Climate Change

Climate Change
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This generation faces a threat that is truly existential, and how we respond to it will be our legacy. If the industries of the world continue on their current paths, it will be truly apocalyptic. The damage caused by hotter temperatures, rising sea levels, and vast increases in both the frequency and scale of natural disasters will lead to multifaceted harm, some of which we can account for, much of which we cannot. What we do each day has the potential to save countless lives years from now. For that reason alone, it is a moral imperative for me to pursue the strongest possible path toward climate stability.

We all have images in our heads of the immediate effects of climate change: massive floods, sprawling forest fires, drought, storms, and deadly heat. But the damage could extend far beyond these most immediate effects. One direct result from climate change is the large-scale destruction of crops due to heat. The initial consequences would be starvation, unemployment, and farmers in crippling debt. These are conditions for mass protests and likely an economic depression. Some governments will attempt to crack down on this dissent, leading to violence and unjust imprisonment. Others will fail to meet the demands of their citizens, leading to the emergence of far-right strong men who will offer impossible solutions, and deliver only death and the dissolution of civil rights. We know this partially from historical examples of the collapse of governments, but also because it may have already happened. There is abundant evidence to believe that the crop failures that set off the Arab Spring in 2011 were caused by climate change. And over a decade later the region is still crippled by instability and despair. The reason why so many people have been crossing the Mediterranean to get to Europe and dying by the thousands is likely a ripple effect of climate change.

There is also a public health consequence to consider. Polluted air and water are causing a significant increase in chronic illnesses (not something I would personally wish on anyone), like asthma, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. It also has a very likely potential to cause another pandemic, which is not something I imagine any of us would want to experience again in our lifetimes.

Climate change provides perhaps the greatest contrast between the Democratic and Republican parties. The Republican party denies the existence of climate change because they represent the biggest causes of it, including the oil and gas companies. Congressman Molinaro for instance has taken thousands of dollars from the American Petroleum Institute, and has in turn voted against every regulation on that industry that has been proposed. GOP policies not only completely ignore the responsibility to fight climate change, but actually make it worse. So if the prospect of a burning, impoverished, and increasingly violent planet sounds appealing to you, you should certainly vote for the Congressman. But I would like to present a different choice.

The direction we can move in, the direction I would help take us in, is to take the challenge of climate change and turn it into an opportunity to transform our economy into a force for good. Over the past century our economy has been built upon the principles of inequality, exploitation, and profit for the sake of profit. More often than not it has come at the expense of the most vulnerable among us, sacrificing our health, our time, and our humanity. The Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed in 2022 has been the largest step forward in fighting climate change, but the most critical step will be its implementation. The new economy should be designed to reduce inequality not grow it, to reduce the health impacts of industry, to avoid displacing communities, especially Native communities, and the bulk of the wealth generated should be returned to the workers and communities that created it, rather than already rich investors who had no impact on the success of the business.

The way to do that is by making it easier for people to form unions, increasing funding for agencies like the FTC to prevent monopolies and properly regulate industry abuse, and the most powerful force, a vigilant and focused electorate. A significant amount of the implementation will be the responsibility of local governments. So it is incumbent upon us to hold them to those standards, and should they fail to do so consider something like running for office ourselves, as well as joining grassroots advocacy groups that can provide guidance and strength through numbers on how best to influence public policy.

I know the path ahead appears daunting, almost catastrophic in nature, but I would not be running if I believed we were doomed. We fortunately know what we must do, how to do it, and who is standing in the way. On top of that, we now have major legislation to build off of for the first time in history. What I want the legacy of this generation to be is that we faced incredible odds against some of the most powerful syndicates in the world, and achieved a miraculous victory for the entire planet, saving countless lives in the process. That we didn’t just put our heads in the sand and wished the problem away, but stood up and demanded better, and when we were not heard, took matters into our own hands. That is the future that we are fighting for.

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The Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed in 2022 was a turning point when it came to fighting climate change. For the first time in history, it feels like there is real momentum toward combatting this challenge at the highest levels of government. With the foundation laid, we now have something to build off of and the rest of the economy is following suit. The task ahead is to prevent oil-money Republicans from sabotaging further progress and continuing to transition to a clean economy. Climate solutions appear to be especially susceptible to deception and con artistry (plastic “recycling”, “net-zero” emissions), so this transition will require vigilance from all of us as we navigate this new world, doing what we can to mitigate the damage and prepare for more frequent and more intense weather conditions.

Climate Change

Policy List

Essential Articles