Here in blue Oregon, some find it easy to criticize Congressman Peter DeFazio’s calls for realistic goals in the fight against climate change. But when you take a step back and examine the country as a whole, it becomes clear we face serious issues in our attempts to address the climate crisis.

It’s easy to launch criticism from the sidelines. It’s another thing to be in the arena with climate-change deniers tackling this issue head-on. 

Trump and the Republicans still deny that climate change is even happening! And because Republicans are beholden to money from their fossil fuel buddies, we’re a long way from implementing meaningful solutions. 

DeFazio has been outspoken about the existential threat of climate change for a long time, and we can always count on him to tell it like it is. But DeFazio doesn’t only speak out. This year, he stepped up and organized campaign actions in red-to-blue districts around the county to vote out climate change deniers and elect a new generation of leaders to Congress who are committed to taking meaningful action on climate change.

Now, with our Democratic majority in the House, we should expect real progress over the next two years until we win back the Senate and the presidency.

But I also expect my Congressman to tell the truth about the political realities we face and have a clear-eyed vision of the problem. We can count on Peter to find — and fight for — real solutions.

Chris Wig

Springfield

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