Intern Spotlight: Chris Larson

In one word: energetic!

After witnessing his classmates still dealing with repercussions from Hurricane Harvey back in 2017, and continuing to witness the rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Gulf as a result of a warming ocean, Chris realized how much climate change will affect those near him, in addition to the widespread effects around the world.  He decided to study meteorology, climate change, and mathematics during his time at Texas A&M University. When he wasn’t busy with his classes, he worked for the Texas State Climatologist, held leadership positions in various student organizations on campus, and founded Texas A&M’s first CCL campus chapter. 

Chris Larson is CCL’s College Outreach Intern this summer! He is entering graduate school this fall.

This summer, as Chris prepares to enter a PhD program in climate change next semester at University of Pennsylvania, he is working as CCL’s College Outreach Intern! He will be organizing and leading outreach to institutions of higher education to spread information about CCL and establishing student chapters of CCL. He will also write intern and fellow profiles to showcase the incredible contributions of young people in the climate movement. In his free time, he loves watching new movies and shows, being active outside, and preparing to get an Australian shepherd once he’s settled in grad school.

Chris says that “Climate change doesn't discriminate; the best thing we can do is vote and fight for nonpartisan climate policy.” He hopes to become more involved in climate advocacy and getting more college-aged students to do the same. He wants everyone to know that we do have a voice in the government, we just have to be loud enough for them to hear us!

LTE: A first step to fight climate change

Luke Bartol is the Maine State Fellow for 2021 - 2022 and is currently an undergraduate at Bowdoin College.

Note: This letter to the editor was originally published by the Bangor Daily News here.

By Luke Bartol

It’s hard to not feel shocked reading the New York Times headline, “Sea Level to Rise a Foot by 2050.” The new NOAA report telling of this drastic change hits hard for Mainers, who need not think in hypotheticals, easily able to picture downtown Bath or Portland’s Old Port beginning to be submerged. As these levels rise, they’ll be accompanied by increasingly severe storms, adding to the flooding and carnage we’re becoming more and more accustomed to.

With such drastic consequences, it’s amazing that the first step of the solution can be so easy. Putting a price on carbon is one of the most effective tools we have to combat climate change and mitigate this scary future we are in the process of writing. A fee and dividend structure, like proposed in H.R. 2307 (co-sponsored by our own Rep. Chellie Pingree), is not only sound policy in fighting climate change, but is also good for mainers and the economy, with the revenue being redistributed in a dividend for every household and thousands of economists around the country lauding its effectiveness.

Now is the time to utilize these effective solutions, and with urgency, as every day we sink lower and lower, both metaphorically and somewhat literally. Climate provisions will be a critical part of the Build Back Better Act, and we must call our representatives in congress, especially Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King as members of the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, to support this legislation that Maine desperately needs.

Op-Ed: Latest severe weather is no accident

Laura Rockefeller is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fellow for 2021 - 2022 and is currently an undergraduate at Georgetown University.

Note: This reader commentary was originally published by the Baltimore Sun here.

By Laura Rockefeller

Powerful winds, intense snowfall and flooded streets swept much of the East Coast last month. Over 100,000 people lost power, mainly in Massachusetts. In Nantucket, streets were underwater. Atmospheric researchers say climate change — particularly the warming ocean — probably strengthened the storm.

Baltimoreans were mostly spared this time. Yet the greater threat remains. Climate change is on our doorstep in Maryland (”As Maryland faces growing flood threats, retreat is an unpopular solution. What would it take to change that?” Jan. 20). Sweltering heat waves, thunderstorms and even tornadoes are all part of the Maryland summer weather report. Baltimore is projected to be one of the American cities most impacted by climate change. In urban areas like Baltimore, higher temperatures increase ozone air pollution, which is a serious health hazard. By 2050, the typical number of heat wave days in Maryland is projected to increase from more than 10 to 50 days a year.

Climate change is a salient political issue. The number of Americans who are “alarmed” about climate change is at an all-time high, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications. Organizations like Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a national grassroots advocacy group, have been building the political willpower for a carbon fee and dividend for years. It has been encouraging to see U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen leading on this issue. Last summer, they passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill with more than $150 billion in funding earmarked for a transition to clean energy, more electric vehicles, green jobs and climate resilience.

