Everyone can agree that this is an election season like no other. And with both the fight for the highest office and contentious down ballot races for control of congress, voting is absolutely essential.
As parents, nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our children. That is why my top priority is voting in elected officials who will do everything in their power to slow climate change, pursue clean energy resources, protect our food and water system, and make sure there are regulations in place for consumer product safety. Harmful pollution, climate change and toxic chemicals are putting our children at risk. It doesn’t have to be this way.
A Message from Sam
On election day your vote can elect candidates who care about these issues. Please vote as if your child’s health depends on it. Because it does. Here’s why:
- CLEAN AIR. Does your child have asthma? Mine does. And almost everyone of his classmates in Philadelphia uses an inhaler. Air pollution from fossil fuels leads to bad air quality in too many communities. Increases in smog can trigger asthma attacks and exacerbate other chronic health problems. Do not let your child’s health be voted away to protect polluters’ profits. Instead, VOTE to protect little lungs from toxic air pollution.
- CLIMATE CHANGE. The same harmful pollution that is making our children sick is causing rising temperatures and extreme weather events. Our changing climate is making smog worse. It increases respiratory health threats, particularly for people with allergies and asthma. Also intense heat waves exacerbate heart and lung conditions. VOTE for candidates who support proposals to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. And vote to put our country on a clean energy path while protecting American jobs!
- TOXIC CHEMICALS. Dangerous chemicals are found in our daily lives. They often enter our homes and bodies without our realizing it. In fact, these chemicals may not even have been disclosed, identified or studied. Thousands of toxic chemicals found in everyday products are linked to potential reproductive and developmental toxicity, endocrine disruption, birth defects, cancer, asthma, headaches and skin irritants. Children are among the most vulnerable to such chemicals.
There is one candidate in this presidential race who stands firmly against progress on these issues, calling for the ultimate free market economy with no regulation nor concern for consequences. Donald Trump is the first major presidential candidate to wholly deny the mere existence of global warming, an extreme stance not even shared by some of the most conservative politicians.
On Nov. 6, 2012, Donald Trump tweeted, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” On Jan. 25, 2014, he tweeted, “NBC News just called it the great freeze — coldest weather in years. Is our country still spending money on the GLOBAL WARMING HOAX?” When questioned by the press in event the most recent months, he has stood firmly by these statements. Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he would eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency.
These extreme views run counter to the beliefs of 70% of Americans who are concerned about climate change, not to mention 99.5% of climate scientists. They also run polar opposite of the most progressive democratic platform in history, with a strong stance on mitigating climate change and a specific plan to get 50 percent of our electricity from clean energy sources within a decade.
These vast differences are crucial at a time when there is so much on the table.
In August 2015, President Obama along with the Environmental Protection Agency announced the Clean Power Plan, the nation’s most ambitious legislation to combat global warming. The Clean Power Plan would set a national limit on carbon pollution produced from power plants and strengthen the trend of clean energy by setting goals for states to cut their carbon pollution. The plan could potentially reduce the pollutants that contribute to smog and soot by 25 percent, leading to net climate and health benefits of an estimated $25 billion to $45 billion per year in 2030. Opposition from some states led to a stalemate in Supreme Court. Due to a split vote in the Court, which now holds a vacant seat, the plan will remain in limbo until after the next presidential election.
After 40 years of lobbying, advocacy, and debate among legislators, the final Toxic Substances Control Act reform bill was passed in June 2016. This long-fought-for TSCA reform is more limited than environmental and health advocates had hoped for, but it is still meaningful in its protection and a step in the right direction.
Though, with the wrong hands at the wheel of democracy, these regulations could be overturned along with all the other protections hard won by health and environmental advocates. And we haven’t made nearly enough progress as it is, with lead in tap water systems, fracking-linked earthquakes in Oklahoma, and skyrocketing asthma, allergy, autism, and cancer rates linked to pollution, toxin exposure, and the proliferation of unsafe chemicals in our food system.
Staying home is not an option. Women have fought to hard for the right to vote and we must exercise that right. Hopefully you agree with me that fighting for a safe environment with clean air and water is a key priority.
No issue is more imperative than making sure we have a planet to live on – clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, and products that won’t cause illness. Please sign the Clean Air Moms Action website pledge to vote on November 8.
Disclosure: This post was created in partnership with Clean Air Moms Action. Regardless, my opinions are honest. See my full disclosure here.
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