Polar Plunges May Not Be So Polar Due To Climate Change

Ruth Metcalfe is a Kennebunk High School student who participated in our Fall 2020 Climate Advocacy Methods Program.

It’s heartening to hear the annual (what I used to call) Polar Plunge in Kennebunk is still happening amidst the uncertainty of this year. As a student at Kennebunk High School, I’ve spent the past year learning about the effects of climate change on our precious coastline through a Gulf of Maine Studies course that connects the University of New England, the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, and high school students in the pursuit of climate solutions and understanding. Cold waters seem inevitable in Maine, yet I am worried that our plunges in the Atlantic will become less and less chilly. Sea level rise and warming ocean temperatures threaten the basis of our coastal communities, which is why action on the legislative level is vital. 

I urge The Portland Press Herald to focus on the importance of these climate issues and solutions, one solution being H.R. 763: The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Supporting local communities while protecting our oceans, this bill is exactly what Kennebunk and all coastal communities need for a chance at a sustainable future (and one that is not completely under water). I thank The Portland Press for keeping Mainers informed on local issues and look forward to news on climate solutions from Representative Pingree and Senators King and Collins. 

This is the article I choose to response to: https://www.pressherald.com/2020/12/29/community-news-88/ 

Name: “Atlantic Plunge scheduled for Saturday” - Portland Press Herald 

Has COVID-19 Helped or Harmed the Environment? It's Up to Us.

Elise Rueppel is a rising high school sophomore outside of Boston. She loves the outdoors and spends her summers hiking, kayaking, and camping.

If you are looking for a concrete answer there isn’t one. I believe that the real answer lies in what we have learned throughout the past six months and how dedicated we remain to the environmental movement through the ups and downs that are inevitable for the future due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. While we need to stay focused on the current public health crisis on our hands, we cannot forget about the climate crisis and the ways that COVID-19 responses have and will continue to have an impact. Let’s look at a few examples, If you remember back to the early days when “Quarantine,” and “Unprecedented” were new words, the world was in lockdown. Travel was frozen, and nobody was going to work or even the grocery store. This proved to be a great gift to the environment because emissions plummeted to amazingly low levels. This was because transport contributes to roughly 25% of the world’s emissions, which was reduced with the slim number of cars on the road and planes in the air. 

Industry contributes approximately 20% of emissions which was also reduced due to the shutdown of factories and businesses. In such a short period of time we were able to see how the environment was able to rebound, and many cities experienced their cleanest air ever. Unfortunately, while the world reopens, the levels have been rising again, although there is still a 5% reduction from the 2019 levels. This shows us what is possible, and highlights the need for clean, renewable energy going forward. However, there are negative implications of the pandemic as well. One in particular has been the disappearance of reusable bags, cups, straws, bowls, and so on. While this makes sense in eliminating the risk of spreading germs that pose a threat in a COVID-19 world, it feels like we are going backwards environmentally. It is important to recognize this, and remember how vital the return to reusable items will be when it is safe. Additionally, we know how important it is to wear a mask, but it is important to think about the kind of mask you are wearing and the impact it may have. Disposable masks are great for some instances, but the lack of proper disposal has led to unnecessary problems. Parking lots and streets lined with dirty masks are gross and unsanitary, but masks in the ocean are deadly. Not only do these masks contribute to the growing number of plastic pollution in the ocean that affects many species, but they also take about 450 years to decompose. 

Future generations will not only learn about the effects of COVID-19 in a textbook, but will also see remnants floating in their ocean. How can we avoid this? Disposing of your mask properly is one way, but an even better solution is buying or making your own reusable and washable mask. This is a great example of how to take a problem brought about by COVID-19 and manage it in an eco-friendly way. This is important because in the midst of a public health crisis the worst thing we could do would be to forget about the environmental crisis as well. 

On a different note, it would be easy to think that important legislations regarding climate have been put on the backburner due to the pandemic, but fortunately this summer we saw success. The Massachusetts State House passed a bill early August that outlines an emissions reduction roadmap for 2050 among many other things regarding climate action. This was a symbol that even in these trying times we still need to focus and work on climate issues. With state and national elections coming soon, it will be interesting to see how citizens show up and vote for climate in this COVID-19 era. 

As you can see, the results are mixed as to whether COVID-19 has helped or hurt the environment thus far.  Being aware of the affects the pandemic has had on the environment and working to figure out solutions that will benefit both crises is what is important. We cannot allow COVID-19 to stop us from fighting for the environment. Let’s kill COVID-19, not the environment.