Yet more wide-reaching policy is still needed to address climate change. If the U.S. is to reach its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half within 10 years, a robust price on carbon requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for their emissions needs enactment. In the first few weeks of 2022, Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers nationwide have generated more than 15,000 emails and phone calls to President Joe Biden and the U.S. Senate urging for a price on carbon to be included in the budget reconciliation package.” CCL’s resources can be found at cclusa.org/action.

It’s not too late to prevent climate-driven disasters like these from getting worse and worse. If we act now, our lawmakers and our communities can be part of the solution. We need a carbon price now.

Op-Ed: Can a carbon tax support environmental justice?

Clara Fang poses along the banks of the Detroit River.

by Clara Fang

I joined Citizens’ Climate Lobby because I wanted to do something about climate change. At the time I did not know that CCL had an image problem when it came to environmental justice because of its support for a carbon tax, a strategy that calls for taxing energy companies a fee based on the amount of carbon emissions they produce.

The mechanism is controversial with environmental justice communities because its close relatives, cap-and-trade and carbon offsetting, have done little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enabling companies to “pay to pollute.”

However, recent carbon tax bills bear little resemblance to old problematic ones and do support environmental justice goals.

Read the rest of Clara’s op-ed for an explanation of how a carbon fee & dividend policy can support environmental justice

Student Engagement at CCL

by Clara Fang

Clara Fang (left) with students at the 2019 CCL conference

Clara Fang recently stepped down as student engagement director at CCL, a role that she has performed since 2016. During that time, the number of student supporters at CCL has increased from less than 1% to 12%, with 25% of new supporters joining in the last year under the age of 25. The programs she developed helped thousands of young people learn advocacy skills, organize climate action in their communities, and lobby their elected officials for carbon pricing. 

Clara was also instrumental in CCL’s diversity and inclusion work, presenting many conference workshops on the topic and serving on the diversity strategic committee since 2018. She is currently senior fellow at Citizens’ Climate International, a PhD candidate in environmental studies at Antioch University New England, and serves on the board of the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences. 

Read on to learn more about what Clara learned from her time in student engagement here at CCL, and why engaging students is so critical to our work.

With our climate in crisis, preparing for an uncertain future is daunting

Note: This piece was originally posted on MassLive here.

By Asli Ali | Guest viewpoint

In ten years, I’ll not even be middle-aged yet, so my mid-life crisis can’t even coincide with major crises of the earth.

What stability can I have with the convulsing of the earth becoming progressively worse? What sort of calm or peace would I be able to establish in my home when just outside the walls would be pain and sorrow tenfold from what now exists? Until that day I would be crying out of grief with the suffering of others, my walls torn down, too.

I love my family, but the mere thought of bearing my own children racks me with guilt. To offer some perspective, I have a great fear for the youngest person I know and closest to me -- my seven-year-old brother. He doesn’t know that the year he graduates from high school, in 2032, the world will see the heightened repercussions of our abuse. He cannot fathom that the news will be filled with compounded natural disasters, the economic, environmental, and mortality effects of which will result in numbers he cannot currently comprehend.

But I know. And I am terrified. This is not the life anyone wishes for a loved one.

Floods, hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters have been around forever and now there is scientifically led proof they are worsening due to human-inflicted climate change. Day after day, the structure of Pandora’s box is being tested; finding a way into its lock are keys forged from the aftermath of our wasteful lifestyle. Who would want to open it? Those without foresight or imagination. Those who won’t live to see the day of inconceivable damage.

Lately, I have been taking in my surroundings a lot more. I feel the need to memorize my surroundings so if I live to be a wise neighborly elder, I can tell fantastical stories. “Once upon a time, when a nearby lake was safe enough to swim in, when little boys and girls could eat what they fished, when folks could drink straight out of the tap. Oh yes, because the poisons in the water were nothing as close to what we have now. And, there were great black and white bears that ate sticks called bamboo. Panda is a funny name isn’t it?”

I am not ready for the silence, the ever shortening periods of calm before the storms. The fear I have for my brother also extends to me. I have always known that I will be proud of my future self, but why must I also be scared for her?

People who are going to be most affected are those who make up marginalized populations. This is why I believe putting a price on carbon is an efficient way to ensure the wellbeing of the earth, including underprivileged peoples, making them part of the conversation. Monetizing carbon will allow the system to reward environmentally friendly actions, which will, in turn, steer us away from a fearsome future.

Reading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is nightmarish. The report points to devastating outcomes that I’d rather not let come true. But we still have time. And I’d rather be useful and engaged than turning a blind eye to my own flesh and blood.

