For many years, I kept politics out of Future:Standard. Personally, I love politics. I feel passionately about many issues, and consider myself pretty well informed (obsessed?). But, I didn’t want to alienate a community. I worried about offending people. But, the climate (both the actual climate and the political climate) has changed.
Today, silence is complicity. And as they say, everything is politics now. So, here I am, urging you to get out there on November 6, and vote.
Vote like your life, the planet, and your rights depend on it. Because, this time around, they do.
Why is this election so important?
Since January 2017, the federal government has been rolling back environmental protections, gutting the EPA, and giving tax cuts and subsidies to corporate polluters. Not only is this bad for the environment, often times it is bad economic policy. As the entire global community moves toward green energy and economies, the US is moving away from it toward more obsolete industries.
Giving the election to Republican lawmakers who do not believe the human role in climate change, or chose to legislate against it anyway, will give this administration an unchecked ability to keep rolling back regulations. Regulations designed not only to clean up or limit the destruction of the environment, but also to protect your health and safety. Giving the election to these lawmakers also fills the courts with like-minded judges who will determine the constitutionality of these rollbacks for decades to come. Yes, decades.
Like clean air? Clean water? You need to vote.
If you are here, you have at least a small amount of concern for the environment. You also most likely care a bit about your own health, and that of your family. You may even consider yourself an environmentalist. You stopped drinking out of plastic bottles, maybe are transitioning to cloth napkins, and read the labels of your beauty products and clothing. You ask, “Who made my clothes?” And you vote with your dollar every single day.
It is not enough to vote with your dollar. You must actually VOTE.
All of this is well and good. In fact, it is why I write.
But, the biggest thing you can do to impact the environment today is vote.
Why? Because all the small changes that one person can make, cannot add up to the big changes that policy can have. And there is no way to enact policy change, without electing candidates who believe in climate change and are willing to fight it.
And it is up to each and every one of us to get these politicians in office. TODAY. Well, on November 6.
Young adults typically have a low turnout, especially in midterm elections. But young adults (and our children) are the ones that will be most hurt by devastating climate change, economically and physically.
I don’t vote because I don’t understand the issues:
Yes. Some of them are complicated. Some of them are not that complicated, but are written in such ways to be more complicated to confuse you. Take a look at a voter guide to help understand the measures.
Democracy sometimes takes a little work. Take a few minutes, enter your address, and read about the ballot issues. Then get out there and vote.
I don’t vote because I don’t like either candidate:
Ok, I will admit it. This one makes me really angry. Get off your high horse. No one likes everyone, and democrats, especially, have a purity problem. If we don’t agree with or like every single thing about a candidate, we won’t vote for them. They don’t agree with our philosophy on student loan debt, not good enough. They are not progressive enough, not good enough. They aren’t as aggressive on climate change, not good enough.
Well, guess what, by not voting, you are voting for the alternative. I’ll take a 75% good enough candidate. Sh*t, at this point, I’ll take a 30% good enough candidate if she’s better than the other option.
It is not enough to vote with your dollar. You must actually VOTE.
Find your Polling Place Here.
