In that spirit, please meet the nominations for the Cabinet and White House leaders with whom Moms plans to be working most closely in 2021. Good riddance to people who see no need to protect our health and who deny that there’s any problem with global warming, and block our path to climate safety. As one of our Montana Moms put it: There is no vaccine for climate change. It is up to us.
Michael Regan, head of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, has been nominated as EPA Administrator. We know him to be a warm, dedicated, thoughtful person for whom this protection of our environment and human health is not just a job, it is a calling.
Brenda Mallory, an environmental lawyer, has been tapped to run the Council on Environmental Quality, which will expand its focus on addressing environmental injustices.
Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator under President Obama, will head the first White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. Moms met with Administrator McCarthy and her team countless times in the last decade, and we have watched with dismay and fury as her and our achievements have been derailed.
John Kerry, former senator and secretary of state, who helped forge the historic Paris Climate Accord, has been named Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change to the world, with a seat on the National Security Council.
Deb Haaland, with whom Moms in New Mexico have been working, is nominated and will be the first Native American Interior Secretary. “A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” Haaland tweeted. “ … I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”
This is such a promising start. It is historic.
But these nominees can’t do the job alone. Moms will continue to be engaged, demanding, and ambitious.
I’m taking inspiration from the notes so many of our Moms Clean Air Force members have shared with us about what they want to see in 2021. We asked members of our vibrant Facebook community gathering at Clean Air Moms what they looked forward to, and here’s a bit of what we heard:
- peace kindness wellness and clean air in pittsburgh
- an intelligent, loving president and VP in White House
- getting vaccinated
- seeing my grandchildren….my grown children…my parents…my friends
- I’ll be able to smile at a stranger, and they’ll be able to smile back
- returning to church
- unity and healing with a positive-minded administration
Amen to all of these hopes and dreams and plans. I’m looking forward to a productive and positive time ahead. No one said this journey would be easy. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be joyful!
We invite you to share with us your hopes and dreams for 2021 with our community.
SHARE HERE