Asli Ali attends Smith College in Northampton studying environmental science. She recently lobbied Congressman Richard E. Neal’s office with the Citizens Climate Lobby, a group urging a price on carbon. Her family home is in Longmeadow.

A carbon price would support American businesses’ international competitiveness

In July, the European Union announced the implementation of their Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. While it sounds like a highly technical and complicated policy, it is simply a tariff on businesses from countries without a carbon pricing law. The United States is one of the countries without a price on carbon and therefore American companies will be forced to pay a tax to the EU in order to export their products. Having to pay an additional tariff will force American companies to increase their prices and will thus become less competitive in international markets. 

What can the United States do about this problem? The answer is simple, we must pass and implement a carbon pricing law. Only a price on carbon will allow American businesses to avoid paying higher international tariffs. The House and Senate are deciding what climate measures to include in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package and in order to keep the American economy competitive, we must urge our Senators and Representatives in Congress to support a carbon pricing law.

Tyler Allen is a graduate student at O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.

The tragic Pacific Northwest coastal ‘seafood bake’ is a call for bold climate action.

Sofia Herron Geller is a sophomore at Oberlin College.

The“Seafood Bake” incident described in the July 11 Earthweek column “cooked more than a billion seashore animals to death, leaving a putrid stink near Vancouver, B.C.”. This line lends itself to some puns, but it is by no means a dismissable event. The unprecedented heat of this summer which has destroyed major populations of mussels and other mollusks is indicative of the accelerating impact of climate change.

Experts attribute this seafood bake to a combination of warming temperatures and low tides, so we know what to focus on to prevent this in the future. Quite evidently, we must address climate change action now.

I lived in California when starfish populations all but disappeared due to disease and when one of the few mass beachings of by-the-wind sailor jellyfish occurred. Even though this mass decline of sea creatures isn’t an isolated event, I remain optimistic about political actions we can take to reduce our impact on the Earth.

Fortunately, there are numerous pieces of congressional legislation that demonstrate a new and inspiring wave of bipartisan support to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize global temperature. If we act now, we can stop more unintentional seafood bakes from happening!

The February 2021 Texas power crisis was man-made, and we need further action to prevent the next one

There is substantial evidence that the February power crisis could have been less devastating if Texas had properly prepared and was not so reliant on natural gas. While ERCOT argues that the temperatures were unprecedented, more extreme weather events are continuing to occur all across the world. 

Many said that Hurricane Harvey was also unprecedented and the extreme flooding events following that were unprecedented. How many more extreme weather events must occur for the Texas government to wake up and understand that the climate crisis is happening now? We cannot continue to say these are “100-year floods” when the floods are now occurring every year.

While ‘unprecedented’ weather events will continue to happen it is time the Texas government starts to work towards doing something about it. It is time for Texas to start to mitigate the climate crisis by supporting carbon pricing and green energy!

Olivia Vong is a recent graduate of the University of Houston.

To save our manatees, we need to address climate change quickly and boldly

Miranda Raimondi is a senior at Eckerd College in Florida.

There is no Florida mammal more beloved & iconic than the manatee, as said by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan of FL. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission states that 890 manatees have died in the first seven months of 2021, higher than the previous annual record of 830 deaths in 2013. Despite this alarmingly-high number, manatees were reclassified in 2017 as no longer endangered, & now, perhaps predictably, Florida congressmen seek to reinstate that former status for the manatee. 

Sadly, the question must be asked: What good will it do? While the manatee should definitely be reinstated as endangered, the main cause of their demise is climate change, which has caused the significant die-off of their key food source, seagrass. What we need right now are bold solutions to address climate change. Congress is currently in the process of negotiating the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. Incorporating measures such as carbon pricing, renewable energy standards, and investments in clean energy would go a long way to address the source of the problem for manatees and the ocean. Ask your members of Congress to support bold climate measures today at cclusa.org/house. Too often we fail to see the feedback loops caused by our own neglect of the planet, but if we addressed them, manatees will not need to remain on the endangered species list.

Climate change bringing the beach to you

Luke Bartol is a senior at Bowdoin College in Maine.

No summer in Maine is complete without days spent at the beach, but sometimes it’s such a drag to drive all the way to the coast. Don’t you wish the beach was a bit closer to you? Worry no longer – climate change is doing just that!

