“Last summer our neighborhood flooded with five inches of rain all at once,” said Talia, a fourth grade student and Kids Clean Air Force member, as she stood alongside advocates and lawmakers at a Washington, DC, press conference about EPA’s February 12 decision to revoke the Endangerment Finding and stop limiting climate pollution. “I even saw a car face down and someone had to be rescued. It was really scary for us and all the animals in our neighborhood,” she said.
Talia described how extreme flooding and intense rainfall damaged her family’s home and left her worried about a future shaped by worsening heat and more frequent disasters. “Climate disasters are becoming more common, and they’re hurting our planet, our health, and the future of kids like me. My generation is expected to live through three times more climate disasters than our grandparents.”
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission
EPA issued the Endangerment Finding in 2009 in response to a Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases are a form of pollution that is detrimental to human health. The finding provides a legal foundation for EPA regulations that protect people in the U.S. from the largest sources of this pollution, including power plants and transportation. With last week’s decision, EPA has abandoned its responsibility of protecting people from global warming’s harmful impacts.
At the press event in Washington, DC, Representative Nanette Barragán (CA-44) reiterated Talia’s concerns, warning that rolling back climate protections ignores both science and the lived reality of families across the country. “This is going to deny decades of scientific evidence that proves greenhouse gases wreck our climate, which is going to destroy our homes and our health. It is going to ignore the climate disasters that districts like mine face everyday—whether it’s record drought, whether it’s catastrophic wildfires and floods and dangerous air quality,” she said.
Moms Clean Air Force co-hosted coordinated press events throughout the week in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, bringing together parents, community leaders, and young people to denounce the rolling back of federal protections.
In each state, locals highlighted how extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution are already affecting their communities. Speakers included Representative Debbie Dingell (MI-6), Georgia State Representatives Eric Bell II and Kim Schofield, Pennsylvania State Representative Mandy Steele, Arizona State Representative Mariana Sandoval, and Chief of the Environmental Protection Unit at the Arizona Attorney General’s office, Kirsten Engel.
None of these officials could respond to Talia’s simple, evocative question, though they want to work to: “Adults in the government are supposed to protect kids from climate change and not ignore it. We are taught to listen to scientists and doctors and moms—why don’t you listen to them?”
Talia’s mother, Moms member Elizabeth Brandt, reminded the crowd that advocacy does not only belong to elected officials. “No matter where you are, you have a voice in this fight, and you have to use it. If Talia can do it, so can you. They don’t win unless we give up our voice.”
Watch Talia’s remarks at the Washington, DC, event.
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission