It Is a New Day

I can’t get the will.i.am song “It’s a new day” out of my head. The performer made the song popular after Obama’s win but the excitement he expresses is infectious:

I went to sleep last night
Tired from the fight
I’ve been fighting for tomorrow
All my life
Yea I woke up this morning
Feeling brand new
‘Cause the dreams that I’ve been dreaming
Has finally came true

It’s a new day
It’s a new day

The song heralds that we broke through a huge barrier in race relations but it also sets the tone for me about our chances for solving what I think is the challenge of our generation – global warming. I start bopping my head to this song, feeling will.i.am’s optimism pulsing through my veins, and I think about how all the stars are lining up right now for America to finally take the giant leaps forward on the issue. Just as “the greatest generation” repelled our country’s biggest foe during WWII, we now have the chance to defeat the one problem that supercedes all other problems – preserving our planet and all the lives that it supports.

The momentum is obvious. More people than ever now understand how serious a threat global warming is. We have great leadership in Congress putting their muscle behind ideas that could lead to the legislation we desperately need, and we have a Democratic president and a majority in the House and Senate. We also have increasing numbers of Republicans – citizens across the country – recognizing that saving our planet is an issue that appeals to red and blue as well as green.

What do we do now? We focus on profits and votes.

The first one is fairly easy. It’s the low-hanging fruit of addressing global warming. We need to do things like refuse to invest in companies with bad environmental records and boycotting products made by the same. Show the non-caring companies of the word that we demand more responsible capitalism and they will have no choice but to act on the message received. We also need to send other messages like buying local produce when we can, recycling, using more fuel-efficient cars. The list goes on.

The bigger lift comes with votes. This is where we have to dig deep and show that we’re serious about taking the heat off our planet or hand to the next generation an earth that’s on life support. We need every single person in this country to do two things:

• Contact the elected officials who are leading the effort to solve this problem and let them know you support their efforts to pass meaningful legislation. I’m referring to a clean energy jobs and climate change bill that we hope will be introduced in the Senate within a few weeks. This is the historic comprehensive energy legislation that we’ve been waiting for. It will create millions of jobs and help solve the climate crisis by closing the carbon pollution loophole.
• Contact all other members of Congress and let them know that you will hold them accountable if they choose to get on the wrong side of history with this legislation. We can’t pull any punches, either. We have to talk the talk and walk the walk with lukewarm Democrats and stuck-in-the-dark-ages Republicans.

If we do those two things and help solve global warming, we will have a whole lot more to sing about.

About the Author:

JP Leous is the Climate Change Policy Advisor for The Wilderness Society, and a Lecturer at The George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services. He focuses on public lands and climate issues, and seeks to broaden the range of people interested and active in combating climate change.