Climate change fact must trump politics

Donald Trump is not responsible for the rise in global temperature last year, even though he did raise the temperature of our political dialogue. The fact is, even though 2016 was the warmest year on record, the previous two years also received that same ominous designation.

But today, in 2017, President Trump is responsible for actively working to hinder our nation’s ability to stop such warming trends from continuing.

{mosads}The most recent blow came this week when President Trump signed an executive order that attempts to undo President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, as well as undermine other environmental conservation and climate change prevention efforts.

Scientists tell us that climate change is real, is caused by human activity, and could have devastating effects all over the world. It is a very real crisis that, if left untouched, will cause irreparable harm to current and future generations. President Obama’s Clean Power Plan was a critical step in the effort to prevent that from happening.

The Clean Power Plan called for a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from our nation’s single largest source, power plants. It gave states the flexibility to reduce carbon pollution with strategies that work best in their state while cutting emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy and encouraging innovative green technologies. Rolling back the Clean Power Plan prevents our country from taking necessary steps to safeguard our future.

But this executive order was not done in isolation. Rather it is part of a disturbing trend of undermining conservation and green industry efforts, while negating the importance of scientific fact.

Since his inauguration, President Trump promised to upended fuel efficiency standards. He has also consistently worked to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency at the forefront of promoting public health by protecting the land we live on, the water we drink and the air we breathe.

The President installed a climate change denier to head the EPA and proposed dramatic cuts to the agency in his recent budget proposal. And just this week, Republicans in the House passed a bill to weaken the scientific expertise of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board. Alienating the EPA is particularly disturbing because they are uniquely positioned to lead the federal government’s efforts confronting today’s most pressing environmental challenges, from developing fuel efficient vehicles, to improving energy-efficient household appliances to tackling the causes and effects of climate change.

The failure to support climate change initiatives is made all the more intolerable when considering the accompanying economic and job creation benefits presented by a clean energy economy.

Rejecting climate change science is tantamount to rejecting the growing green technology sector that it fuels, which puts America at a global disadvantage. Instead of ceding green tech jobs to our competitors in China, we should give ourselves an opportunity to create high paying jobs and expand this industry.

Take my home state of Massachusetts, where jobs in the clean energy sector have grown by 75 percent since 2010 and is now an eleven billion dollar industry. Companies right in my own district are developing and manufacturing solar and fuel cell technology, new ways of transporting energy, and other clean energy technologies that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. Local colleges and universities are expanding to include new classes and innovation technology centers that will pave the way for future pioneering in this field.  

Addressing climate change has just as much benefit for our economic future as it does for our environment. There is a literal cost of inaction and denial.

We’ve seen the administration’s disregard for science elsewhere, for example in the president’s budget proposal that slashed funding for life-saving medical research. It is a problem that can be addressed through legislation I introduced earlier this month with Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.). Our Scientific Integrity Act would require U.S. federal agencies to adopt or strengthen policies to insulate government-directed research from the influence of political pressure and special interests.

We must be guided by the facts. And the fact is climate change is real. The fact is we have some of the brightest and most experienced minds in the world working to combat this challenge. The fact is America has the wherewithal to make a difference.

Ultimately, if we want our children and grandchildren to inherit a better, cleaner planet, fact must trump politics.

Rep. Tsongas is a member of the Natural Resources Committee and founding member of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC).

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.