Vote!
When I first thought of this blog post idea, I wanted it to be a resource where people could go to find information on the presidential candidates and their stances on environmental issues. I did some of that research. Then, my school year began and I haven’t been able to synthesize it and spend the time to write an objective piece with just the information that I collected (mind you I only went to the respective campaign sites to see how they were self reporting their goals for the future). With everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks, I no longer feel like that is the right approach for this post.
During this time in our country, where so much of the next year is uncertain, it is all the more important for us to have a leader who can roll with the punches, accept when the people aren’t happy with how things are being run and do something about it. Simply looking at the two campaign sites and what the two candidates choose to highlight (given that these are very curated sources of information) you can easily see who has more compassion and care for the people of our country, not to mention our planet. When looking at the Energy and Environment section of the two sites, Trump highlights the fact that he approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, lowered methane emission and fuel standards and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. All things that move us backward in our fight against environmental injustice and climate change. On the other hand, Biden has goals for net zero emissions by 2050, clean energy public transport and keeping Environmental Justice in the forefront of every decision. Simply from these short descriptions of their outlook of the environment as they want us to understand it, we can see that there is a stark difference between the two candidates.
The other major consideration that I am sure is on everyone’s mind is COVID-19. Personally, I feel like no progress is being made at the national level and the government is just biding their time until the release of a vaccine. This simply isn’t feasible. Even if a vaccine was approved for distribution tomorrow, it would take months to disseminate it and even then there wouldn’t be enough vaccines for everyone. During the beginning of the pandemic there were all of the stay-at-home orders and calls to flatten the curve and those have simply gone away. Instead of encouraging people to work together, wear masks and socially distance so that the virus can be contained, the current administration has all but forced schools to open up and has made it clear that they don’t see the science behind solutions, other than a vaccine, as valuable.
As someone in the sciences, it is incredibly frustrating for me that the belief in science has become such a partisan action. Science is the most objective that humans can be. Obviously it isn’t perfectly objective, but scientists strive to be as objective as possible in their research and reporting. Believing experts in a given field should not be a political act, it should be an act of understanding in the hard work and dedication that those experts have given to their field.
Just as scientists devote their lives to furthering our knowledge in a given field, we should all devote a day to furthering our voice’s impact in the government of our country. Voting is how we can tell the people in power who we want to be leading us and how we want to approach issues such and climate change and the pandemic. We have the faculty to put the people we trust and believe in in power, why would we not!? Why would anyone not fill out a ballot, however you can in your state? If you are voting by mail, make sure to send in your ballot by October 27th (to make sure that it arrives before election day). We all were blessed with individual thought and the ability to express it in our country, why would we not take advantage of that privilege? So many others can’t express their individual thoughts, but we can. AND WE SHOULD!
If you want to read more about the different stances the presidential candidates are taking on different issues, please check out their campaign sites:
**This post is purely my own opinion. Everyone has the right to their opinions, I just urge you to look at the bigger picture of our climate and planet’s future as well as the world that we are handing down to future generations when you formulate those opinions. Make sure that you vote for the policies that make you proud to be an American!
**Please double check how voting in your state is being run this year and make sure you are registered!
