We Can’t Put Off Climate Action Any Longer

By Evey Mengelkoch, June 12th, 2022

If we continue with business-as-usual, we will see the intensifying of droughts, floods, storms, heatwaves, and more. These issues are not in some faraway place or the distant future that we can leave for our grandchildren to solve. We are seeing climate impacts here and now.

The most recent release by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made clear that we need to act swiftly to limit the worst impacts of climate change. If we continue with business-as-usual, we will see the intensifying of droughts, floods, storms, heatwaves, and more. These issues are not in some faraway place or the distant future that we can leave for our grandchildren to solve. We are seeing climate impacts here and now.

In the United States, some consequences of climate change we are experiencing include record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires on the West Coast, unprecedented numbers of billion-dollar disasters, the worst droughts in a millennium, and a frozen-over Texas, all within the past few years. In 2021 alone, more than 40% of Americans lived in counties that suffered the impacts of climate change, with 688 lives and $145 billion lost to extreme weather events. 

These impacts are playing out every day in Wisconsin. Between 2010 and 2020, we experienced 16 extreme weather events that cost the state up to $10 billion in damages. We are seeing an increase in annual precipitation and extreme precipitation events, which can lead to flooding, declining water quality, and dangerous impacts on agriculture, health, and infrastructure. Temperatures are on the rise as well, and Wisconsin is expected to experience 60 heat wave days a year by 2050, up from the 10 we experience currently. 

Furthermore, these effects are not distributed equally. Marginalized communities and younger people like me will see the brunt of the impact, despite being the least responsible for releasing the pollution that fuels climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that climate change will cause communities of color to experience more deaths from extreme heat and property loss from flooding in the wake of sea-level rise. The scientists of the IPCC have explicitly stated that climate change is a present issue, that we are the ones that caused it, and that unless we make substantial changes within the next decade, these impacts will continue to worsen.

The good news in these findings is that even though we may currently be hurtling towards a fairly horrific future that may be unlivable for many, we still have room to improve our situation.  As a student of the University of Wisconsin - Superior, this possibility of a more positive outlook for us and our families drives me and many other young people I know to devote much of our time to advocating for the climate solutions we urgently need. 

We are making progress toward improving our climate trajectory. Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives delivered for the American people with its historic vote to approve $550 billion in investments in climate, clean energy, justice, jobs, equity, families, and communities. While this crucial legislation has stalled in the Senate, it is not too late to bring it up to vote. Senator Tammy Baldwin should be commended for her leadership on climate, and I urge the rest of the Senate to do what’s best for our country’s future and take meaningful action on climate, justice, jobs, and clean energy, bearing in mind that every second that goes by without climate action is estimated to cost at least $4,700. With bold clean energy investments, we can expect to see more than 860,000 jobs created - more than 84,000 in Wisconsin alone - and $330 billion in economic activity over the next five years.

While many young people are terrified at the prospect of living in a future with the worst effects of climate change, which has led many to have poor mental health or refuse to have children to prevent their descendants from also experiencing this crisis, it does not have to continue to be this way. We need our leaders in Washington to act now to put us on the right path to a more optimistic future.

Evey Mengelkoch is an MS student in Sustainable Management at the University of Wisconsin - Superior. She is also a fellow with Change the Chamber*Lobby for Climate.