If You Want Congress To Address The Climate Crisis Seriously, You Should Help Elect Candidates Who Take It As Seriously As You Do

If you've been following DWT since 2012, you probably remember when we endorsed then-state Senator Al Lowenthal of Long Beach for Congress. He had a great record in the state legislature, so it was an easy pick. And-- guess what... he's been a great member of Congress as well. His ProgressivePunch rank has consistently been an "A" and he's always up there with Ro Khanna, Barbara Lee, Judy Chu and Ted Lieu in fighting for the core progressive agenda.

Much of his campaign back in '12 revolved-- as much of his work in Sacramento had-- around the environment so it was no surprise that that's where he's directed much of his energy since going to DC. And now, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, he is the chairman of the subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Rights.

In a note to his supporters over the weekend he reiterated that "The Trump Administration is no friend of our environment. In the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic, this administration has used the crisis as cover to continue rolling back environmental regulations and pushing through controversial policy changes that threaten not only our environment, but the health of many Americans."

Furthermore, he wrote, "These actions are being quietly slipped under the radar as many public health officials who would have serious concerns over the policy change are busy in efforts to fight coronavirus. Americans are getting sick, and the Trump Administration's cruel environmental policies, all in the name of a pro-polluter agenda, will only make them sicker. People across the nation are suffering from the impacts of these misguided environmental policies, and each additional action by this administration only adds to the harm. As a chairman of a key subcommittee on the Natural Resources Committee, I remain committed to protecting and preserving our environment.

Basically, Lowenthal and other progressives like him are fighting to make sure the Trump regime doesn't destroy our environment in the name of saving our health when they really mean saving the investments of the top 1%.

"The Trump Administration has spent years rolling back decades of hard-fought environmental progress. The White House has worked to undermine science, accelerate climate change, undo decades of work to protect our air, water, and health, and compromise the health of our planet." Lowenthal is doing the hard work it takes to protect the environment by working to stop Trump and protect the future of our planet-- something Trump doesn't spent a second thinking about, beyond claiming the Climate Crisis is a "Chinese hoax."

Here we are, 8 years later and we're still trying to help elect enough progressives to break down the corrupt establishment walls-- transpartisan-- that are holding back progress on the environment and Climate Change. I asked progressive challenger Robin Wilt where these issues are for voters in Monroe County, New York and how she will persuade them she's going to do more than establishment New Dem Joe Morelle.

She told me that "Although the urgency of the environmental crisis has seemingly taken a backseat to the COVID-19 pandemic, those on the frontlines of the struggle are painfully cognizant that the climate change crisis has always been intimately connected to the propagation and spread of global pandemic diseases like COVID-19. Not only does our deforestation and removal of habitat create more opportunity for cross-species spread of viruses not native to the human species, but the susceptibility to illness of certain groups (disproportionately our urban Black and Brown communities) is increased by prolonged exposure to pollutants. That is why it is so important that we have policy like the Green New Deal that focuses on environmental justice. When our representatives, like Joe Morelle, stubbornly ignore not only science, but also our most vulnerable communities, it creates recipes for disaster like the COVID-19 conflagration. We must hold our representation accountable for the circumstances that they have created…and for our future. With the clock ticking on our ability to avoid species-threatening massive casualties from climate crises, we must now, more than ever, vote like our lives depend on it and remove the do-nothing representatives that present a barrier to our collective progress."

Tom Guild is running for the Oklahoma City seat, currently held by a very conservative, utterly worthless Blue Dog, Kendra Horn, who has refused to sign onto the Green New Deal proposal. Earlier today Guild told me that one of his "main goals when elected to the U.S. House is to initiate bold action to fight climate change. The principles of the Green New Deal will be a good guidepost to help us reverse the damage done by excessive use of fossil fuels. We will create tens of millions of good paying green jobs as we transition to an environmentally friendly renewable energy policy. According to a consensus of the scientific community, time is running short to effectively deal with climate change. We must not set in motion an irreversible situation that leads to the destruction of our environment that scientists say will likely render planet earth unsustainable for human life in the foreseeable future."

Audrey Denney is the progressive Democrat running for Congress in a sprawling rural district in northeastern California. When Bernie decided to announce his own climate plank, he did it at an event with Audrey in her district. Few candidates are as serious as she is about Climate. This morning she told me that "Climate change is the single most important issue facing the planet. We are already living through its effects. In 2018, 93 people died in our district in two devastating and historic wildfires-- where climate change was a contributing factor. My commitment to moving forward policy that help us mitigate and adapt to climate change was the reason I was the first congressional candidate to be endorsed by the Sunrise Movement this cycle. I’m running against a far-right extremist climate change denier-- who is also a rice farmer. Every single farmer I know and work with knows that climatic patterns are changing. Except Congressman LaMalfa."

Riverside County progressive Liam O'Mara is practically a neighbor of Al Lowenthal's and he's just as gung-ho on the environment and climate change as Lowenthal is. Liam made this minute-long video for us today. He says when it comes to the Climate Crisis, Congress should "stop listening to lobbyists and start listening to scientists... We are falling behind Europe and east Asia in the technologies of to-morrow, and ought instead to set American ingenuity free to create the jobs that will make us competitive for generations. Infrastructure investment pays itself back 3-to-1, so let's put Americans back to work building a modern power grid, battery storage, and renewable generating capacity." He also noted that the CA-42 incumbent, "Crooked Ken Calvert, has a lifetime score of 7% from the League of Conservation Voters and a 0% from the Sierra Club. He wants to pillage the earth for short-term corporate profit and hand taxpayer money to polluters."