Climate change doesn’t discriminate by age. My grandma has watched her beautiful home near the Washington coast creep closer and closer to the Pacific Ocean each year, and my younger siblings don’t know a summer without stretches of triple-digit ‘record-shattering’ heatwaves. My parents work hard to keep up with increasing bills and my cousin faces water shortages in California, evacuating every summer to escape the wildfires that decimate millions of acres across the nation. A new term, climate anxiety, refers to the distress and symptoms of depression that follow each natural disaster and blockade of a bill in Congress that might keep CO2 emissions out of our atmosphere.
To most of us, the future is hopeless.
To members of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby community, hope is endless.
In June, I traveled 4,270 miles with members of my community via ferry, train, and public transportation to speak with our Alaskan Representative and Senators about three bipartisan bills introduced to Congress this term– the PROVE IT Act, Increase TSP Act, and Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act– to express our concerns about climate change and understand how to collaborate across political parties, industries, and the nation to work on slowing the effects of climate change. It was my first time on the East Coast, my first trip without my family that wasn’t a science expedition or camping trip with friends and colleagues. This conference in June was not my first time speaking with state legislators (that was when I was eleven, speaking with Governor Kate Brown about Oregon’s endangered gray wolves) but it was my most impactful encounter with activism at the federal level to date.
CCL’s Student Summit and lobby day prepared over 1,000 volunteers from 4 nations to meet with legislative teams in over 442 meetings. Besides the opportunity to meet and mingle with countless climate activists with unique backgrounds, all of us were able to attend educational sessions where we learned more about different types of activism, inclusion of all people in climate policies, strategies to get your voice heard by Congress, the policies we were supporting, issues in neighboring states, impacts on the economy, and more. I met retirees who grew up in the Jim Crow era, professors with years of background in ecosystem sciences, Republicans who want to preserve Michigan winters for their grandchildren, mothers from immigrant families working on growing food for their community in their spare time, ex-commercial fishermen concerned about our empty salmon runs, and students skipping exams to shake hands with their Senators and show support for these bipartisan bills. Everywhere you looked, individuals came together to share their story and open up to be better stewards of the environment.
I’m a firm believer that sustainability must be accessible to all in order to be achievable; I’ve been in environmental groups that think I’m too harsh when I express support for tax on carbon emissions, and I’ve been shamed for pointing out that electric cars and plastic-free homes aren’t a realistic option for everyone. CCL was BY FAR the most open and diverse climate advocacy organization I’ve ever met with, and with the scholarship I was awarded from the organization, making it from Anchorage to Washington DC was easily achievable. This has been the most straightforward way to see change, and in my mind the most impactful work I’ve done in the climate community ever. In fact, just a few weeks after meeting with Representatives and Senators, the PROVE IT Act– which will allow the Department of Energy to, for the first time ever, study the emissions produced by American industries and compare them to those produced in other nations– was successfully introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives! This bill is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and so many more organizations. It would provide the public with honest data and draw back the curtains to show the world our rigorous standards for production of plastic, aluminum, crude oil, paper, biofuels, natural gas, and more are working to limit our emissions and environmental impact. I was thrilled to learn that Senator Lisa Murkowski is a cosponsor of this bill; her legislative team is one of four I had the honor of meeting with, and her leadership in bipartisan climate policies has earned her the respect and support of many Alaskan constituents.
My idol, Rachel Carson, said, “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” With each incredible member of CCL I meet, my climate anxiety fades away and I feel empowered to collaborate with those around me to make a true difference in my community. Thank you to everyone that has had their hands in climate work; you have a voice and your story deserves to be heard. CCL gave me the opportunity to listen, to learn, and to speak up for my friends, family, and loved ones. We’re all impacted by climate change, Alaskans possibly understand that more than anyone else. CCL peels away the highly divisive side of climate activism to create accessible, affordable, achievable change for all constituents. They make it easy to participate in your community, simple to learn more, and inevitably they open you up to an organization of support and hope– they’re a shining beacon in a world so often drought with disappointment and climate anxiety, they’re tireless in their efforts to make a difference, and it’s working.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get involved with CCL, hear more about my experience in the capitol, or find your place in the climate-minded community in Anchorage, please reach out to me at acjared@alaska.edu