By Jeff Dorian, Orlando chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby
We are all aware of stressors and dangers in our lives, like crime, wars and natural disasters. Are you, like me, mindful of threats to Florida’s future? Do you want your children to enjoy outdoors experiences and lifestyles similar to what we grew up enjoying here?
Many Floridians are becoming mindful of a future Florida that is poised to be a much less desirable place to live. Can we count on our elected leaders to maintain Florida’s celebrated status?
After years of debate and policy vacillation, the U.S. finally has made solid progress in tackling our planet’s warming. Its costly effects threaten coastal, low-lying, hurricane-prone areas the most.
Recent technology-neutral energy tax incentives, passed in 2021 and 2022, gave us big national policies to reduce dirty energy pollutants that act as a blanket, trapping the sun’s heat. Leading studies agree that we are expected to reduce U.S. emissions by about 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, if present national policy unfolds as planned.
Many nations watch and respond to our lead as well as to the European Union, the international leader in reducing harmful carbon and other heat-trapping emissions. Global energy-related CO2 emissions were expected to peak in 2024, making it a pivotal year.
America can and should influence international policy and technology to follow our lead. We now get more than 40% of our power from zero-emission sources like solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear.
It’s crucial that our present national clean energy policies be maintained. We can continue to expand the potential for all of the cleanest, affordable sources of energy. One of the biggest enemies to this expansion is public apathy, aided by misinformation like often repeated climate denials, claims about a nonexistent “electric car mandate” and the alleged harmful and dangerous attributes of clean electricity production.
For many of us, there are more immediate worries than distant, destructive climate-fueled events. We often don’t know what we can do or what is an effective use of our time and talents. Consider acting to save electricity (and money), and spending 10 minutes on a phone call or email.
Reducing your carbon footprint is a good start, but don’t stop there. By all means, conserve energy at home and work, and buy a car that will be the most economical over its lifetime. Your individual contributions all count, but are minor compared to the contribution you can have through politics.
We depend on the U.S. Congress for policy action. The only thing that can keep us on course is policy action on the national and international level. Elected leaders passing legislation for policy change depends on political will.
We must vote to create that will. We can also use our time and talents to join others to help create political will. If you know who your member of Congress is, you’re doing good, but if they know who you are, you’re doing outstanding. When our representatives don’t hear from us, who do you think they listen to?
Your voice matters. Consider taking 10 minutes to call or email your members of Congress on behalf of the 2022 clean energy tax incentives: the technology-neutral Investment Tax Credit and the Production Tax Credit. Losing these credits could result in at least $336 billion less investment, a net 97,000 fewer good-paying American jobs and increases in residential electricity bills by 10% on average, according to Aurora Energy Research.
To find your U.S. congressional representative’s contact information, go to House.gov and enter your ZIP code. Advocate for policies that reduce harmful emissions, promote clean energy and protect vulnerable communities.
Talk to friends and family: Encourage others to join you in contacting their elected officials or making changes in their own lives. We can’t tackle climate change alone; collective action is powerful. Let’s act to put the brakes on it. It’s just common sense.
Jeff Dorian is co-leader of the Orlando chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Banner photo: The U.S. Capitol at sunset (iStock image).
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