Nature is Calling; Our Response Has Begun

Elise Molleur is a recent graduate of The University of Scranton a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science and Philosophy. She grew up in Summit, NJ but has spent half of her life on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

In a time where we have seemingly discovered a sense of normalcy in nature, we are reminded of the importance and versatility of the outdoors. As an environmentalist, my aim is to protect the physical health of nature; with a global deadly pandemic that lacks predictability and draws us to the freedom of the outdoors, I now understand how nature can stimulate and support our mental health. Demonstrated by the influx of individuals to beaches, parks, and forest trails throughout COVID-19 restrictions, we are reminded of the irreplaceable value of the great outdoors.

The passage of the Great American Outdoors Act in June is a hopeful and progressive reassurance that we will not “return to normal” when restrictions are lifted, cases decline, and the nation can press play again. Rather, we will move forward with the environment as our priority after being reminded that it is a privilege. Though unfortunate that it took a relentless and erratic pandemic for us to recognize the amplitude of nature’s effects on our mental and physical health, we won’t end here. Nature is calling, and our response has begun.

We Aren't Just Fighting For Us

Grace Zhang is a rising senior at Hathaway Brown School, a private all girls high school in Shaker Heights, OH. She plans to study political science in college.

When I ask for tools to make a compelling argument, one of the most common answers is sharing my personal story, and when it comes to climate activism, it isn’t any different. And at first I thought “Nice! That sounds easy enough right?” But when it comes to my experience with climate change, I find that I have nothing worthy to share. “I have been incredibly lucky,” I think to myself. I read the news every morning and find the headlines dominated with the horrible effects of climate change. Wildfires are consuming California whole. Runoff from factory farms are creating algae blooms that are murdering hundreds of fish. Rising water levels are threatening to submerge entire communities and destroy livelihoods. Everyday I feel almost assaulted by negative news and suffering, but when I look outside my window, I see nothing resembling what I read about and inevitably, I move on.

However, I recognize this isn’t luck, it’s privilege. I recognize that with everything I have been blessed with, a nice house in a safe neighborhood, a quality education, a loving family, etc., I am able to effectively escape the consequences of climate change for now and continue my life in blissful ignorance.

The truth is too many of our personal stories look like mine. While the news shoves depressing headlines in our faces, the personal stories that we interact with more often don’t often leave space for the most marginalized and the most victimized by our destruction of the planet. We have the privilege to tune out these stories and fail to look beyond the safe confines of our little bubbles.

There’s also another problem whose consequences have become increasingly apparent over the course of this summer: police brutality. While the climate justice movement and Black Lives Matter seem to occupy completely different spheres, US climate activists have much to learn from those protesting for the end of police brutality. Similarly to my experiences with climate change, my experiences with police brutality are almost non-existent, and I’m sure that’s the same for many of you who are reading this. We could just as easily ignore it and move on with our lives. So why has BLM managed to acquire such mainstream support and incite widespread action?

I think the answer once again lies in stories. BLM has been able to do what we have not. They have elevated the stories of individuals and given a platform to the oppressed and victimized. They have done this so successfully in fact that when one thinks of BLM, they think of specific individuals and their experiences. These people’s pain and suffering suddenly seem so much less foreign and eventually, despite all our differences, it connects us all in our collective humanity. The movement reminds us that it’s about way more than any of us individuals, it’s about our responsibility to each other and in that way, our fight to stop climate change shouldn’t be any different. We also amplify the voices of those who are disproportionately affected by climate change and we have to realize that it's a problem that other, more powerful and privileged people contribute the most to. Just by looking at the world around us, we see that the most developed and wealthy countries continue to speed headfirst towards the destruction of the planet, while the poorer ones feel the effects of the crash.

We must also remember the systematic racism that led to BLM and so many movements before also deeply affects our cause as well. Unfortunately, some of the people that are hit hardest by climate change are also victims of the U.S’s bitter struggle with racism. They are the hardest hit by extreme weather, air pollution that leads to unnaturally high rates of asthma, highly dangerous water, etc., to the better world we all dream, it is essential that there is justice for them as well.

In order to successfully fight climate change, we have to look beyond our personal stories because we aren’t just fighting for us. We’re fighting for the entire world and every single living that calls our planet home. We must set aside all our differences and remember why we do what we do: to create a better Earth for all of us . The key to doing that is letting this movement become more than just ourselves.

