Climate activists are demanding Congress refocus on the climate crisis.
The Climate Action Campaign, a national coalition of environmental groups, brought its “Climate Summer: Too Hot to Ignore” push to Capitol Hill as lawmakers returned to Washington. The group said climate change is being drowned out by the latest distractions in the nation’s capital. It wants lawmakers to put the crisis back at the top of the federal agenda.
Margie Alt, director of the campaign, said their goal is to refocus the debate on climate change.
“We need to make sure we are transitioning to a clean energy economy that is better for our air, it is better for our economy, it is better for our health, and we know exactly how to get more clean energy on the grid,” Alt outlined.
Activists greeted members of Congress in Washington and around the country in their districts. The five-week campaign reached 40 congressional districts in 19 states. Volunteers held more than 90 rallies to deliver the message “Climate can’t wait,” Alt noted.
The campaign has special weight across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Advocates there are pressing for cleaner buses and buildings, working to protect the Potomac River and other waterways and challenging the impact of utility and data center growth.
Frances Stewart, a retired physician and volunteer for the advocacy group Elders Climate Action, said advocates asked lawmakers to look past the political noise.
“When legislators talk about climate and the need for climate action, actually the public sees that as a positive, not as a negative. We really wanted to get past the climate hushing that we seem to be seeing for the last couple of years,” Stewart explained.
Alt stressed legislators need to confront the rising heat, worsening storms and dangerous pollution and join the conversation on climate.
“A lot of people out there are talking about climate change. Unfortunately, we’re not hearing as much from our politicians as we wish we were, and we can’t solve a problem that we don’t talk about,” Alt emphasized.
