Homegrown Solutions

The City of Seattle has already taken solid steps towards fighting climate change, at least on a local level.
For one, the city instituted a plastic straw ban in 2018 that extends to other plastic silverware as well, this coming with the threat of a hefty fine if Seattle businesses do not comply.
Seattle also has extensive rebate programs for appliances with an Energy Star certification, rain gardens and free rain barrels that prevent heavy rainstorms from having a devastating effect on the Seattle sewer system.
The City of Seattle identifies four main areas where climate change will hit Seattle the most: higher temperatures, wetter winters, drier summers and rising sea levels.
Palubinskas thinks that action against climate change will happen when people come together.
“There are limited actions for the individual,” he said. “The individuals need to collect and put political pressure on the individuals or corporations that have the power to make real change.”
In federal politics, some lawmakers are taking responsibility for new sustainable environmental law. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, freshman house rep from New York state, has proposed the “Green New Deal.”
According to the Green New Deal House resolution, the threat that Climate Change poses means “the United States must take a leading role in reducing emissions through economic transformation.”
Among other things, the resolution calls for massive emissions cuts by 2030, and “net-zero global emissions” no later than 2050.
Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, who is running for the democratic nomination for president, has made the fight against climate change his battle cry. On his campaign website, he called climate change “the defining issue of our time.”
“Whether we shrink from this challenge, or rise to it, [climate change] is the biggest question we face,” the site also said.