OPINION: Don’t give up on Congress for climate solutions

“Congress doesn’t care what people think.” How often have you heard that, or thought it yourself?

Nowhere is the disconnect between Congress and citizens clearer than our country’s failure to fully address the climate crisis. Most Americans understand that human-caused global warming is a serious threat, and seven in ten, including 51% of Republicans, believe clean energy should be a high priority for Congress. Yet opponents, both in Congress and out, have repeatedly stymied attempts to pass federal legislation aimed at reducing the emission of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

For that reason, many who desperately want climate solutions have given up on Congress and instead focus their efforts on reducing their individual carbon footprint or working at the state and local levels.

And yet, after decades of gridlock, Congress this year passed the largest climate bill in U.S. history. The Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, will help reduce America’s carbon emissions 40% by 2030. While it doesn’t get us all the way to the needed reduction of 50% by 2030, it puts this target within striking distance. The IRA creates financial incentives for clean energy, electric cars, and electric homes. It will lead to more investment in green technology to ramp up manufacturing and meet new demand. How did that happen?

Well, not everyone had given up on Congress. Volunteers from groups including the Friends Committee on National Legislation and Citizens’ Climate Lobby worked tirelessly for over a year to build support for bold climate action in budget reconciliation, which helped pave the way for the solutions in the IRA. Those groups were listened to because they had spent more than a decade developing relationships with members of Congress in support of a range of climate legislation.

Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives by a few seats next year, but we don’t think it’s game over for more federal climate action. The politics of the issue are shifting. Fighting climate change and building green energy were winning messages for many candidates in the midterms. Renewable-energy development and clean-technology manufacturing are creating a constituency of voters who — regardless of partisan identity — support climate progress.

Alaskans have particular reason to think they can help make this happen, both in the current lame-duck session and throughout the following two years. As a new member of Congress, Rep. Mary Peltola is in the process of forming her views of what Alaskans want her legislative priorities to be. She campaigned on a platform of supporting comprehensive legislation to reduce emissions, combat ocean acidification and invest in Alaska’s renewable energy, and we ought to remind her that’s a big part of why we elected her. Now is the time for everyone seeking climate solutions to make our voices heard in her office. We only get one chance to make a strong first impression that will stick with her for years to come.

Remember, many other interests also recognize this unique, first-impression opportunity. We don’t want Rep. Peltola to be left thinking, “I’m hearing from folks about everything except climate change.”

Alaskans are not used to the concept of having a brand-new congressperson who is just getting a sense of voters’ priorities. But in Rep. Peltola, many Alaskans really do believe that they have someone in Congress who will listen to them. So, let’s encourage everyone we know to contact her and ask her to support legislation to reduce carbon emissions and to help our communities adapt. While we’re at it, let’s contact our senators too.

The fact is, even in years past when Alaska CCL volunteers lobbied the late Congressman Don Young to ask him to support a carbon-fee-and-dividend bill, he would always listen and emphasize that he needed to hear from more voters in order to consider it. If a member of Congress whose views had been shaped by decades in office was still open to being swayed, imagine how impactful our voices can be to a representative who’s just starting out. Now and into the next year, a concerted effort to phone and send messages to Rep. Peltola’s office telling her that climate action is your top priority will encourage her to become a true climate champion.

Tim Hinterberger is a volunteer with the Anchorage chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

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