Time for Climate Change in Washington State

Climate change has become a regular part of our daily life, and we’ve already seen its devastating impacts on so many of our communities right here in Washington state; from flooding in the Skagit Valley to increasing severity and frequency of wildfires across the region. That is why I’m writing to you as a constituent – to encourage you to support updating the Growth Management Act (GMA) to address climate change this legislative session by voting YES on HB1181.

We must address the climate crisis comprehensively, and this means both emissions reductions in addition to resiliency efforts. We cannot stress enough the urgency needed for action on climate change.

Updating a systemic planning framework like the GMA will have preventative and cascading benefits statewide—an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s less expensive to invest in preventative or impact-reducing efforts than pouring resources into community recovery and habitat restoration in the aftermath of a climate disaster. Plus, doing things like reducing vehicle miles traveled in communities now, rather than later, also reduces further contributions to climate change that would exacerbate impacts.

This bill is ready to be passed, and we cannot afford to wait any longer. Please support HB 1181 and vote YES!