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Dear Decaturish – The inflation reduction act and the upcoming midterms

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Dear Decaturish – The inflation reduction act and the upcoming midterms

"GIPL volunteers and Green Team Leaders rally for support of the Inflation Reduction Act, asking elected officials to place people before profits and polluters." Photo provided to Decaturish
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Dear Decaturish,

As people of faith, we are called to care for our neighbors and for the sacred earth. The Inflation Reduction Act is an incredibly meaningful step that not only emphasizes the importance of transitioning to clean energy, but also provides the financial resources to do so. With its historic $369 billion in energy and climate investments, the Inflation Reduction Act represents the most aggressive action to combat the climate crisis and improve American energy security in our nation’s history.

We are incredibly grateful to Senators Warnock and Ossoff for supporting its bold investments, which include:

— More than $60 billion for environmental justice priorities

— Up to $60 billion for domestic clean energy manufacturing

— $27 billion to speed the development of emissions reductions technologies, especially in disadvantaged communities

The new law puts our nation on a path to reduce climate pollution emissions by up to 44% by 2030, create millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, and reduce energy bills for working families across Georgia.

It helps accomplish this by giving families and small businesses the help they need to reduce their energy use and adopt clean energy. It empowers states, counties, and municipalities to deploy their climate plans with much-needed funds for electrifying transportation, conserving energy, and transitioning to renewable energy.

It also makes funds available for states to adopt energy-saving programs, reduce pollution, address environmental injustice and create more resilient communities.

Climate change is here now, and Georgians are on the frontlines of the climate crisis as dangerous extreme heat and more intense storms and hurricanes endanger our communities. We all feel these impacts in one way or another.

While so many provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are effective climate solutions, the bill isn’t perfect, and much more needs to be done. We condemn provisions that allow for expanded drilling and pipelines, and we will continue to fight against those realities while also implementing the climate solutions that the Inflation Reduction Act allows for. We must continue to push for environmentally just policies that protect those most vulnerable to climate impacts and eliminate our addiction to fossil fuels. To that end, we must continue to defeat policies that would further cause harm to our neighbors, such as Machin’s pipeline side deal that has been rightfully defeated.

As people of faith and consciousness, we believe elections are a referendum on the values that will shape our future and the world we live in.  The upcoming midterms may well determine our state and national response to climate change for years to come and whether we deliver climate justice for our most vulnerable communities. We must use our voices to fulfill our civic duty and vote. Now is not the time to hunker down. Your vote is your voice! Make sure you use it!

Join me and people of faith across the country by pledging to vote your values this November by signing the Faith, Climate, Justice Vote pledge! Text FAITHVOTER to 72572 or visit bit.ly/fcjv-pledge.

— Codi Norred, Executive Director of Georgia Interfaith Power & Light

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