New York, NY — 350.org supporters across the country are calling their Senators this afternoon urging them to delay any vote on Rex Tillerson’s nomination as Secretary of State until Tillerson comes out publicly against Trump’s Muslim Ban. The “No to the Ban, No to Rex” page is being shared across social media and calls are beginning to flood into Senate offices.
Jamie Henn, 350.org Strategic Communications Director issued the following statement:
“As CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson helped fuel the climate disruption that is one of the root causes of the current refugee crisis. Now he wants to work for a boss who is slamming the door in the face of those very refugees. Trump’s Muslim Ban is immoral and unconstitutional. If Tillerson won’t oppose the policy, then it’s yet another reason he should be rejected. Climate denial and the denial of human rights go hand-in-hand. We need a Secretary of State who has dedicated their life to helping vulnerable populations, be they impacted by wars or climate disasters, not an oil company CEO who profited at their expense.”
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Contact: Lindsay Meiman, [email protected], +1 (347) 460-9082
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Additional sources on connections between climate impacts and refugee crisis:
- Climate Change Will Make Sudan ‘Uninhabitable’ As Global Warming Dries Crops And Threatens Rural Communities, International Business Times
- Climate Change Helped Spark Syrian War, Study Says, National Geographic
- Researchers Link Syrian Conflict to a Drought Made Worse by Climate Change, The New York Times
- The Ominous Story of Syria’s Climate Refugees, Scientific American