LWVUS Urges Action on Climate Change

In a letter sent on Earth Day 2022, Virginia Kase, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States, exhorted the U.S. Congress to address climate change in legislation before the end of this year.

Read the letter in full:

April 21, 2022 

To:  Members of the U.S. Senate 

From: Virginia Kase, CEO League of Women Voters 

Re: Addressing Climate Change 

On behalf of our 500,000 members and supporters, as well as the millions of Americans who  believe climate action is necessary for a secure future, the League of Women Voters strongly urges  Congress to take action to address climate change.  

On April 4, 2022, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations  body for assessing the science related to climate change, published a report that discusses “climate  change mitigation progress and pledges, and examines the sources of global emissions.” This report  explains international efforts to target emission reduction and assesses the impact of national  climate pledges in relation to long-term emissions goals. The findings highlight the importance of  countries like the U.S. making commitments now to mitigate the effects of climate change. The  main take-aways on this report are that it is not too late to cut emissions and avoid some of the most  dramatic potential effects of climate change and that acting now is the best way to ensure a stable  climate for the future.  

While states and local governments are working to address climate change at the community level,  it is imperative that climate action also be taken at the national level. Legislative policy to invest in  renewable energy, implement a plan to put a price on carbon, and address the long-term impacts  climate change has on public health are necessary steps that Congress must take to address the  climate change crisis. There are a number of pieces of legislation that have been introduced in  Congress that can be moved to take immediate action to address the climate change crisis.  

Climate change doesn’t exist in a silo — it is inextricably connected to many other issues, including  our economy. There are measurable financial costs associated with worsening impacts of climate  change — for instance, every time a natural disaster brought on by climate change damages a city,  there are clear costs to repair buildings and infrastructure. As more severe impacts of climate  change loom on the horizon, environmental action is crucial.  

The planet has already warmed over the past century and a further increase in global average  temperatures has already set in motion, but there is an enormous difference between a 2-degree  Celsius increase and 3-degree or higher increase. The degree of increase is within our control and  hinges upon international action now. We urge you to prioritize the inclusion of effective new  measures to address climate change in legislation before the end of this year.