Minnesota to D.C. Carbon Free — The Big Day
It’s finally Lobby Day! The first meeting of the day included Aryanna, Elena, Fede, me and our new friends Kaway and our team leader Olivia. We met with Mahyar Sorour, a member of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Capitol staff. We had a good discussion, addressed some of her questions and she promised to look carefully into the proposed bill.
After, Elena and I joined a group of constituents from Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District to meet with Representative Collin Peterson and his staff. We were in a much bigger office, as he is the chair of the Agriculture Committee. He has been a representative since 1991 so was able to share some interesting historical perspective on how bills are passed. He also talked about his work on the farm bill, which, among other things, attempts to address the impact of farming on climate change, offering, for example, incentives for no-till farming. It was fascinating to see how different the perspectives and concerns about this issue are, moving from the representative of an urban area like Ilhan Omar to a representative of a rural area like Collin Peterson.
In the meantime, Fede and Aryanna went to Hometown to the House, an event organized by Citizens’ Climate Lobby, where Aryanna had the opportunity to make a public statement demanding action on climate change.
Later in the day Fede and Aryanna met with Representative Dean Phillips from the Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District. He is a co-sponsor of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, so the discussion was not really about convincing him of the value of the bill but rather how to gather support from other representatives.
It was a great day for all of us. All the staffers and representatives thoughtfully listened to the girls and heard their message loud and clear. They want action. It was powerful to be in the House of Representatives and talk directly to our lawmakers. While this is going to be a long road and there will be a lot of debate on the appropriate solutions, everyone appreciated that there is a problem, which is a promising starting point.
We left Washington D.C. around 3 pm, beginning the journey back home to Minneapolis. At 5 pm we were thrilled to receive a call from Paul Huttner, the chief meteorologist at Minnesota Public Radio, wanting to learn about our trip. He will include our story in his Climate Cast podcast. What a whirlwind of a day!
Tonight we will stop in Milan. Not Milan, Italy but Milan, Ohio. Tomorrow is the final day of driving and the final day of this adventure.
