much so that even news outlets said they "looked like a bomb went off inside." Elsewhere in the state, torrential rains flooded streets and homes. Even parts of the terminal at Newark Airport flooded.

At the same time, New Orleans officials were working around the clock to restore power.

In California, thousands of people evacuated South Lake Tahoe as the Caldor fire spread.

And in Minnesota, "The Land of 10,000 Lakes" suffered through its worst drought in recent memory, while fighting massive wildfires of their own.

For years, scientists warned us about the coming dangers of climate change.

They're no longer "coming." They're here. The climate crisis is now.

Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its first report since 2014. There was a lot of bad news – the crisis is getting worse, it's happening faster than we anticipated, and people are going to suffer.

But there was also a note of ...well, not good news, but hopeful news: Working together, we can fix this. If humanity acts boldly and quickly to cut carbon emissions over the next 20 years, we can avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

The United States must lead the global effort to cut emissions; we have the industrial, economic, and scientific strength to drive real change (while creating jobs, making our communities healthier, and rebuilding roads and bridges).

But to take that climate leadership role in the world, we need strong leadership here in the US. That's where our movement comes in. We're taking on the special interests that seek to preserve the status quo. We are working to elect a Congress with the courage to act now.

We've taken some big steps in the last few years, but corporate polluters and fossil fuel lobbyists are spending big to roll back our progress. Let's pull together now to preserve the progress we've made – and keep pushing forward. Please chip in $9 today to keep building this movement.

I'm proud to stand with you in this fight.

Andy