The Growing Climate Solutions Act (GCSA), cosponsored by Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, passed the Senate last week, a victory for Alabama’s farmers and environmental activists alike.
The GCSA is common-sense environmental legislation that lowers the barriers to entry into carbon credit markets for America’s farmers. By lowering these barriers farmers can easily buy and sell carbon credits, which can allow them to make profit and naturally sequester carbon emissions: a win-win. This legislation empowers farmers to act on climate, instead of scapegoating them for environmental problems like far left leaders tend to do.
After all, agriculture is a cornerstone to the Alabama way of life. The Alabama agricultural industry is a $70 billion industry, an economic powerhouse throughout the state. This one industry alone accounts for 580,000 jobs in the Cotton State. We have to encourage innovation and empower this industry to invest in the future because the fact of the matter is that no one knows more about the negative impacts of not caring for the environment than the farmers.
Farmers are some of the oldest environmentalists and spend significant time with our natural world each and every day. It’s imperative that we bring these critical stakeholders into the fight for climate solutions, rather than leaving them behind with empty promises of a net-zero economy. Farmers can be a part of that net-zero future with empowering legislation such as the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
As a cosponsor of this bill, Tuberville demonstrated his willingness to work on actionable solutions to the environmental challenges we face. Rather than promising pie-in-the-sky legislation like the Green New Deal, Tuberville is supporting bills that help Alabamians and the environment today.
Conservatives have always led on environmental issues and that is especially apparent this week. 92 senators voted in favor of this bill, not including so-called climate champions Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker. Both voted no on the GCSA, a bill that would be a tremendous step in combating climate challenges. Senator Tuberville listened to activists from groups such as the American Conservation Coalition and College Republicans that showed how much meaningful environmental reform means to the next generation of leaders. Young Alabamian activists aren’t just the future of the movement; they’re making a difference right now.
Our biggest environmental challenges cannot be solved by one silver bullet solution so it’s important that we continue to pursue actionable solutions, like GCSA, that will make a real difference today. We can protect the planet that God blessed us with all the while building economic prosperity. I look forward to seeing how conservatives continue to lead on these issues, and I am optimistic for the future.
Clint Reid is the southern regional coordinator for the American Conservation Coalition and two term State Chairman of the College Republican Federation of Alabama.
