Peter Walks for Democracy

“A second Trump term is game over for the climate – really!” That’s what Michael Mann told The Guardian. “If we are going to avert ever more catastrophic climate change impacts, we need to limit warming below a degree and a half Celsius, a little less than three degrees Fahrenheit. Another four years of what we’ve seen under Trump, which is to outsource environmental and energy policy to the polluters and dismantle protections put in place by the previous administration … would make that essentially impossible.”

It’s hard to argue with that. The re-election of Donald Trump is a massive and hot headwind. His anti-regulatory agenda, the framework and planning for Project 2025 that will change the nation’s agencies, and his cooperation with mega-polluters threaten our health, planetary integrity, and our rights. But I am not going to live in fear, which is not to say I am not afraid.

To paraphrase Dr. King, the ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy. This is that time. And everyone, no matter their position, is being called by history to stand up. As Lech Walesa said, “It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.” Fear is real, but it must not control us and bitterness at defeat cannot hinder what we are called to do.

Here in Pennsylvania where Democrats maintained control of the House of Representatives in 2024, we have a chance to not only hold the line but move the ball down the field. And let’s face it: there is nothing reasonable holding Republicans back from joining the climate movement. But I digress.

We have opportunities in states across the U.S.: California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and more. We can price carbon and invest in renewable energy, energy storage, electric vehicles, enhanced building standards, carbon-smart forestry and agriculture. States can accelerate solar, wind, and (where appropriate) geothermal energy production with more ambitious renewable and alternative energy standards. With the possibility that the Trump administration could come after the direct pay to consumers and local governments in the Inflation Reduction Act, states can create stackable incentives, much like Pennsylvania’s Solar for Schools bill. We can support our career and technical schools, community colleges, and our land grant universities to create a pipeline of skilled workers from GED to Ph.D.

But we need people to do this work. “In a democracy, those who under­stand what is at stake ought to use their knowledge and expertise to develop under­standing, build will, prompt action, and see that it is achieved.” I wrote that with co-authors Michael Mann and Brandi Robinson in the anchor chapter of Teaching Climate Change in the United States. It is the essence of my work. Let me invite it to be yours.

On June 1, 2017, Donald Trump announced that U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. At that time, I was in local office. It spurred me to action. A couple of months prior, I had co-authored a net zero greenhouse gas resolution for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with Don Brown, the winner of UNESCO’s Avicenna Prize. When the Trump administration signaled the exit, I reconnoitered and passed the resolution in Ferguson Township. From there I instigated and have participated in the creation of Pennsylvania’s first intergovernmental climate action and adaptation plan as well as the largest-by-participant intergovernmental solar power purchase agreement in the United States.

In 2020, I ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on a climate- and justice-forward platform (not planning to do it again, btw). Pennsylvania is the nation’s fourth largest carbon emitter, the second biggest electricity exporter and natural gas producer, and the home of steel, 16 million acres of forests, and diverse farms. The legislature could move Pennsylvania to the forefront of climate action. While I lost the election, I learned so much. Don’t stop. Work with others. If you are always looking for the path, you will find it. 

In 2022, my colleague Brandi Robinson and I took over the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Local Climate Action Program (LCAP), bringing it to Penn State Sustainability. We have worked with dozens of diverse and driven students who have gone on to work at climate funds, in renewable energy firms, and carbon inventorying and performance. We have collaborated with countless volunteers, elected officials, and staff from dozens of municipalities and counties, Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Pennsylvania State House’s Climate Caucus. We have inventoried millions of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and delivered policy, program, and planning guidance for the governments of about 1.5 million Pennsylvanians. Last year, the LCAP was recognized on the Pennsylvania House floor by Speaker Joanna McClinton (picture below).

If you know what’s on the line from climate change–higher temperatures and heat stress, more rain and intense cyclones, deeper drought and fires so big they generate their own weather–then you are called. If you see the strategy and possibilities of an economy that provides security, prosperity, and health for you, your neighbors, and your children’s children, then you are called. One way or another, you have a role to play. If you’ve ever thought about running for office and becoming part of the team that moves the needle for a more just, verdant, and secure world, now just might be your time.

It is my firm conviction that we are better prepared this time around, have a better team, are working with a more secure set of industries and fighters across the states, and we can fight more effectively.

As Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer say, it’s time to “get shit done” for the climate. Our life depends on it.