A Deal with Durbin
For this unit of our humanities class, Policy, we learned a lot about the process a bill has to go through before it becomes a complete law, as well as more about the history of the US's legal system. We ended up visiting the City Council on a Field Experience, through a Zoom call, and got to listen in on the proceedings there once more. For this Action Project, we were asked to select a bill or ordinance currently circulating through either our local government or the national government, and write a letter to our corresponding local representative to either vote for or against that bill. Below is the content of the letter that I plan on sending to Senator Durbin.
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WH
1535 N Dayton St, Chicago, IL 60642
7th May, 2020
Richard Durbin
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Dear Senator Durbin,
Our world is slowly burning as we stand by. In the midst of this pandemic, it’s still very important that we, the United States, continue our efforts to reduce climate change. In December of 2015, nearly ever country in the world came together in Paris and agreed to limit carbon emissions. President Trump has formally started the process of pulling the US out of the landmark Paris Agreement, and will be able to finalize the withdrawl the day after the 2020 election. If this were to happen, then not only would we be digging ourselves a deeper hole to get out of, we’d be partially undoing the progress other countries have been making to reduce carbon emissions.
I am writing to you to ask that you take action and vote in support of The Climate Action Now Act, or H.R.9 bill, which calls for the President to annually speak with Congress about what progress is being made towards reducing carbon emissions following the guidelines the U.S. set at the Paris Agreement for itself, even if we are not technically participating in the Paris Agreement. It would also prevent federal funds from being used to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, making it impossible for the President to withdraw from it unless they were to get funding from elsewhere.
Due to the Trump Administration’s efforts to walk back U.S. federal climate policy, the States are only contributing the the problem instead of attempting to help reduce carbon emissions. Climate Action Tracker.org, describes US progress as “critically insufficient” and further states that “Along with its weakening of the Clean Carbon Plan, in the last six months [as of December 1st 2019], the Administration has also relaxed requirements for more energy-efficient lightbulbs, proposed freezing vehicle efficiency standards after 2020, and proposed allowing methane leaks from oil and gas production to continue for longer before they are found and fixed.” Because of this, I’m concerned about the effects of climate change on my future.
My school, Global Citizenship Experience Lab School, has a curriculum that revolves around the Sustainable Development Goals, and each of our classes are connected to one of the SDGs. Through this learning program I’ve gotten to know the effects of climate change and the consequences of it quite well, The United States is making poor progress towards meeting the goals it set for itself at the Paris Agreement, and what I see in store for the future of myself and the fellow members of my generation is frightening.
If we, as a human race, are unable to stop the progression of climate change, it will end up having very drastic effects on our lifestyles and on future generations. Heat waves will be much more common, reaching positively scorching temperatures in some areas of the world. The countries, states, or islands near the Equator would especially suffer from the drastic increase in temperature. Heat-related health problems and overheating will become much more common worldwide, as well as natural disasters and shrinking coastlines. Life for everyone is going to become much harder, and fast, if we choose to stand idly by and watch as we destroy our own world out of greed.
Speaking of greed, opponents of the Climate Action Now Act might argue that climate change is an issue that can wait until later, an issue that can be put off until another time, when the truth of the matter is that we should have started taking steps towards preventing it decades ago. Trump cannot truly keep America great by isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. Republicans who opposed the measure said it would put the U.S. at a disadvantage to other nations, specifically large carbon emitters such as China and India, the No. 1 and No. 3 highest. America is the No. 2 emitter worldwide, but emits far more per citizen than China or India. If we’re going to solve the problem of climate change, we need to continue to meet our existing goals.
To reiterate, action on this bill will be a necessity if our country is to make progress to ensuring the future of the next few generations. I implore you to vote in favor of this bill, for the sake of the generations to come. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this letter, and I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
WH
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In conclusion, I thought that this Action Project was quite challenging, because I've never really had to write a professional letter like this before, especially not one to one of the people representing me in the government. It did allow me to speak to someone with the power to actually change things in our country about a topic that I'm passionate about, which I think is a pretty unique opportunity for a high school student to be able to get.
Harington, Rebecca. “Here's What the US Actually Agreed to in the Paris Climate Deal.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 1 June 2017, www.businessinsider.com/what-did-us-agree-to-paris-climate-deal-2017-5.
Kathy. “H.R.9 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Climate Action Now Act.” Congress.gov, 7 May 2019, www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/9.
Mulvaney, Kieran. “Climate Change Report Card: These Countries Are Reaching Targets.” World Climate Change Report Card: These Countries Are Meeting Goals, 19 Sept. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/climate-change-report-card-co2-emissions/#close.
