By Jeff Tittel

The most important division in our country today isn’t between red and blue states. It is between green states and not-green states. President Trump’s war on the environment places great responsibility on states to carry the climate fight and build a green wall protecting residents from Trump. An increasing number of states are rising to that challenge, and with the Green New Deal marking the first federal action on climate change in 10 years, we have reason for hope.

Climate change is already damaging the planet. Last year was the fourth hottest on record. Oceans are warming 40 percent faster than previously thought, generating more powerful and frequent extreme weather. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gives us 12 years to reduce carbon emissions before the worst effects of climate change become irreversible.

The good news is growing public awareness of climate impacts, and state leaders continue to stand up for our environment. Twenty states, including New Jersey, plus Puerto Rico, have joined the United States Climate Alliance, committing to climate objectives of the 2015 Paris Accords from which President Trump withdrew the nation. Climate Mayors, with 379 members, serves a similar role for cities.

Patches of green advocacy have surfaced in red states. Cities such as Austin, Texas, Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana were rewarded for their work reducing air pollution and expanding renewable energy as winners in the American Cities Climate Challenge, sponsored by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Some states embraced natural resources despite political leanings. Iowa adopted wind energy so aggressively it generates 37 percent of its electricity from wind, the highest share nationally. Kansas follows with 36 percent. Green states with Republican governors, such as Massachusetts, Maryland and Vermont, advance green solutions. An offshore wind auction in Massachusetts produced a record-breaking $405 million.

Regional efforts reducing emissions have emerged. RGGI, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, includes New Jersey among what will be 11 states once Virginia joins. New Democratic governors in the Midwest may help revive the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord. The Western Climate Initiative includes five western states. Twelve states, including New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, joined the Transportation and Climate Initiative focused on green jobs and reducing transportation emissions.

Even on the federal level we are seeing progress with the Green New Deal, an aspirational plan setting strong goals moving us forward nationally on climate change.The Green New Deal calls for modernizing transportation infrastructure, de-carbonizing manufacturing and agricultural sectors, making homes and buildings more energy- efficient and increasing land preservation. The plan emphasizes equity and diversity, assuring a healthy environment and a thriving green economy driving job growth will reach all communities.

The Green New Deal is a 10-year plan that would not become law until the Trump administration is replaced, lining it up with the IPCC’s 12-year tipping point for irreversible climate impacts. Trump and the right-wing echo chamber continue to attack the Green New Deal with outrageous lies such as prohibiting cow ownership and banning air travel. Trump wants to rally opposition because the plan is already catching on with a public increasingly alarmed by climate change.

New Jersey residents worry about climate damage, and the potential impact of 13 proposed power plants and pipelines. The Green New Deal offers hope we can change for the better in a state already suffering. We are 17 times more likely to experience another storm like Hurricane Sandy. Flooding at high tides and under full moons is worsening. Asthma and Lyme disease rates have increased. New fossil-fuel projects would raise greenhouse gases 32 percent. The Green New Deal complements our work with the Empower NJ coalition to block fossil-fuel infrastructure, providing clean-energy alternatives to reach 100 percent renewable energy in New Jersey and nationally.

The Green New Deal echoes Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, providing hope for the environmental movement in the same way the original gave hope to a nation confronting the Great Depression. Roosevelt understood public demand was paramount. In a quote passed down in many forms, FDR once told a roomful of people meeting on the New Deal they had his support, then said “Now, make me do it.” The message is the same on fighting climate change, that whether it’s Gov. Murphy or the next president, it’s up to us to make them do it.

Jeff Tittel is director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

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