Long Journey to the Promised Land
Months ago, I met with my counterpart from another faith group. I had been working at COEJL for about a week. "Be careful not to get burned out," she cautioned. "This is a marathon, not a sprint." Little did she know, the Jewish people are well equipped for such journeys. After all, we wandered for forty years in the desert before arriving in Israel.My colleague was right, however, the path to national climate change legislation is a long one. This might not be as obvious to those outside the Beltway. After all, earlier this evening, the Senate opened debate on national climate change legislation. And shouldn't such debate culminate with another vote to pass the bill itself? Alas, it isn't so simple. Senator Boxer has threatened to pull the bill if someone introduces a "poison pill" on the Senate floor. Senator Inhofe would undoubtedly filibuster, preventing a final vote if the bill remained on the floor long enough to allow it. And, of course, even if the Senate were to vote on the bill, it would be an uphill climb to garner enough support for it to move forward. And, if by some miracle, there is sufficient support in the Senate, the House would need to start the process all over again. And assuming the House actually voted on a bill, the President would still have to approve it. Yet, the President has already told us that he doesn't plan to do anything on climate change until 2025.
So, why bother? Why have I been sending out action alerts and letters to Congress? Why have I been calling constituents and meeting with senators and their staff? Indeed, most of us who work on these issues have been in "crisis mode" for the last few weeks - joining daily conference calls to report on the latest "intelligence from the field" as though we're preparing for battle.
Because that is exactly what we're doing. This week's vote and debate is a battle in the midst of a very long war. From the start, people have questioned whether we should be fighting this battle at all. After all, does it make sense to invest so much energy in something that is unlikely to be signed into law?
Clearly, I think it does. And I think you should fight for it, too. Because regardless of whether we pass a climate law this year, simply forcing a national discussion about climate change is a victory. That discussion educates those on Capitol Hill - and each of us - about the resources at stake. Each newspaper article and radio story raises the profile of this issue. And in the next Administration, when the debate begins again, we'll all be a little wiser. We will no longer have to convince the public that climate change is real. We will no longer have to convince our leaders that we can address the problem without derailing the US economy. Instead, we can have a more informed discussion about the best ways to accomplish this.
The Jewish people have a long tradition of enduring hardship to reach our goals. I only hope that - unlike our ancestors in the desert - we actually get to enter the "Promised Land" - a land where all of creation is protected from the threats of climate change.
Click here to urge your Senator to support The America's Climate Security Act (S 3036).
Indeed, the fight is worth fighting. We have to start somewhere, and, whether or not this particular bill passes, or whether or not it is fundamentally flawed, as some of the heavy hitting secular environmental groups would have us believe, we must start where we start and when we start. Which is NOW. NOW is when we must draw a line in the sand and say WE MUST ACT NOW. NOW is when concerned citizens and legislators join forces on the long journey to the public policy changes that we must have to put on the brakes - put on the brakes on a bus that seems to be hurtling downhill at ever faster speed.
NOW is the time. As Rabbi Hillel said: If not now, when?
It is not fruitless. It is not futile. It may seem so. But if we don't persevere, it will be.
Susan Kaplan, Chair
SAZ COEJL (Comment this)
Emily B. Szargowicz
Government Affairs Program Coordinator
Jewish Community Relations Council/ Massachusetts Association of Jewish Federations
617.457.8670
www.jcrcboston.org
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