The global water system is the foundation of life itself. Every farm, every city, every supply chain, and every human depends on it. A threat to water is a threat to life. Right now, that threat is visible from space.

Glaciers hold nearly 69 percent of all the freshwater on Earth, and they are beginning to give way under rising temperatures. In Nepal this summer, one of the worst glacial floods in recorded history tore through the Himalayas, leaving roughly 1,400 people dead and thousands still missing.

This is not a distant problem. It is already on its way to us. And now we are in an El Niño year.

Every few years, a sudden shift in the Pacific Ocean’s surface temperature sets off extreme weather across North and South America—and human greenhouse gas emissions are making those events longer, hotter, and more destructive. The current El Niño is projected to cause up to $5.7 trillion in damage worldwide, striking everything from agriculture and fisheries to homes and infrastructure. NOAA has declared that the imminent El Niño event could become the strongest on record.

Here’s what too many people have forgotten: the United States already knew how to address all of this.

Through USAID’s climate programs, the U.S. helped safeguard more than 60 million hectares of the world’s rainforests, brought hundreds of thousands of megawatts of clean energy online, and prevented more than 450 million tons of carbon emissions. In Vietnam, USAID helped stand up an entire clean-energy industry—cutting emissions while opening new markets for American technology. That is what smart foreign assistance does: it protects people abroad and pays dividends at home.

Then we walked away.

Since the United States pulled its development aid out of Southeast Asia, Russia and China have rushed into the gap, selling themselves as the new suppliers of energy and technology and chipping away at American influence one deal at a time. When Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, it exposed how dangerous a fossil-fuel-dependent world remains, and how badly we need American leadership in the energy transition to counter the dominance of other actors. Every program we cancel is a lost opportunity to strength our economy, national security, and global leadership.

None of USAID’s climate support was charity. American foreign assistance was designed to de-escalate conflict, build partnerships, soften the blows of climate disaster, and stop disease outbreaks before they reach us. Helping other countries build their own resilience saves American taxpayer dollars, because the cost of responding to famine, conflict, and disease is always higher than the cost of preventing them. Restoring our international climate aid isn’t a favor to the world. It is an investment in our own security, our own markets, and our own leadership.

That’s where you come in. The Alliance for American Leadership is fighting to restore the programs that keep our country safe, respected, and prepared for what’s coming — and we can’t do it without you. Chip in to support our work today, and help us carry this fight to Congress. Every contribution, large or small, keeps an advocate at the table and a voice in the room.

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“All the indicators, to me, point to the impacts of warming trends,” said Alton Byers, a mountain geographer at the University of Colorado Boulder. The permafrost that held high-altitude rock, ice, and soil together for millennia, he explained, is weakening and coming apart.

With the globe warming and El Niño reaching our shores and those of our allies, the time to act is now. If we prepare, we save lives and dollars. If we retreat, the losses will be immense. Let’s choose to lead.

And before you go! Don’t forget to RSVP to an evening with the man who blew the whistle on DOGE as it threw USAID into the wood chipper. Nicholas Enrich, author of Into the Wood Chipper will be joining us on Sunday, October 4th for an evening of conversation, food, drinks & music in Arlington VA beginning at 5:30pm.

RSVP below to secure your spot.

Evening with Nick Enrich