Opinionated Facts and the Dilemma of Being a Modern Day Student

Remy Goldberg is a rising sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University from Northern New Jersey. He is currently studying Chemistry, Policy & Management, and Economics.

Climate change is an undeniable fact. California faced deadly and ecosystem-damaging wildfires near the end of 2019, only to be then followed by Australia wildfires and then more California wildfires. It seems that every year there are more severe hurricanes than the year prior. Western Europe is experiencing record breaking heat waves, reaching 38.7°C/101.6°F (CNN).  While there are still many people who deny the existence of climate change or claim it isn’t human-caused, it has been proven time and time again that these extreme weather patterns are not independent events, and they will become the new normal if nothing is done to curb climate change.

I spent my quarantine taking advantage of all the remote education possibilities I could find. I participated in the Climate Advocacy Training Program run by Citizens Climate Lobby, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for U.S. national policy to address climate change. More specifically, CCL supports the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763); in short, this bill proposes putting a steadily increasing fee on fossil fuels and returns the funds raised back to the American public in the form of a dividend. It follows UN recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 40% in the next 12 years. 

As of right now, I’m a chemistry major in college/university, but I’m also considering switching to economics, policy, or even statistics. All I know is that I want to work on environmental sustainability. I was first drawn to science because it seemed like a way to contribute to climate solutions, but as I take classes and do my own research, I realized that there are already so many tangible, possible solutions out there. The struggle lies in implementation.

I imagine this is also a feeling shared with my fellow students, but it’s a really discouraging time to be a student in the world. Scientists and educators with expertise propose effective solutions to our world’s problems, yet they are hardly ever listened to. Even with a pandemic threatening every aspect of life, politicians are still skeptical about listening to epidemiologists because of economic and factual concerns.

It’s frustrating to aspire for a future career, yet know that no one will listen.

My hope for the future is that politicians and policymakers look towards experts for advice on how to deal with societal problems. Without a doubt, fact can and should be debated considering that bias in statistics and misinformation is rampant, but there shouldn’t be a blatant disregard for the research and new information. On the topic of the environment, we can’t keep ignoring our dire situation with the hope that it doesn’t actually exist or that it will magically fix itself. Our governments need to take tangible measures to reduce our carbon emissions, and in order for that to happen, we need to fight for change.

Now is the Time to Act: Better the Lives of ALL People

Abbey Serio is a student studying Geography and Environmental Planning and minoring in Business Administration at Sonoma State University in Northern California. In her free time, she loves to be outside as much as possible.

It is no secret that the effects of climate change have been and continue to disproportionately affect people of color and neighborhoods of color. In a recent article in the New York Times, How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering, Brad Plumer and Nadia Popovich narrate this fateful tale perfectly. These disproportionate repercussions began with the practice of redlining American cities throughout the twentieth century, deeming certain regions “hazardous” due to the amount of black residents. These so-called hazardous regions were also sites for the building of highways, warehouses, and other places that left little to no room for vegetation or greenspaces. Although this practice ended in the 1970s, many Americans are still feeling the wrath of redlining today. 

With global warming increasing, results of redlining practices are predicted to be exacerbated. The lack of greenspaces and the overwhelming presence of paved surfaces that absorb and radiate heat force residents that live in these areas to suffer from more cases of heat exhaustion and the detrimental side effects it is accompanied by, like cardiac arrest and respiratory diseases like asthma. In Richmond, Virginia, specifically the neighborhood of Gilpin, where the article’s data is sourced, something must be done for these communities being disproportionately impacted. Redlined cities like Gilpin on average, have temperatures that are five degrees warmer than greenland cities, since they have significantly less tree coverage. Cities of this nature are also more exposed to pollution from big construction projects occurring virtually in their backyards, and have no doctor’s offices or grocery stores with fresh produce nearby, further challenging the health of residents. It is unsafe for these residents to live like this, and it is simply not fair that they already are.

