LESSONS FROM CONGRESS: HOW GEOSCIENTISTS CAN ENGAGE TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS

In recent years, geoscientists have expressed increasing alarm about the accelerating pace of anthropogenic climate change and the potentially devastating consequences we face if rapid and dramatic action is not taken to curb carbon emissions and protect natural systems. The science is clear: as described in the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Global Warming of 1.5°C report, it is essential that we act rapidly and decisively to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Heeding this scientific warning and the growing call to action from climate activists and young people, the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019 established the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which is devoted to driving a comprehensive policy response to climate change. In June 2020, the majority staff of the Select Committee released its climate plan, Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. Scientists and scientific organizations played a key role in the stakeholder-driven process leading to publication of the Select Committee's climate action plan. Among its comprehensive set of recommendations on science and resilience, the Select Committee's plan calls for strengthening foundational climate science research and education, expanding deployment of planning-scale climate information, and further embedding climate projections into decision making. In addition to describing the Select Committee's stakeholder-driven process and its climate action plan, this presentation will offer insight into how geoscientists can meaningfully engage on climate policy going forward.