The evidence is overwhelming and clear: we’re well past climate change. If we don’t act immediately and with solutions at the scale science demands, all of our communities – especially the most vulnerable – are at risk and the cost will be borne by future generations.
We are experiencing a climate crisis and we’re running out of time to solve it. The effects of this climate crisis – extreme weather events, increased temperatures, rising sea levels, unprecedented fires and flooding – occur constantly across the globe. But the crisis is also having very real impacts here in our communities. Warming ocean waters have led to a decline in fishing jobs and incomes. Our farmers grapple with unpredictable growing seasons. Our coastal infrastructure is either deteriorating, becoming more costly to protect and maintain, or is exposed to potential destruction that will require millions or billions of dollars to fix. And just when we should be acting to build a sustainable future, the Trump Administration has been recklessly rolling back vital environmental regulations and withdrawing from the Paris Accord.
Fighting for our planet isn’t just a buzz phrase for Jesse or a campaign position she now holds. She has been in the fight to protect our planet for years and has the wins to prove it. As a member of the Brookline Select Board, she worked with local activists to create Climate Week and helped pass bans on both plastic bags and styrofoam. And, as the voice of the state’s progressive business community, she worked collaboratively with leaders around the state to advocate for a price on carbon pollution and investments in clean energy innovation that would both tackle climate change and create jobs.
When Jesse is in Congress, the people of the Fourth District won’t just have a champion for the environment – they will have a leader who proposes and co-sponsors legislation and uses her platform to advocate for the urgent action we need to save our planet.
Here Jesse’s vision to combat our climate crisis:
- Pass the Green New Deal. We can lead this fight by finalizing and passing the Green New Deal and drive critical investments in renewable energy sources like solar and offshore wind, public transportation and zero emission vehicles, and in other new technologies.
- Advance a Green Workforce. Jesse will seek investments in workforce training, community colleges, and technical schools to prepare workers for opportunities in the clean energy sector. She will work to provide ladders to all for employment in the energy efficiency sector and make sure those jobs are good-paying union jobs in America’s fastest-growing energy industry with more than 2 million American workers, including more than 110,000 here in Massachusetts.
- Support Responsible Offshore Wind Development. Jesse will push for more resources and permitting certainty at the Department of Interior and advocate for more federal research in both offshore wind technology and fishing and marine impacts. She supports the Offshore Wind and Jobs Opportunity Act, which provides funding for job training programs in the offshore wind industry. She will also work to ensure that our local fishing industry and coastal communities have their voices heard – and benefit from – the implementation of offshore wind projects and she will fight for mitigation funds for any lost access to fishing grounds.
- Invest in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Jesse will fight for greater investment in and better alignment of renewable energy incentives and programs, direct investments into states, and increased tax incentives, such as the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the federal electric vehicle income tax credit, which the Trump Administration recently stymied.
- Support Carbon Pricing and Stand Up to Big Oil. Jesse will support aggressive carbon pricing to reduce fossil fuel usage and she will support legislation that eliminates fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks for Big Oil companies.
- Invest in Public Transportation and Zero-Emission Vehicles. Jesse will fight for investments that remake our transportation system for the 21st century, with a public transit system that makes it easy for commuters to opt for modes of transportation with a low carbon footprint like electrified commuter rail fleet. She will work to ensure that South Coast Rail becomes a reality for residents – all the way to Taunton on day one. She will support legislation that advances the development of zero-emission vehicles, such as the Clean Cars for America legislation, which makes clean vehicles more affordable, our electric charging infrastructure more accessible, and reasserts our leadership in zero emission vehicle manufacturing.
- Advancing environmental justice at home. Non-white and low-income people in Massachusetts are nearly 20 times more likely to live in an area with hazardous waste sites and chemical pollution. As we work to address the disparities in policing, economic mobility, education and health access for black Americans, clean air and water is a human right that for too long has not been granted equally across our state and country. Jesse will fight to remove the disproportionate burden of pollution on our communities, and focus federal funding on reinvesting climate change solutions in these communities first.