June 26, 2009

Climate Bill Passes House -- Youth At The Table?

Posted by Adam Waxman at 4:33PM

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Today, the US House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. This is the cap and trade regime mainly authored by powerful House Democrat Henry Waxman (who, I have noted, is not related to me). The vote was relatively close, with 219 Representatives voting Aye and 212 voting Nay. It was mostly along party lines, with 7 Republicans joining Democrats to support passage and 44 Democrats voting no. Most of the Republicans voting yes were moderates from places like California and Delaware; most Democrats voting no were conservatives from the South and several industrial states.

Young people have been active in this debate since the beginning, led by organizations old and new. Groups like The Energy Action Coalition and the Sierra Club have been mobilizing students and young people to get this bill passed since before Obama took office. Young people aren’t just relying on traditional lobbying visits to raise awareness – though there’s plenty of that - young people are also organizing new and innovative ways to show how important climate change is to our generation. Check out this video of a flashmob protesting inaction on global warming organized by the Avaaz Action Factory:

This climate bill is an important first step in the battle against global warming. Today’s vote is important, but by no means the end of the road. The bill faces a tough road in the Senate, where it will surely require 60 votes to beat a filibuster. I have a lot of trouble with the math that allows the bill to get 60 votes, particularly if several members of the Democratic caucus peel off or are difficult.

As the debate moves forward, one of the frustrating things that I have seen is a total lack of recognition as to the role that young people are playing in this debate. Politico, which is a major Washington, DC outlet covering the Hill, did a big story earlier this week about how Democrats could ensure the climate bill’s passage by massaging the right coalitions. Left off the radar screen was young people, despite the fact that we’re the ones who will be impacted by inaction on climate change. David Kurtz over at Talking Points Memo actually makes this point better, so I’ll just quote from his post from earlier today:

We hear a lot from global warming deniers about the "high cost" of carbon emission regulation. Of course, in absolute terms they are right. It will be expensive. But what price are the deniers willing to pay personally for the high cost of being on the wrong side of science and history? Many of today's deniers will be long dead by the time the worst effects of inaction are realized. Those who do live long enough will more than likely be insulated from the most extreme effects by their relative wealth and prosperity, compared to Bangladeshis, for instance. And in any event, there is no justice -- no democratic justice -- in punishing fools for being fools.

There are precious few fools in our generation. Today is a major victory for the climate justice movement, but we can only expect it to get harder from here on out.