I believe that parks must be replenished, trees should be planted, and the local government needs to actively make an effort to decrease the amount of cement in any way possible. This is absolutely imperative for the health and well-being of these citizens. Holding a weekly local farmers’ market could dramatically improve the supply of fresh produce that the community is lacking. Additionally, if it is not possible to open a nearby doctor’s office, then offering free transportation to the offices closest could improve the health of residents. Finally, realizing that the lives of these residents matter is the simplest solution to these problems. These neighborhoods are not hazardous or dangerous and these people deserve better living conditions, instead of being known as a plot of land to build a highway through. The impacts of climate change are only going to become more prevalent and persistent, so now is the time to act in bettering the lives of all people.

A Student’s Take on Climate Policy: Why Acting Now is Our Only Hope

Kaitlynn Fetterman-Riggle is a student at the Marin School of Environmental Leadership and an active CCL volunteer.

These past few weeks, California has faced all sorts of turmoil. With an extreme heatwave followed by rolling blackouts, lightning storms, wildfires, and poor air quality, it feels as though the apocalypse is looming. What makes this especially sad, however, is that these events are occurring more and more often. When babysitting a 4-year-old last week, I heard her remark, “Oh look, it’s getting smoky again.” as plainly as she would say that the sky is blue. It is saddening that children are growing up thinking that natural disasters are normal. What kind of world are we creating for our future generations? 

Looking at the disasters that are plaguing California at this moment, I can’t help but make one sickening observation: all of these calamities are related to climate change. Every single one. Heatwaves? Brought on by climate change. Rolling blackouts? People are using more energy during heat waves to cool their houses down, therefore putting more stress on our power grids. Lightning storms? Another symptom of climate change. Wildfires? Sparked by the lightning storms that caused more harm than good. Poor air quality? Smoke from the wildfires that ravaged our rolling hills is polluting our air and making it unsafe to even go outside. These disasters will only continue to increase if we don’t take action to reduce our carbon emissions and stop polluting our earth. This is where HR763 comes in.

HR763 is a carbon pricing bill that brings a new and different idea to the concept of carbon pricing: carbon fee and dividend. The idea is that a tax would be put in place on all products based on their carbon footprint, so a higher tax will be placed on products with higher carbon footprints. Imported goods will also have to pay a border adjustment to protect US jobs and manufacturers. This concept is pretty standard for carbon pricing bills, but where HR763 is different is the “dividend” part of “carbon fee and dividend.” The bill is revenue neutral, so the government doesn’t keep any of the fees collected. Instead, all of the money from the carbon tax will be returned to American citizens in the form of a monthly dividend check. Adults get a full share, and children get half shares. Everyone gets the same amount of money back in the dividend check, but individuals are taxed based on how much carbon they use. HR763 is a fair and equitable way to help reduce carbon emissions without making unrealistic changes to our society.

HR763 has been proven by scientists and economists to be an effective yet simple solution that is expected to reduce America's carbon emissions by at least 40% in the first 12 years. It is bipartisan, something rather uncommon when dealing with a climate legislature.  HR763 is good for both people and the economy. It will create upwards of 2.1 million jobs, as well as reducing air pollution for citizens across the country. The dividend check will also put money directly into the hands of all Americans, helping middle and low-income families. This is because some people may be spending more money on high carbon products than they are receiving in the dividend check, while others, typically middle and low-income families, may make more environmentally friendly choices that will allow them to break even or even make a small amount of money from the dividend check. 

Our planet is in desperate need of help. The global temperature has risen 1.62 degrees since the late 19th century, and will continue to rise unless we take action to prevent this disaster from happening. Global warming is responsible for 150,000 deaths every year, and over 1 million species of animals are at risk of extinction due to climate change. We know that climate change is causing these catastrophic events, so why aren’t we doing anything about it? We need our leaders to put climate legislation, such as HR763, in place to ensure that we have a planet to live on for years to come. We don’t just need climate action; it is our only hope to save our planet.

Rice University: Commit to Carbon Neutrality!

Trisha Gupta is from Houston, Texas. She is a rising sophomore at Rice University, where she is triple majoring in Economics, Social Policy Analysis, and Managerial Studies, with a minor in Business. She hopes to pursue nonprofit work or a job with startups or startup accelerators after graduation.

Rice University publicizes its progressive values, yet can't seem to stop compromising them each year when it comes time for the Career Expo.  Despite public commitments to transitioning completely to renewable energy by 2050 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2030, the administration continues to take money and endorsements from some of the worst polluters in our nation. Annually, we see companies like Exxon, Chevron, and BP sponsor our Career Expo, one of the singular biggest events on campus. It's greatly disappointing to see the university offer lip service of commitments to environmental goals, without publicized measures of progress that students could use to hold the university accountable to these commitments, and then become complicit in the decidedly non-sustainable actions of large oil and gas companies.

