The climate crisis is no longer a problem for tomorrow — it threatens our way of life, and it does so right now. Winter recreation industries suffer, and as fires and hurricanes intensified by rising temperatures wreak havoc on other parts of the world, climate refugees flee to areas like Minnesota that are becoming more temperate. No part of the world will be untouched.

We need a comprehensive solution, to protect Minnesota’s precious air, land, and water. It’s not just an issue of energy policy, though that’s a big part of it. While we reduce dependency on fossil fuels and shrink our carbon footprint, we need to intentionally pursue dematerialization and decarbonization — with newer, greener technologies, but also by making better use of the ones we already have.

Politicians in the pockets of polluters will try to force a false choice between the environment and the economy. That’s not a true choice. We won’t be fooled, and we won’t wait.