With Election Day 2020 just over the horizon, it’s apparent that two crises facing our nation are being exacerbated by some of our elected leaders’ neglect of science.
Unprecedented wildfires are burning up and down the West Coast. Texas and Louisiana were recently hit by Hurricane Laura, one of the strongest and most quickly intensifying storms ever in the Gulf. For the first time in more than 50 years, the Atlantic Ocean has had five named tropical storms churning at the same time. This summer, record-breaking heat waves pummeled the Southwest and San Antonio, where there were 14 days at 100 degrees or higher in July alone. Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to claim more than a thousand lives per day.
There’s a grim similarity between our country’s response to COVID-19 and climate change — too many elected leaders ignored the world’s leading scientific bodies on how to minimize the impact of the pandemic. And too many elected leaders have not heeded the warnings from climate scientists that the extreme weather disasters now wreaking havoc across America are just a sneak peek of what’s to come if we don’t act, and act quickly.
Americans will soon face a clear choice: Elect leaders who understand, and follow, science, or stay the course with those who do not and have led the country onto this precipice.
You can find these clear-cut races up and down the ballot. President Donald Trump has ridiculed and rejected climate change, and conducted a remarkable assault on the country’s modest climate policy advances. That’s a particularly stark contrast to his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s made climate and clean energy policy a central platform.
In the Texas House of Representatives, voters will find many similarly night-and-day contrasts between those who support climate change action and those who deny the science. Voters also will have a choice on whether the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees our state’s vast oil and gas industry, should have new leadership. The agency has an opportunity to curb the virtually unlimited natural gas flaring — a wasteful practice that damages local air quality and releases methane, a greenhouse gas.
The stakes for Texas are extremely high if we don’t take bold action. By 2050, scientists warn there will be twice as many dangerous heat days per year. Widespread drought will double across Texas. Along the coastline, 100-year floods will be nine times more likely. In San Antonio, scientists predict three months’ worth of days where the heat index tops 100 degrees by midcentury.
And while climate change touches every Texan and every corner of the state, it does not affect everyone equally. Climate-fueled disasters disproportionately harm people of color and low wealth. These communities have done the least to cause the problem, but they have the hardest time recovering before the next crisis because of policies that have put their homes in harm’s way — in flood plains and near petrochemical facilities — and prioritize the most valuable properties for protection. The Episcopal Health Foundation found that Latino and Black people were more likely to say their living conditions were unsafe one year after Hurricane Harvey had damaged their homes.
Scientists agree we must not add more climate pollution to the atmosphere than we can remove by 2050. It’s an ambitious goal, but with strong leadership, Texas can help lead the way. Before the pandemic, clean energy was beginning to soar in Texas. We are the nation’s leader in wind energy, producing enough to power 7 million homes. Tesla is opening a massive “gigafactory” in Austin to build electric cars and trucks, which will provide 5,000 good-paying jobs. In San Antonio, Navistar is building a manufacturing plant that will build electric trucks, and provide 600 jobs. But like nearly every other sector, the clean energy economy was ravaged by the pandemic. Texas still has more than 23,000 fewer clean energy jobs than before the pandemic.
Congress is deadlocked on any new relief or recovery packages. But Americans can change that this November. It’s up to all of us to elect leaders who will protect our communities, invest in the clean energy economy, and help America rebuild a better and more equitable future.
Jim Marston is the Texas director for EDF Action, the advocacy partner of the Environmental Defense Fund.
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September 20, 2020 at 04:00PM
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Commentary: Elect leaders who will respect, follow science - San Antonio Express-News
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