Not only does Rice University take money and sponsorships from these large oil and gas companies, but it also only promotes their environmental divisions when it comes to green jobs. Unfortunately, there are many green-focused startups in Houston that are not seeing the publicity they deserve. They don't have the opportunities to come to Rice's campus and recruit, and thus the connections are never made between Rice students who genuinely are interested in sustainability and companies that are entirely sustainable.

As students, we should work to hold our university accountable to the values that it promotes. It's unfair for a university to claim that it is committed to sustainability, yet partner with companies that don't act sustainably and promote their 'green divisions' at the expense of other genuinely 'green' companies.

We Need United Efforts to Support Bipartisan Climate Legislation

Lunia Oriol is a senior studying Climate and Meteorology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She was born and raised in Alaska, where she was instilled with a strong interest in environmental preservation, climate science, and energy policy.

In early August, Washtenaw county leaders set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. The county must ‘transition away from carbon-intensive transportation to public and carbon-neutral transit’ and acknowledge that communities of people of color have ‘historically borne the brunt of the extractive fossil-fuel economy’. 

These leaders know that climate change is here, it is visible, and we need to take immediate action to transition away from carbon-intensive infrastructure to an equitable, carbon-neutral society. We must work with our congressional representatives and our communities to push for national legislation that will set the stage for transformative change. 

Here is where the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763) comes into play. By placing a fee on carbon, this bill would produce a 40% reduction in emissions in just 12 years. It would create millions of jobs - stimulating economic growth - and put aid into the pockets of millions of American households through a carbon dividend. H.R. 763 is the most actionable and holistic approach we can take to combating climate change, but the only way it will be passed is from our united efforts. What you can do today is urge your representatives to support this bill?

We Have the Tools to Solve This Crisis NOW

Nicholas Polimeni is a first-year student and Create-X Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology studying Electrical Engineering. He is interested in the intersection of technology, public policy, and social entrepreneurship and their implications on sustainability, social justice, and human development.

COVID-19 has shown us that the wellbeing of our communities is dependent on our relationship with, and respect for, the environment. For instance, an August 2020 Nature article explains why deforestation made a pandemic, like COVID-19, more likely (Tollefson). Deforestation, climate change, and pollution are not simply environmental problems- they are human ones, with real consequences on us, our loved ones, and our communities.

It is in this moment, when we are dealing with one crisis, that we will have the determination and experience to face the next- the environmental crisis.

Luckily, unlike COVID-19, climate change is directly caused by human activity, meaning that we have the tools to solve this crisis now. 

One of the tools I support is the Energy Innovation Act. This bipartisan bill would put an increasing fee on emissions sources, encouraging the free-market to make the cost-competitive switch to sustainable production. The income from this fee will be provided directly and equally back to the American people. With more money in American's pockets, we can ensure that the temporary costs of a transitioning economy will not be put on our families. A recent Columbia University study found that emissions reductions from this bill will exceed the goals set by the Paris Accord, and a Regional Economic Models, Inc. study shows that the policy will add 2.8 million jobs to the American economy.

As a high-school student, I lobbied on Capitol Hill for this bill with a non-profit called Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Soon, I’ll be heading to college (via Zoom) with the goal of creating more tools to encourage a sustainable, equitable future.

Each of our paths will be different, but I hope that you can find a way to take action- not just for the Earth and all of its natural beauty, but for the wellbeing of the communities we call home.

What Kind of Response Are You Prepared to Give?

Nile Bunger is an Environmental Science major at the University of Arizona. The majority of his jobs thus far have involved working in with marine life, which is where his love for the ocean comes from.

California droughts. Rainforest fires. Rising sea levels. Hurricanes multiplying. Sever storms in the Midwest creeping up in the news. These are all things we are dealing with far too often. "We do not know a planet like this," some may say. Well, that is not all the way true. In fact, we saw some very similar climate patterns and behaviors during the Pliocene period. During that time, the planet experienced both dry and cool climate conditions with sea levels approximately 90 feet higher than what is recorded today.

This time period was millions of years ago, so why am I bringing it to your attention now? When sea levels rise at a rapid rate, it not only poses a threat to our oceans wildlife and temperatures. It impacts the health of our human population. We will be exposed to bacteria that we are not equipped to handle at a rate we will struggle to keep up with. As temperatures start to rise globally, we will start to see diseases that once were only able to live in temperate and tropical climates start to spread to areas that once were too cold.

