DC is asleep at the wheel when it comes to climate

Late last year, Democrats did the hard work of negotiating the terms of a $555 billion climate package as part of the seemingly-now-defunct Build Back Better Act. While the terms of the larger package collapsed, there is still something near consensus on the climate investments, and yet we are nowhere closer to passing it than we were in December. 

While it can be easy to fixate on the twists and turns of Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) support, this is not just about one senator. The Biden administration and every member of Congress—in both parties—has fallen down on the responsibility to prioritize, finalize, and pass desperately needed climate legislation. There seems to be no urgency among Democrats to take action to mitigate the worst of the climate crisis, even though the effects are getting more profound every year. 

While climate change is affecting countless lives and every sector of our economy, we in the outdoor recreation community have front-row seats to its effects on public lands and waters. The Forest Service is instituting regionwide closures of our national forests because of wildfire danger; extreme heatwaves are making it impossible to go outside; record-low levels of snowfall have decimated ski seasons; warming rivers are killing fish and transforming fishing. Climate change represents an existential threat to the outdoor industry, which contributes more to the GDP and employs more Americans than the oil and gas industry. 

The hard work is done. Congress spent months negotiating the terms of a climate funding package last fall that includes critical investments in wildfire mitigation, land protections, climate resilience, local conservation programs, and good jobs to address access and economic development through a Civilian Climate Corps. These priorities will make a difference in protecting local communities and will improve the resilience and accessibility of the outdoor places that Americans hold dear. But the lack of leadership from Congress and the administration is imperiling these critical investments. 

More and more news is coming out about the urgency of the climate crisis, including the harrowing recent report from the IPCC. The U.S. spent more than $145 billion in 2021 on climate disasters, and the forecast for the coming years is that we will continue to spend taxpayer dollars on cleaning up after these predictable and predicted emergencies instead of trying to prevent them. 

The negotiations have come too far not to get to yes, especially given the urgency of addressing the climate crisis before it’s too late. Every year that goes by, it will become more difficult and more expensive to prevent the damaging effects of climate change. We have the opportunity in front of us now to make a meaningful difference in mitigating the effects of a warming planet and protecting the outdoors and our way of life. 

It is past time for Congress to take action to protect the climate, the outdoor recreation economy, and our planet. 

Louis Geltman is the policy director for Outdoor Alliance, a national coalition of organizations. Shoren Brown is the executive director of The Conservation Alliance.