I am a volunteer with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), an organization with over 500 local chapters in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere. CCL is trying to convince Congress to put a price on carbon. We substitute grassroots activism for the money that big campaign contributors use to gain access to Congressional offices.
When I talk to people who are of the age of traditional college students, I tell them, “This is your future we’re talking about.” A speaker on the November, 2019 CCL monthly educational conference call noted that glob-al warming protests by young people had called the world’s attention to an aggrieved group similar to women in the feminist movement.
Congress must act. The Economist magazine (June 7, 2014, pp, 12-13) reported that the Obama-era EPA regulations (the Clean Power Plan) were inadequate in fighting global warming. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has come out in favor of a carbon tax through which the money from the tax would go back to house-holds. CCL is supporting the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763), a bill before Congress that would create the kind of policy that the IMF is supporting.
Political protest on the streets is going to be essential if the world is going to be successful in fighting global warming. But people can both protest and lobby. In discussions with Congressional offices, CCL delega-tions can point out how H.R. 763 would protect low income households, and also help the U.S. economy by giving money to poor people, who then spend it.