I urge you to VOTE this November for a leader that will address our climate crisis. There will be a time when the next generations will ask us what we did or didn't do to secure a livable planet for their future. What kind of response are you prepared to give?

What Are Your Feet Doing?

Hannah Levenstein is originally from Madison ,WI. She goes to college in Redlands, CA at the University of Redlands where she is studying sociology and Spanish. She hopes to become a social worker.

As California’s air continues to be choked by noxious, ash-filled smoke, the relentless wildfires of the 2020 wildfire season refuse to quit, destroying 700,000 acres of unpopulated land across the Golden State. California has witnessed a consistent climb in length, spread, and lethality of its wildfires throughout the past half-decade, with distressingly few signs of stopping as heat waves, droughts, and high demand for electricity have created the perfect storm for a vicious collection of fire complexes. It is no question that these disastrous fires are directly linked to the planet's rapidly changing climate. Because climate change causes a continuous rise in temperature, locations prone to excessive heat have become berated with drier, hotter conditions that drastically increase wildfire risk.

According to research conducted through the CSSR, a one-degree Celsius annual increase in temperature could allow fires to destroy 600 percent more land per year. While there are many valiant and effective short-term solutions to alleviating the destructive nature of wildfires, scientists believe the key long-term initiative to weakening fire damage could be reducing carbon emissions and the subsequent rising temperatures that greenhouse gases cause. Citizens Climate Lobby has created a bipartisan bill that will impose an annually increasing tax on carbon emissions per ton (100% of which will then be distributed to households), that if passed, is projected to reduce United States carbon emissions by 90% by 2050.

With a world so full of disasters and destruction, taking a holistic and definitive measure to curb the uncompromising effects of wildfires should seem like an obvious step. I urge you to do research, contact your local congressperson, or share a link with a friend. Steps need to be taken. What are your feet doing?

Finding Hope Through My Internship with Citizens' Climate Lobby

Lauren McCormack is a senior at UC Berkeley studying sociology and conservation & resource studies.

This summer my original internship was cancelled due to Covid-19. As I looked around for other environmental-related internships, I remembered an organization called Citizens’ Climate Lobby, which I had checked out briefly the summer prior. I remembered that they had a really organized structure and a positive attitude, but I also remember being slightly off-put by the fact that they were committed to bipartisanship.

I had thought “Why should I, as a Democrat, have to put up with Republicans who have been so reluctant to even acknowledge climate change is real?”. I thought that anything Republicans agree to must not be good, especially when it comes to climate. But I was drawn back to CCL and wanted to give it another shot.

The more research I did, the more I saw that many Republicans are willing to address climate change--especially young conservatives, like those part of the organization Young Conservatives for a Carbon Dividend. I realized that the “conservative” thing to do really is to conserve the environment, and to make sure the economy is strong and functioning properly. For the economy to do this, markets must factor in all externalities, including the cost of climate change. I also came to the conclusion-- one that is central to CCL’s values-- that we need bipartisan support to make sure that this legislation can endure over the long haul in the same way other major environmental legislation like the Clean Air Act have.

I decided to intern with my local CCL chapter, and I am so glad that I did. Since last summer when I went to my first CCL meeting, CCL’s focus on getting a carbon fee and dividend introduced in congress has turned into advocating for a specific piece of legislation--one that had been introduced in large part because of CCL’s efforts. This was exciting. 

The legislation CCL is lobbying for is called the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, or HR 763, and it is a bipartisan piece of legislation that would implement a federal carbon fee and dividend policy. The more I learned about HR 763, the more confident I became that this is the best piece of legislation on the table right now, and we need it passed A.S.A.P. 

 HR 763 corrects for the externality of carbon emissions and climate change by putting a price on carbon at the source (oil, coal, natural gas). This won’t just make gas and electricity increase in price (in fact it won't that much), but it will also permeate into other goods, like foods, household items, etc. This will have the effect of driving the market away from fossil-fuel intensive products and toward ones that were made with less fossil fuel, since these will be cheaper to make and thus purchase.

