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A high school student argues for the urgency of the Legislature’s 2040 climate bill [1]
['More From Author', 'February', 'Tahm Loyd']
Date: 2023-02-01
Last summer, I became a monk in Thailand. As a monk, I was taught about the importance of our responses. I was shown how our responses define us and reflect our intentions.
In Minnesota, we’re facing the effects of the climate crisis, with average annual temperatures projected to be 10 degrees higher by the end of the century without mitigation. We must now center our response to climate change on protecting the next generation — my generation — from the floods, heatwaves, and droughts we will face.
As a senior at Jefferson High School in Bloomington and as a youth intern at Climate Generation, I have seen firsthand how climate change has already challenged the lives of my classmates. From experiencing floods, water insecurity, and climate anxiety, the effects of climate change are already here and far-reaching. We must be able to tell the next generation that we tried to do something. We recognized the injustices caused by climate change and decided to act decisively against it. We acted to save the lakes, the prairies, and our ways of life for the next generation of Minnesotans.
Minnesota’s current climate goals were set in 2007 under then-Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The 100% clean energy bill — currently being debated in Minnesota’s Legislature — will advance our current goals, requiring Minnesota’s utilities to have 80% carbon-free energy generation by 2030 and 100% by 2040.
With all-time low solar and wind power costs and recently available federal funding for clean energy from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the 100% clean energy bill is our best shot at tackling climate change. I applaud the Minnesota House for passing this bill.
House Majority Leader Jamie Long stated, “The utilities have said that, while climate is important to their customers, the real driver is cost. Wind is the cheapest form of electricity, and solar is cheaper than any new fossil fuel plants… Zero-carbon sources, as of last year, account for over half of the state’s electricity.”
Newly available federal funds will unlock $7 billion for Minnesota to create and upgrade its infrastructure. This bill will encourage our utility providers to take advantage of these funds and invest in clean energy. It will create new green jobs and will provide a lifeline to Minnesota’s climate change response.
While recently testifying in front of the Minnesota Senate, I was told by Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, not to worry about climate change because “our climate is always changing.”
The truth is that the scale of warming our planet is experiencing is man-made due to fossil fuel combustion, and it’s happening right now. Sen. Lucero will not live long enough to experience the full impacts of climate change denial, but my generation will.
It’s time for Minnesota legislators to reflect on their intentions for my generation, and respond to the climate crisis with the urgency it demands. If our carbon emissions aren’t mitigated, Minnesota will have 55 fewer days of snow cover by the end of this century. Climate change will rob my generation of the joys of winter sports, snow days, and the flora and fauna that currently thrive in Minnesota’s climate.
Unless we act now, and pass legislation like the 100% clean energy bill in the Senate, this will be just the beginning of our climate catastrophe.
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[1] Url:
https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/02/01/a-high-school-student-argues-for-the-urgency-of-the-legislatures-2040-climate-bill/
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