If you live in Washington State, there is something you can do this November to make a direct personal impact on climate change. Vote NO on Initiative 2117.

I first saw the effects of climate change during a family vacation to Australia in the early 2000’s. We spent an amazing couple of days visiting a remote island in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. But even 20 years ago, amid the vibrant colors and teeming life, we saw whitened patches of bleached coral caused by warming ocean temperatures.

Today, you don’t need to travel to the other side of the planet to see the effects of climate change. The extreme weather, forest fires and floods are happening right here in our own region.

Yet climate change is such a complicated worldwide problem it’s hard to know what each of us should do. How can we protect our families and our communities? How can we be good ancestors and preserve a healthy environment for our kids and grandkids? Will our individual actions make any difference at all?

I believe they will.

You see, we need three things to tackle climate change: technology, policy and people.

Affordable clean technology is essential. We need to shift to carbon-free products like electric vehicles and heat pumps. Industry needs to start making zero-carbon steel and concrete, and sustainable aviation fuel. And these products must come down in price so everyone can afford them.

We need government policies to bring about large-scale changes like upgrading our public transportation systems and setting incentives and standards for how industry transitions to clean energy.

Lastly, we need people, all of us, to make choices about what we buy and how we vote.

That’s why your vote on I-2117 is so important.

I-2117 would repeal the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and ban the State from ever implementing a similar program in future. The CCA, passed in 2021, is Washington’s landmark climate legislation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state to net zero by 2050. It requires Washington’s largest emitters to buy permits or allowances for their GHG emissions. And it tells the State to use the money from allowances to reduce the impact of climate change and the harm from air pollution. You can read more details about the CCA in this explainer.

Addressing climate change isn’t easy or free, but the CCA helps offset the costs to consumers. Kids under 18 can now ride public transit for free across most of Washington. The CCA helps families with rising energy costs. Plus, it provides funds to build more than 5000 EV charging stations across Washington, to reduce flooding and improve salmon habitat in Washington’s rivers, and many other investments to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  

The scientific evidence for climate change is overwhelming, and our own experience confirms it. But climate deniers haven’t gone away. Instead, they’re resisting and obstructing every effort to tackle the problem. I-2117 fits this pattern. It would roll back Washington’s best chance to reach net zero by 2050. And it would hamstring our state’s ability to address climate change in the future.

I-2117 provides no alternative path to get to net zero. It provides no way to pay for the very real costs of climate change and pollution.

I-2117 threatens the environment we leave to our kids and grandkids.

So, what made you first realize our climate was changing? Was it the 2021 heat wave that drove Seattle-area temperatures to 108 degrees? Maybe it was when wildfire smoke started blanketing our region every summer?

Whatever it was, you know climate change is real and you know it’s happening now.

Yes, climate change is a complex global problem that can make us feel anxious and overwhelmed. But we are not powerless. Our choices matter. There is something we can all do right here in Washington.

Vote NO on I-2117.

Thanks for reading and voting.

Related Links

“The Seattle Times editorial board recommends: Keep WA’s Climate Commitment Act — vote no on I-2117.” Seattle Times, 30 Aug 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/the-seattle-times-editorial-board-recommends-keep-was-climate-commitment-act-vote-no-on-i-2117/.