Bill Shreve

When I attended the Bloomberg Green Festival in Seattle on July 11, I
heard speakers from all walks of life talk about the future with our
changing climate. Most speakers avoided partisan endorsements
when the Bloomberg facilitators asked them specific questions about
the upcoming election, but they agree on what is needed. Reaching
net zero carbon emissions is essential and reducing emissions cannot
wait. One speaker simply said, “We should not let Climate Deniers run
for office.” It takes courage to support climate friendly legislation. The
fossil fuel industry spends billions of dollars on lobbyists to defeat
climate activists.
The most important thing we can do is vote for people at all levels who
will work to reduce emissions and pass policies to mitigate the impact
of unavoidable climate change. We need to work with mayors and city
councils, county supervisors, state representatives and senators,
congress persons and the president in Washington DC to restore
God’s creation.
So how can one learn how the candidates will work to reduce
emissions? There are many ways to see our representatives
environmental records. For example, the League of Conservation
Voters tracks voting records of all members of Congress on critical
environmental, climate, environmental justice, and democracy
legislation. There are also specific comparisons of candidates’ policies
by non-partisan analysists. For example, Yale Climate Connections
compares “ How Kamala Harris and Donald Trump compare on climate
change .”
The bottom line: do your homework to learn about policies and vote
your values. Most importantly, VOTE!