According to projections by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, it should just take a few short decades to bring the ocean closer to your doorstep. With 6 inches of sea-level rise, an increase that’s predicted within the century, the coastline of Reid State Park will be a mile further inland, while Old Orchard Beach will be over 2 miles closer in some places. Just think of all the time you’ll save!

All joking aside, the extent to which Maine is poised to be affected by sea-level rise is drastic. The same analysis shows Bath Iron works fully submerged, all of Portland’s Commercial Street under water and downtown Damariscotta full of water. Maine’s islands fare even worse, with a quarter of Vinalhaven and the Cranberry Isles slated to be lost to the sea.

Effective climate action is an absolute necessity for the people of Maine and must be a top priority for our legislators in Augusta and Washington. We cannot settle for half-baked actions of political posturing, as only quick and decisive action has a chance at mitigating the devastating effects that are quickly coming. Call your representatives today and tell them that the benefits of closer beaches are not worth it.

A Carbon Dividend would help correct Maine’s ecosystem

Luke Bartol is a senior at Bowdoin College in Maine.

Summer in Maine is undoubtedly our best season, as the throngs of tourists coming “from away” can attest. While much of our natural landscape is wonderful, blackflies, ticks and now a surge of browntail moths make enjoying the outdoors less pleasant. Milder winters and early springs as a result of climate change impact our flora and fauna, such as this year’s early thaw which killed off the fungus that usually keeps the browntail moth population under control. Similar problems occur with blackflies, which hatch earlier and lay more eggs, or ticks who spread Lyme disease further as temperatures warm.

While all these pests make inroads, our favorite almost-insect, the lobster, begins to leave and move northward, as the Gulf of Maine warms. While we are already feeling the effects of climate change, more serious consequences can be mitigated if we take effective action immediately. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 2307), co-sponsored by Rep. Pingree represents a critical first step in addressing these problems, we must push our other members of congress to support this important piece of legislation.

By encouraging American solar production, a carbon price would advance human rights

Laura Rockefeller is a senior at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

The Chinese government’s use of forced labor in the Xinjiang province is a major problem for environmentalism and human rights. This initiative is ethnic and religious persecution thinly disguised as an anti-poverty program. The United States and other democracies have sounded the alarm on the miserable work conditions and political repression that workers in the Chinese region face. However, they have struggled to fully condemn the problem in practice. That’s because the supply chain for numerous global products, like solar panels, can be traced back to Xinjiang. 

 On July 21 2021, Senators Ed Markey and Mitt Romney discussed the solar supply chain problem at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. Each mentioned that the labor and materials for solar panels originates in Chinese internment camps. But the world cannot turn away from solar energy now, when climate change needs urgent action. Instead, we need to incentivize our own solar technology and other clean tech. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, a carbon tax bill, would do just that.

This bill would boost international competitiveness on clean tech, jumpstart innovation, and put money back into citizens’ pockets. It will target markets and industries, create thousands of new jobs, and bring about the conditions where clean energy deployment can accelerate rapidly. A strong, economy-wide price on carbon could reduce America’s carbon pollution by 50% by 2030, putting us on track to reach net zero by 2050. A carbon price will save 4.5 million American lives over the next 50 years by restoring clean air in places like Salt Lake. If they are serious about combating the climate crisis, Mitt Romney and Ed Markey should endorse the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

Promoting sustainability in farming techniques a key to climate solution strategy

Sofia Herron Geller is a sophomore at Oberlin College.

In response to the June 13th article “New ‘Organic’ Food Fights Climate Change and Maintains Soil Health, Biodiversity,” It’s very frustrating to learn about climate solutions and farming techniques that are within our grasp, but that get no support from policymakers.

Small and mid-sized Ohio farmers could implement more of these sustainable practices with a boost from our policymakers. That’s why I’m excited about the Growing Climate Solutions Act, a promising bipartisan bill in both the U.S. House and Senate. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman both support it.

The bill would provide basic scientific standards, a certification program, and technical assistance to help farmers, foresters, and landowners reduce their carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions by entering emission credit markets. In the realm of regenerative agriculture, carbon sequestration and reforestation are two important components that the Growing Climate Solutions Act would make a reality.

I truly believe that if farmers get the support they deserve to participate in carbon credit markets, they will have more means to engage in organic farming and other sustainable practices. We have to make sustainability economically and environmentally sustainable for all!

Individual action is not enough. We need the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act

Ellen Ren is a sophomore at Barnard College in New York.

