Climate Change Resolution Is a Vital Opportunity

Tucked in a corner of the ballot, voters in York Township will have a remarkable choice in November. It took years of non-partisan effort by local residents working with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, but we have a chance to approve this simple resolution:

Shall our Representatives and Senators in the U. S. Congress sponsor and/or support measures that will address the serious threat posed by climate change?

This statement costs us nothing. It binds us to no specific course of action. It has no partisan outcome, no policy implications, and no price tag. Yet, it matters far more than we might think.

York Township, like the rest of DuPage County, has been dominated by Republicans from time immemorial. At the national level the GOP has stubbornly embraced science denial. Despite the relative pragmatism of DuPage politics, local Republicans have felt pressure to bend to the will of their party’s national leaders and donors. Especially their donors. Our political leaders need to know where we stand.

A resolution urging political leaders to take climate change seriously coming from a place like York Township is a shot across the bow. This is an opportunity to warn Republicans locally, and farther afield, that their core suburban voters have lost patience with science denial. It’s a chance to tell Republicans right here at home that they cannot count on continued support while they bow to extremists. This is a little resolution with big message.

Citizens here in York Township are organizing to press for action on climate change. Local voters cooperating with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby invested the work to get this resolution onto our ballot. After passage, there will be more work to be done to urge our leaders toward action. CCL chapters are already organized in Elmhurst, Naperville, St. Charles, and Aurora. After supporting this resolution, considering joining or launching a local chapter to continue the effort.