Opinion: Stop blowing smoke about climate change

You know how you can wake up in the morning and see something that suddenly brings back a vivid dream you had forgotten?

When I woke up today and saw the mustard-yellow sky outside my window, I remembered the craziest dream I once had, in which I was walking around the State Capitol, trying to get someone to listen to me. It’s a common nightmare archetype — you open your mouth but nothing comes out.

A bunch of people were in a large, ornate room arguing about something. I left the room to look out the leaded glass windows at a dark yellow-grey toxic cloud settling ominously around the Capitol’s Gothic spires.

Then, a man’s voice said, “Check out the smoke! Looks like Palm’s having a barbecue — wonder if we’re invited.”

I’d love to be able to say I woke from this nightmare, but of course it wasn’t a dream. Rather, it was the wildly irresponsible reaction to a piece of legislation I was trying to get through the legislature in May of 2024 — two years ago — when I served as vice chair of the Environment Committee.

Then, as now, smoke from a wildfire in Canada drifted south — as far south as Mexico. Then, as now, people stayed indoors, if they were privileged enough to have that option. Then, as now, experts remarked upon the likelihood that climate change caused forests in several Canadian provinces to burn out of control.

Two years ago, House Bill 5004, informally known as The Connecticut Climate Protection Act, passed in the House, albeit without a single Republican vote. In the waning days of the legislative session, as airborne particles blotted out the sun, my fellow environmentalists and I tried to get the bill called in the Senate. But the Senate had other priorities. The threat of a filibuster so close to the final day meant the bill wasn’t called for a vote, and so it died. Millions of dollars in climate change mitigation funds, passed by the Biden Administration, were left on the table. (A different, greatly compromised iteration of the bill eventually passed in 2025.)

And just what was so ambitious — so outlandish — so comical — that our elected officials voted it down?

From the General Assembly’s own nonpartisan staff, H.B. 5004 sought to: “implement certain measures relating to climate change including … the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the phasing out of the use of natural gas, investment in renewable energy and green economy startup businesses, incentivizing sustainable purchasing by local governments and the enhancement of nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change.” In other words, practical, business-friendly, and life-enhancing measures that would have saved our towns money and given our young people a fighting chance at a sustainable future here in Connecticut.

But here we are again, with a yellow-grey sky, dangerous air quality, “extreme heat protocols,” cancelled events, and El Niño warming the oceans at an alarming rate, presaging hurricanes and more climate chaos later this year. And still, Republicans treat climate change as if it were a big joke.

You know who’s not laughing about wildfires, ashy skies and heatstroke? Young people. Unlike most elected officials, members of Gen. Z is worrying about it, talking about and trying to do something about it.

According to a study by the global humanitarian organization Plan International, “an overwhelming majority (84%) of young people (aged 15 to 24) say their government’s efforts to include them in policies to tackle the climate emergency is insufficient.”

If elected officials don’t care about air quality or a green economy, they should care about votes. Fifty million Gen Z’ers will be eligible to vote this year. And climate change, along with affordable housing, the economy and health care, is a main concern. Of those young people eligible to vote, 43% do not affiliate with either of the major political parties, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), a think tank at Tufts University.

Young voters, disenfranchised by climate-deniers and inaction, could become elected officials’ worst nightmare. Welcome to the barbecue.

Christine Palm, who served three terms in the Connecticut Legislature, is founding director of The Active Voice  a civic engagement internship for young environmentalists. https://theactivevoice.blog/