Bruce Cooper and Mark Reynolds: Congress, we have a problem — and it’s time for you to solve it
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When it comes to climate change, sometimes it feels like we can’t see the forest for the trees — the smoldering, wildfire-ravaged trees.
Public attention has been consumed this summer by shocking climate impacts. Acrid wildfire smoke has blighted skylines and polluted the air in nearly every region of the United States. Heat waves have put nearly half of Americans under heat watches as July temperatures soared globally to what scientists calculate is the hottest range in 120,000 years. The waters off of Florida’s coast are ideal hot tub temperatures, killing coral and sea life. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated, “The era of global boiling has arrived.”
We have felt the impacts of climate change here in Western Pennsylvania, too. We’ve seen soaring temperatures, heavy downpours and wildfire smoke filling our air … and our lungs.
Despite all of this, too many of our elected officials are still missing the big picture. Too many are still asleep at the wheel on this issue, or worse, actively inflaming partisan divides and slowing critical progress on climate action. The issue is not just one plume of wildfire smoke, one flood, or one heatwave. The issue is human-caused climate change.
According to rapid attribution analysis by the World Weather Attribution team, the July 2023 heat extremes in the southwestern U.S. and southern Europe were “virtually impossible” without global warming.
In today’s human-altered climate, a heatwave of previously unprecedented intensity is now expected to happen once every 15 years in the southwestern U.S. and once per decade in southern Europe. If global warming reaches the upper 2 degrees Celsius target set in the Paris Agreement, these same heat waves will occur once every two to five years.
If ever the klaxon was sounding for a rapid and far-reaching reduction of carbon emissions, it is now.
In the last few years, Congress has made some progress. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act unleashed a deluge of clean energy investment, including $116.1 million of investment and 157 jobs for Pennsylvania. Through attractive incentives and credits, this legislation also made it easier for American households to help themselves to cleaner air, energy-efficient homes and cars, and abundant renewable energy (see rewiringamerica.org/my-home).
This is a good start, but we need to do even more. America’s greenhouse gas emissions still increased rapidly last year, and fossil fuel companies — whose products are at the root of our runaway greenhouse gas emissions — raked in billions in profit as they continued their business as usual.
One encouraging step is the recent relaunch of the Climate Solutions Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, which has an equal number of Republican and Democratic members committed to exploring bipartisan climate action. This group should focus its energy on crafting meaningful bipartisan legislation to drive down carbon emissions, such as a nationwide price on carbon pollution. Climate disasters affect red and blue states alike, and every American deserves to have their legislators fight to protect them and their loved ones. We hope to see Rep. Mike Kelly find a partner from across the aisle to join this important bipartisan group and commit to crafting the climate solutions we need in Western Pennsylvania.
Our members of Congress are elected to office to represent their constituents. Right now, constituents like us are hurting from our already-changing climate. Congress can no longer be passive on the topic of climate change. Not when across the U.S. — and around the world — back-to-back climate extremes are causing deaths, destruction and ecological devastation.
Everything we care about needs a livable world. We can’t accept a future where our leaders deny, delay, and distract because the reality of climate change is inconvenient and challenging. We need our leaders to connect the dots. To grasp the scale of the threat. To see the forest through those smoldering trees.
We have the solutions to change our trajectory and thrive. So, Congress — it’s time to act.
Bruce Cooper is group leader of the Slippery Rock chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Mark Reynolds is executive director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.