In my Environmental Science class in high school, we all were asked to calculate our carbon footprint and how many Earths we’d need if everyone lived the way we did, much like Dr. Case and her consultation with Wren. Besides the startling realization that many of us would need more than one Earth - the US average is five Earths - it illuminates a way to mitigate such footprints.  

While many find ways to reduce their carbon footprint by eating less meat or other lifestyle changes, it is crucial to advocate for policies that will achieve emission reductions on a grander scale, starting with support for broad climate legislation. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act is a great start - it taxes carbon emissions at the source and returns the revenue as a dividend to American households all while promoting clean air to save millions of lives and drive clean energy to be affordable and accessible to everyone. I urge Senator Schumer to support it, and Gillibrand, who is already a co-sponsor to promote and urge her fellow colleagues to sponsor.

Rural America should lead in renewable energy

Daphne Hulse is a senior at Purdue University in Indiana.

There are few things more familiar to the Midwestern eye than the perfect, flat squares of green and brown farmland stretching out as far as the eye can see. I am a lifelong Hoosier, and this scene has been a constant. But this new decade has taught us that our world can change in an instant.

The hastening global movement to begin cutting carbon emissions is no exception. According to a recent study from the Rocky Mountain Institute, rural America will be a centerpiece in the transition to renewable energy: rural communities are expected to house almost all of the future photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines built.

But is this ostensible change to the classic rural skyline as drastic as it sounds? Agro-photovoltaics, or the installation of solar panels several feet above crop fields, is a technique used to gather energy in the same space as agriculture. What little is lost in crop yield is gained in electricity revenue. Wind farms, which accommodate turbines concurrently with cattle ranches or crops, can act as an income buffer for when farm income is down. The coexistence of rural lands and utility-scale renewable energy already has precedent and financial success.

More powerful than these perceived benefits, though, is community willingness to accept a changed scenery. No place on Earth is untouched by humans. And as we continue to alter the atmosphere, the effects of climate change become all the more threatening, especially for farmers who rely on good weather and land.

Leaders in Congress have the opportunity to support carbon pricing policies in Congress, which incentivize this movement toward implementing renewables in rural America. Transitioning to solar and wind is how we can work to protect traditional farmland from climate change.

When the flames are extinguished and the smoke clears

Violette Ballecer is Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Northeast Regional Fellow and is earning her Bachelor’s in environmental analysis and policy and Master’s in energy and environment at Boston University. Violette’s passion for environmental advocacy stems from growing up in Central Valley, CA, America’s agricultural capital.

What I remember is the smell of burning — everything burning. I can still see flecks of ash falling outside my classroom window like sad little snowflakes. I also remember my lack of surprise: in California’s Central Valley, a couple-dozen miles shy of Yosemite National Park, a “normal” summer’s forecast includes ever-worsening heat, drought, and subsequent wildfire events. 

I grew up in one of the most devastatingly beautiful places in the world. Where else can a person find firefalls, fairy pools, skiable mountains, and fields of wildflowers that could put a kaleidoscope to shame all within a 30 mile radius? However, in my 18 years of living there, the landscape had become unrecognizable due to climate change. Some of the meadows, streams, and lush forests to which I had dreamed of bringing my own children someday simply do not exist anymore. Seated front-row to the blistering demise of my home drove me to pursue a career in which I can make measurable change through policy.

When I got to university, I knew I wanted to get involved in local climate advocacy efforts. I started working with a fantastic organization called Our Climate, and through that opportunity, I found my way to Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). Working as the Northeast Regional Fellow for CCL has given me a behind-the-scenes look at the complex process of passing climate legislation. More importantly, I have had the great honor of mentoring and advising passionate, civic-minded students as they discover how to use their voices to engender change. I am currently enrolled in a degree program training as a scientist so that I may one day create science-based, equitable environmental legislation. 

Though it is profoundly rewarding, I must say I learn as much from the students I mentor as they do from me. My well-rounded understanding of how science translates into policy makes me a more effective scientist, the relationships I forge with those I advise make me a more effective educator, and my practiced ability to communicate productively with my local legislators makes me a better constituent. These are all skills which have been honed by my climate advocacy work at CCL. I know that my time with them has prepared me for a life of serving, protecting, and bettering my own community. I have become the person I wish existed when I watched climate change slowly raze my home.

