Will future generations look back at Governor Pence with gratitude for defending the Hoosier way of life — or with dismay for entrenching Indiana on the wrong side of environmental and economic history? The corporate world is changing its attitudes on energy and climate; the religious world more so.

Governor Pence’s announcement came just a few days after Pope Francis issued an Encyclical on climate change. The Pope writes: “Our freedom fades when it is handed over to the blind forces of the unconscious, of immediate needs, of self-interest, and of violence.” “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” In this profound document, the Pope challenges us to understand the climate crisis as an issue of justice between generations, and he reminds us to care for the poor, who will be left homeless and hungry in a climate catastrophe.

Governor Pence would do well to heed the Pope’s admonition.

Sources:

https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/pence-obama-indiana-comply-epa-rules-84002/

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29239194

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.pdf

If Senator Coats is concerned about the poor, he should support extension of unemployment benefits and an increase in the minimum wage.

Climate change will affect the poor even more severely than it affects everyone else. Who lives on marginal land, suffers most from rising food prices, lacks health care and is most subject to newly virulent epidemics? Who will lose their jobs when climate refugees from coastal regions around the world flood into our cities and towns?

The world seems virtually certain to reach a climate tipping point. Nations and regions which have avoided the energy transition will be left behind, just as Detroit automakers were after they refused for years to build fuel efficient cars.

The President is working through EPA regulations because Congress has failed to offer a credible alternative. Senator Coats should support a revenue-neutral carbon tax and dividend as the most efficient way to cut emissions and accelerate the shift to renewable energy. This shift offers tremendous economic opportunities. Green industries and smart conservation create far more jobs per dollar invested than do capital-intensive coal and nuclear plants.

Members of Congress need to remember the most underrepresented of all groups: the generations that follow us.

References

“Senator Blunt, Colleagues Call On President Obama To Stop Punishing Most Vulnerable Americans With Higher Utility Bills” (Roy Blunt)

“Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax” (Citizens Climate Lobby)