Republicans Won’t Act on Climate Change Because they Can’t

Brookfield, WI – Republicans have long held that government should be small and not interfere in the everyday lives of the people.  The current Republican administration has done nothing about the California wildfires, other than to criticize the forest service and deny climate change.  Democrat Tom Palzewicz, running for the Fifth Congressional District seat, believes the government has an obligation to act and lead in curbing what has become an apocalyptic crisis.

The United States is no longer in the Paris Accord.  The president says the forest service should clean up the brush that fuels fires, and promises that the temperatures will go down.   Climate change has been predicted for decades, yet Republicans continue to deny the crisis that threatens the entire planet.

“This is no different than their response to the pandemic,” said Palzewicz. “It’s not that they don’t believe that it exists, but they just don’t believe that it’s in their party’s favor to do anything about it.  To do something about it means having the political will to stand up to the fossil fuel industry  Their objective is to stay in power and they’re willing to wreck the planet to stay in power.  But sadly, the need to make changes is obvious.”

Palzewicz explains that the wildfires in the west are a symptom, as is the increasing number of hurricanes. The issue, according to Palzewicz, is that we are putting too much carbon into the atmosphere.

“The planet is heating up and causing extreme temperature changes. We’ve even experienced this in Wisconsin with the polar vortex,” Palzewicz said. “Remember last November?  The arctic air came down and it was unseasonably cold.  That is a symptom of climate change.  It results in our inability to recognize the undeniable need to reduce carbon emissions. That’s the issue. We need leadership that will face that issue head-on, not try to sweep it under the rug.

“Yes this is a big challenge, but with that challenge comes the opportunity to create good-paying jobs as we convert from our current planet-destroying power plants and manufacturing to new efficient and renewable sources of energy, like solar and wind.  We have only seen the tip of what is possible with solar.  It’s possible to power entire cities with this safe and clean energy source.”

Palzewicz understands that the fossil fuel industry is powerful and contributes millions to Republican candidates.  He also remembers the time when the government took action against the tobacco industry and made sweeping changes.

“When the tobacco industry was finally held accountable, the lawyers just moved to the gun companies and the fossil fuel companies,” said Palzewicz.  “They’ve been through this before.  They’re using the exact same tactics in order to use this information to make it seem like there are two sides to this argument.

“This is the system that we’ve built. We’ve over-weighted the amount of power that our fossil fuel producers have in this argument.  Every time I see a commercial from Exxon about how they’re building a green energy grid, it makes me laugh. And then it makes me angry at the same time because they are absolutely part of the issue and they refuse to be part of the solution.”

Palzewicz looks forward to representing the people of Wisconsin and standing up for real solutions to the climate crisis.

Palzewicz for Wisconsin

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.