For a cleaner, more prosperous world, ACC mobilizes conservatives around environmental issues, fostering collaboration in the pursuit of environmental conservation.
It’s October 3rd. If you grew up in the early 2000s, your social media feed is probably full of Mean Girls content that you can “only share today.” After all, October 3rd was the day Aaron Samuels asked Cady Heron what day it was.
Despite the flood of Mean Girls content today, most other days your social media feed is probably full of content on a very different subject — climate change. If my generation has made anything clear, it’s that we love Mean Girls and that we don’t have time to waste on climate change. And yet, despite the urgency many young people today feel on climate, they too often turn to the slowest possible method for action: government.
While these young activists may be well-intentioned, they are certainly misguided. Governments are notoriously bureaucratic, slow-moving institutions. Looking to Congress for action means inviting congressional gridlock, and risks important initiatives being tossed away or pushed off by the demands of the hour. The truth is that we can’t wait for the government to somehow craft and pass a perfect piece of legislation. There’s too much at stake to put all our eggs in the federal government’s basket. Bitter disagreements between alarmists and deniers — with the rest of us stuck in the middle — have delayed meaningful federal action on climate for decades.
The good news is, we have somewhere else to turn. Congressional gridlock hasn’t stopped local leaders and businesses, and action on environmental challenges is happening right now all over the country. My organization, The Conservation Coalition, is hitting the road to prove it. In a Tesla Model X, our president and founder Benji Backer has been traveling the country since mid-September to highlight local environmental action and corporate stewardship.
From the work of corporations like Microsoft pledging to be carbon-negative by 2030, to Burt’s Bees going landfill-free, it’s clear that while the government has its place in climate action, it is by no means the gold standard. While politicians bicker about vague targets and massive price tags, Americans and the private sector have gotten to work.
With so much happening in politics at the national level, not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic, we don’t always hear about these almost futuristic developments from entrepreneurs and companies. From carbon capture plants that literally take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to anaerobic digesters that turn food and plant waste into fuel, local communities are cutting their emissions and taking action on conservation issues now.
While some may first think of the White House when they think about enacting change, no matter the issue, change doesn’t begin with our Commander in Chief, regardless of who he or she is. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis described states as “laboratories of democracy,” towns and cities all over the country are also laboratories of climate action. The private sector is spearheading progress and developments like these all throughout the country. That’s why we’re hitting the road and encouraging others to follow along on our Electric Election Roadtrip. So get in, losers, we’re fighting climate change.