HR 763 also includes a carbon dividend, meaning people will all get an equal amount of money back each month from the government which will help them offset the price of new goods that may be more expensive. Low income and middle class folks will come out ahead, because they have a lower carbon footprint and buy fewer carbon-intensive goods and services. Thus HR 763 would put more money into their pockets from the get go. For wealthier households with higher carbon footprints, they will be incentivized to resort to more sustainable options. However, the carbon fee will increase gradually, meaning that families, businesses, and the economy will have time to adapt. 

 As the price on carbon  increases, it will be less profitable for fossil fuel companies and other industries to rely on carbon-products, eventually driving their use down. Households will also increasingly turn away from carbon-intensive products and will naturally opt for cheaper, more sustainable products and services. After all, one of the (few) universally accepted laws of economics states that the higher the cost of something, the lower its demand.

What is most compelling to me is that this carbon fee and dividend policy can drive down emissions by 40% in the next 10 years, which can put us on track to meeting the IPCC report’s requirement of cutting emissions by 50% in 12 years in order to mitigate the worst of climate change and have a real chance to preserve life as we know it. While we need other countries to pitch in as well, having a successful federal carbon fee and dividend policy in the US can serve as a model and source of motivation for other countries.

Interning with CCL this summer and advocating for HR 763 has opened my eyes to new perspectives. I have realized that a bipartisan solution to climate change is not only necessary, but it is possible and within reach. I enjoy working for CCL  because I feel that my individual acts are part of a bigger, organized effort that has a big, but achievable goal. I think passing HR 763 is important and should be the backbone of our federal climate policy, but there is other work to be done too. CCL is just one part of an ecosystem of environmental organizations. I encourage you to use your individual agency and efforts to be part of a bigger organization that can create structural change. This structural change is closer than you might think.

The Truth About Climate Change: Beyond the Facts

Liza Dubinsky is a rising junior at Bates College majoring in Environmental Politics and Mathematics. She is hoping to find work in the intersection of mathematics and environmental politics by analyzing and modeling climate data and international climate crisis efforts.

Climate change isn’t a new term. In 1956, physicist Gilbert Plass published a study called “The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climatic Change” and in 1975, geochemist Wallace Broecker published the paper titled “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming”. By 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was formed to interpret evidence on climate change.

But the thing is, climate change hasn’t imposed itself on my life. Yet.

Perhaps that’s not what you were expecting to read, but it’s the reality for many of us. And that makes us lucky, not immune. That gives us some time, but it doesn’t postpone the future indefinitely. Most of all, it doesn’t give us an excuse to ignore the truth.

The facts have been there from the beginning and they’re not going anywhere. Current data on climate change from NASA shows that the carbon dioxide concentration in our atmosphere is 414 parts per million, the highest in 650,000 years. Nineteen of the twenty warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 and 2019 was the second warmest. The global average sea level has risen about seven inches in the last one hundred years.

How can we continue to enable the sentiment that climate change can’t be that bad or that what we are observing is just nature running its course? Worst of all, the deep mistrust of the media and science has driven many to emphasize the disconnect between their own experience and the portrayal of the reality beyond, rendering climate change a phenomenon to simply believe in.

Still, the facts are there. I discuss them in the classroom and write papers on them. But in my immediate circumstances, they’re still just facts.

Yet for so many others, their lives are the ones I read about. According to National Geographic, of the 22,400 acres that once stood in 1955, only a 320 acre strip of the Isle de Jean Charles remains today due to sea level rise and hurricane damage worsened by climate change. One story from the Washington Post details the rising temperatures that are melting Arctic permafrost and forcing Alaskan and Siberian communities to leave lands they’ve lived on for centuries. Another article from the New York Times reports on the droughts in Guatemala that are devastating crop yields and leaving farmers without a way to make ends meet.

There’s no escape from that. There’s no turning off the news. There’s no ignoring the facts.

The facts aren’t the problem, are they? We know what’s happening. But for now, only for now, we can let that simmer in the back of our minds for a little longer. We can afford to postpone. We can afford to make plans.

But we can’t keep putting this off, we’re out of time. We’ve been out of time and I’m out of options.

Now, I suppose it’s human nature to centralize your own experience, to worry most for ourselves.  The first few lines of the post-war confessional prose by Martin Niemöller, however, are: “First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Communist”. The piece ends with the following: “Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak out for me”.

We must demand more, even if it’s not for ourselves.

We must believe in more than what we experience, beyond our own reality.

We must find truth in stories that are not our own and we must fight for them, in the same way we fight for ourselves.