When the flames are extinguished and the smoke clears, I believe the future will be brighter. I have a vision of a world in which I don’t have to worry about what kind of planet my grandchildren will inherit. The only way we can make this dream a reality is through education--educate friends and family, educate legislators, educate yourself. Without informed climate action, we won’t just lose serene meadows and magical fairy pools — we will lose everything. So, it’s up to us what we choose: antiquated values and greed or the planet we hold so dear?

Climate action through the lens of environmental justice

Paulina Torres is Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s California Regional Fellow and a student at UCLA as a public affairs and education studies double-major and a Chicano(a) studies minor. She is from Terra Bella, a small town in the central valley of California.

Growing up in a low-income, farm laboring, Latino town, I would have never imagined myself being part of a climate organization and eventually lobbying for a bipartisan climate bill in Washington DC. However, after seeing the effects of climate change in California and my community, I decided to take action.

In California, where climate change is causing more frequent and extreme heat waves, under-resourced, low-income, immigrant, and undereducated communities are the worst impacted, four categories that I know far too well. For example, farmworkers experience disproportionate rates of occupational injuries and illness due to the high-intensity labor in high heat. They are exposed to harmful pesticides and often have a record of respiratory health problems. Additionally, most farmworkers live in low-income rural communities that are surrounded by waste, power, and oil plants. This pollutes the air and harms their health and quality of life. 

The issues that surround my community are the reason I decided to join Citizens’ Climate Lobby in 2017.  I first heard about CCL my junior year of high school through a good friend of mine, who like me, was worried about the future of our planet. My main goal initially was to inform my community about climate change in their native language, since many farmworkers in the Central Valley do not speak English. Through grassroots outreaching and collaboration with other high school students, I led a district-wide endorsement campaign which was later mentioned in the lobby meeting with our congressional representative. 

In my second quarter at UCLA, I applied and received the California regional fellowship with CCL.  This position has allowed me to work with devoted and passionate young people that care deeply about climate change. I have particularly enjoyed working with new and current campus leaders to increase membership and participation at their respective campuses. This spring I organized and moderated a panel on environmental justice at the California state conference, a topic that is very important to me and my community. This panel opened the door to many important conversations, some of which are difficult and controversial, many of which I've had with members of my community. Overall, my role as a regional fellow has strengthened many important skills that I will need in my future career. This role has been both challenging and fulfilling, something I will never forget. 

As a member of the future generation of this country, I am worried about the future of my community and the constant threats of climate change. For decades we have known about the possible effects of greenhouse gases yet we have decided to ignore them. It has come to a point to which the effects are no longer possible to ignore. I hope that in the near future we can come together and address the issue of climate change through legislation like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which would put America on the path to zero emissions and put money in the pockets of low-income Americans.  We must act now and change our trajectory. 

Building the power of ordinary citizens to create change

Emily Marcil is Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Great Lakes Regional Fellow and recently graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a major in society and environmental studies and minor in political science. She will be pursuing a Master’s at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability in Fall 2021.

As an incoming graduate student at the University of Michigan, I am afraid of how my life will look post-grad even though I’m supposed to be starting my life – not fearing it.  Every summer we have record setting temperatures, intense droughts, wildfires and storms. Consequences such as rising food prices, housing and energy costs, and increase in respiratory diseases and death disproportionately impact poor people and people of color. I feel like I will be left behind financially as the gap widens between the rich and the poor.

When I first learned about climate change in my high school environmental science class I was completely taken aback by how we can just go on -- business as usual-- and not take action. As a sophomore in high school I went fully vegan because that was my way of decreasing my carbon footprint. However I knew that because of environmental racism, veganism is not accessible or affordable for some people. I also am aware of the fact that veganism alone cannot solve the complex problem of climate change. I’m not saying that change at the individual level is useless, because it does have great benefits; however we need to push for systemic changes. 

I became involved with Citizens’ Climate Lobby because I believe in the power of citizens--ordinary citizens that know climate change is going to affect our daily lives--to make change. As a regional fellow I am able to connect with these ordinary citizens, specifically the younger generation, to build political will for climate legislation. Climate legislation such as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act holds those big corporations accountable for the damage they’ve done by gradually increasing the cost to pollute. The dividend is also one of my favorite aspects of the legislation because it directly gives money to people to use however they please. 

Climate change, being the existential threat it is, has made me realize how truly fragile yet precious our lives are here on Earth. It is not something we will experience far down the line, but something we are experiencing right now.  Ordinary citizens need to take back the power in Washington and get real solutions passed in order for us to live healthy and happy lives.