Hannah Vogel: Policy adviser for energy and environment issues, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)

Hannah Vogel’s efforts to combat climate change began with her time working in the great outdoors.

Years before she joined Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-Mass.) climate policy staff, she led kayaking, canoeing and sailing trips in high school and college. She said she was “experiencing extreme weather” during this time and wasn’t really doing much about it. 

Now, much of her job as a policy adviser to Markey involves working with communities who actually experience the effects of climate change, pollution and high energy bills, and helping them turn their ideas into legislation, she said. 

“I feel really privileged to be here and be able to work for a progressive leader whose views align closely with mine,” she said. 

Vogel has worked on a range of high-profile bills, including 2019’s Green New Deal resolution, as well as policies like a “green bank” that funds climate-friendly and pollution-reducing projects and ultimately made its way into the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Like many aides who work on policy issues, Vogel recognizes there won’t always be the votes to get objectives across the finish line.

The Green New Deal or recent offshoot the Green New Deal for Health are unlikely to ever garner 60 Senate votes.

Still, Vogel said those are worth doing because “our partners in communities across the country…they want other people to know what they’re working towards.”

“These … big vision policies, they’re ambitious but they’re necessary.”