As Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the huge wildfires in the West make abundantly clear, climate change should be a top issue in every political campaign in the country in 2018.   In our own state of Maryland, sea level rise is eroding coastal beaches and entire islands while extreme weather batters our electricity grids and homes.

 

Despite the compelling need for urgent action to address what has been called the biggest threat facing humankind, our federal government has been moving in the opposite direction. It has torpedoed the policies, the budget and the commitments put in place by the previous administration to address climate change. 

 

As a result, it is more important than ever that State, County and municipal governments step up to the challenge. But Maryland’s  governor has shown little interest in doing that.  And at least so far in public meetings and town halls showcasing candidates for state and county office, climate change has been far down the list of priorities – and often not on the list at all.

 

This lack of high level, sustained attention to the great potential damage we face from climate change must stop.   As a first step towards fixing this,

 

350MoCo's 2018 Elections Committee seeks to raise the profile of climate change as an issue in Montgomery County and Maryland State elections.

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We will work to achieve this by

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• Developing lists of targeted, actionable questions on climate issues for candidates at the County and state levels.

• Getting friends and volunteers out to every possible campaign forum and town hall meeting to stand up and ask these questions of the candidates.

• Preparing a climate change "opinionnaire" for each candidate to fill out and preparing summaries to hand out on election day. 

 

Please join us and get climate change on the ballot to drive the policy changes we desperately need!