Climate change action = economic security

As a college student who cares about safeguarding our economy and environment, I am highly concerned about climate change. We’re witnessing rising sea levels, increasingly intense droughts in some places (and massive floods in others), and generally more aberrant weather patterns. This is already impacting economic stability in Washington: thousands of dollars of property have been lost to wildfires, farmers’ crops have suffered, and sea level rise continues to threaten our coastal communities.

However, I firmly believe in our state’s ability to address this national security issue. There are a variety of ways to adapt, such as by transitioning as swiftly as possible towards renewable energy and away from fossil fuels, incentivizing the use of electric vehicles, opting for more vegetarian meals, increasing composting and recycling while reducing garbage output, and improving energy efficiency standards in all buildings.

Large-scale change begins at the local level. We citizens must urge our legislators to implement comprehensive climate change action policies.

Please consider attending the People’s March for Climate, Jobs and Justice on April 29 to join the grassroots climate revolution! Together, we can act for the sake of a healthy future.

For more information about the March, visit peoplesclimate.org.

This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Climate change action = economic security."