Another report just came out sounding the ? on climate change––another “code RED for humanity.” The United Nations said on Monday that climate change is caused by humans, and that catastrophic weather events will only worsen in the years to come. Recycling isn’t enough y’all, we need immediate action from our leaders to tackle this crisis.
Appalachian Voices is fighting the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a fracked gas pipeline snaking its way through Virginia that threatens several endangered species and clean drinking water for communities. Sims spoke with us about the struggle to stop the MVP, how centering environmental justice was critical to their successful efforts to block the construction of another pipeline, and how Virginia must break the stranglehold that polluting utility monopolies like Dominion Energy have on our state legislature. Tune in for another edition of the PV Spotlight to find out what you can do to save our environment and our future now!
For this month’s PV Spotlight, we spoke with Jessica Sims, Virginia Field Coordinator of Appalachian Voices, an organization leading the charge to protect our environment. In our chat, Sims talks about recent actions the state legislature has taken to address climate change and how they are not enough. Passing the Virginia Clean Economy Act and joining a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a step in the right direction. Now is the time to ramp up efforts to protect communities from rising sea levels, prepare the workforce to transition to clean energy jobs, and stop relying on fossil fuels to supply our energy needs.