“USA.” USA | Climate Action Tracker, climateactiontracker.org/countries/usa/.
“Weeks Before Pres. Trump Can Officially Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement, SFRC Democrats Insist U.S. Remain in Fight against Global Warming.” United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 30 Sept. 2019, www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/weeks-before-pres-trump-can-officially-withdraw-from-paris-climate-agreement-sfrc-democrats-insist-us-remain-in-fight-against-global-warming.
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WH
1535 N Dayton St, Chicago, IL 60642
7th May, 2020
Richard Durbin
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Dear Senator Durbin,
Our world is slowly burning as we stand by. In the midst of this pandemic, it’s still very important that we, the United States, continue our efforts to reduce climate change. In December of 2015, nearly ever country in the world came together in Paris and agreed to limit carbon emissions. President Trump has formally started the process of pulling the US out of the landmark Paris Agreement, and will be able to finalize the withdrawl the day after the 2020 election. If this were to happen, then not only would we be digging ourselves a deeper hole to get out of, we’d be partially undoing the progress other countries have been making to reduce carbon emissions.
I am writing to you to ask that you take action and vote in support of The Climate Action Now Act, or H.R.9 bill, which calls for the President to annually speak with Congress about what progress is being made towards reducing carbon emissions following the guidelines the U.S. set at the Paris Agreement for itself, even if we are not technically participating in the Paris Agreement. It would also prevent federal funds from being used to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, making it impossible for the President to withdraw from it unless they were to get funding from elsewhere.
Due to the Trump Administration’s efforts to walk back U.S. federal climate policy, the States are only contributing the the problem instead of attempting to help reduce carbon emissions. Climate Action Tracker.org, describes US progress as “critically insufficient” and further states that “Along with its weakening of the Clean Carbon Plan, in the last six months [as of December 1st 2019], the Administration has also relaxed requirements for more energy-efficient lightbulbs, proposed freezing vehicle efficiency standards after 2020, and proposed allowing methane leaks from oil and gas production to continue for longer before they are found and fixed.” Because of this, I’m concerned about the effects of climate change on my future.
My school, Global Citizenship Experience Lab School, has a curriculum that revolves around the Sustainable Development Goals, and each of our classes are connected to one of the SDGs. Through this learning program I’ve gotten to know the effects of climate change and the consequences of it quite well, The United States is making poor progress towards meeting the goals it set for itself at the Paris Agreement, and what I see in store for the future of myself and the fellow members of my generation is frightening.
If we, as a human race, are unable to stop the progression of climate change, it will end up having very drastic effects on our lifestyles and on future generations. Heat waves will be much more common, reaching positively scorching temperatures in some areas of the world. The countries, states, or islands near the Equator would especially suffer from the drastic increase in temperature. Heat-related health problems and overheating will become much more common worldwide, as well as natural disasters and shrinking coastlines. Life for everyone is going to become much harder, and fast, if we choose to stand idly by and watch as we destroy our own world out of greed.
Speaking of greed, opponents of the Climate Action Now Act might argue that climate change is an issue that can wait until later, an issue that can be put off until another time, when the truth of the matter is that we should have started taking steps towards preventing it decades ago. Trump cannot truly keep America great by isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. Republicans who opposed the measure said it would put the U.S. at a disadvantage to other nations, specifically large carbon emitters such as China and India, the No. 1 and No. 3 highest. America is the No. 2 emitter worldwide, but emits far more per citizen than China or India. If we’re going to solve the problem of climate change, we need to continue to meet our existing goals.
To reiterate, action on this bill will be a necessity if our country is to make progress to ensuring the future of the next few generations. I implore you to vote in favor of this bill, for the sake of the generations to come. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this letter, and I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
WH
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Sources:
Harington, Rebecca. “Here's What the US Actually Agreed to in the Paris Climate Deal.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 1 June 2017, www.businessinsider.com/what-did-us-agree-to-paris-climate-deal-2017-5.
Kathy. “H.R.9 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Climate Action Now Act.” Congress.gov, 7 May 2019, www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/9.
Mulvaney, Kieran. “Climate Change Report Card: These Countries Are Reaching Targets.” World Climate Change Report Card: These Countries Are Meeting Goals, 19 Sept. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/climate-change-report-card-co2-emissions/#close.
“USA.” USA | Climate Action Tracker, climateactiontracker.org/countries/usa/.
“Weeks Before Pres. Trump Can Officially Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement, SFRC Democrats Insist U.S. Remain in Fight against Global Warming.” United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 30 Sept. 2019, www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/weeks-before-pres-trump-can-officially-withdraw-from-paris-climate-agreement-sfrc-democrats-insist-us-remain-in-fight-against-global-warming.
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