Protecting Our Environment

As global temperatures rise, we, as both a nation and as a planet, face the threat of rising sea levels and severe weather events, which are increasing in both frequency and ferocity. Climate change threatens our food production, our livelihoods, and our safety. The world’s leading climatologists have warned us that our chance to reverse the damage will soon pass. Our children could be left with a world shaken by climate-induced instability and without many of the wonders that we have taken for granted for too long.

We need to do everything we can to combat climate change while we still have the chance. We need to focus on investing in renewable energy options, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, while massively reducing our dependence on coal, gas, and oil. Yes, even in Texas we can provide strong incentives for the business community to help combat climate change, alongside a massive investment from the federal government. Part of this investment must establish programs to train and retrain workers for jobs in the renewable energy industry.

While many critics of plans for shifting our society to renewable energy sources and greener infrastructure often attack them as being too expensive, it is absolutely vital to remember that there will be a much greater monetary cost if we fail to halt climate change. As we are hit with increasingly severe weather events, the damage to our cities and towns will also increase, becoming more and more expensive to recover from. As food production suffers, feeding our families will cost more as well. Many people expect fighting climate change to come with serious sacrifice, but an investment made in moving to a more environmentally-friendly society actually means an influx of new jobs for a wide range of workers, more affordable energy, and a newer, safer infrastructure. We have the opportunity to make saving the planet benefit us economically as well as environmentally, and Candace knows we can make it a reality if we work together.

In Congress, Candace will:

• Work to make substantive investments in green infrastructure, creating thousands of jobs for TX-24 in the process
• Significantly cut our carbon emissions in the next decade
• Encourage and provide strong incentives for businesses to help combat climate change