As smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to endanger public health and cause hardship for tens of millions of people of all ages from New York to Missouri, we are painfully reminded of Maria Alvarez, a home care worker in Santa Paula, California. Several years ago, during the devastating Thomas Fire, Maria kept her disabled son, who depended on a ventilator, alive by manually pressing on his chest and lifting his head while the raging wildfire engulfed her community with smoke and left her without power for days.
Alvarez's story, like many others, serves as a stark reminder that the climate crisis and its devastating impacts extend far beyond environmental concerns. It affects the lives and livelihoods of essential workers and their families, including the Service Employee International Union's 2 million members working across the service and care economy, who increasingly find themselves on the front line of the climate crisis.
Service workers often care for our neighbors with respiratory illnesses and other serious health conditions aggravated by climate-driven emergencies. When increasingly common and devastating hurricanes, floods, heatwaves and wildfires strike, these everyday heroes help evacuate the most vulnerable members of our community, including children, people with disabilities and senior citizens. Meanwhile, other essential workers, like airplane cabin cleaners and building janitors who often work behind the scenes, perform their jobs in stifling heat when the power goes out or systems are shut off to save money.
The climate crisis won't wait, and neither can the health and safety of millions of workers and families around the country who need relief from the unrelenting effects of air pollution. In May, the Biden administration took desperately needed action by proposing climate pollution standards for fossil fuel power plants, one of the largest sources of carbon pollution and a major driver of climate change. When finalized, these will become the first meaningful federal limits on carbon emissions from coal and gas plants, and one of the most significant tools available to shift the power sector from fossil fuels to clean energy.
As proposed, President Biden's climate pollution standards are projected to cut carbon pollution by as much nearly 800 million metric tons while also reducing other dangerous air pollutants released by power plants. These changes are long overdue. According to the EPA's own analysis, this proposal will deliver $85 billion in net health benefits. The standards are also expected, on an annual basis, to avoid 1,300 premature deaths, 800 hospitalizations, 38,000 school absences, and 66,000 lost workdays.
An agricultural scientist and advocate with the Sierra Club, Katie Rock, recently testified in support of strong climate pollution standards before the EPA. In her home state of Iowa, coal plants are the largest source of carbon emissions, and strong climate pollution standards could make a real difference in the air she and her neighbors breathe every day.
The proposed climate pollution standards, when finalized, will work together with other recent actions from the Biden administration to address the climate crisis. These include measures to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, limits on carbon pollution from cars and trucks, and the historic investments in clean energy from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Together, these measures can not only ensure safe and healthy working conditions but also sustain a livable planet for generations to come.
We must remember that the fight against the climate crisis is inseparable from the fights for racial justice, economic justice, and labor rights. It is a fight for fair wages, safe working conditions, and a dignified life for all workers. It is a fight to ensure that every person, regardless of their background or zip code, can enjoy clean air, drinkable water, and a healthy planet.
Throughout history, labor, environmental and racial justice activists have played a crucial role in advancing working conditions and sustaining robust economies while protecting our planet. As we witness the unfolding clean energy transition, through which we must create new, family-sustaining union jobs, it becomes evident that our past and future are profoundly interconnected.
To save the most lives and prevent the worst effects of climate change, we must act together, with the fierce urgency of now. The Biden administration must do its part and move forward with the strongest possible standards to cut power plant pollution and implement the standards as quickly as possible.
As leaders of the Sierra Club and the SEIU, we stand united in urging President Biden to prioritize the finalization and implementation of strong climate pollution standards for power plants. Let us seize this opportunity to address the climate crisis, protect the health and well-being of workers and families, and build a sustainable future for all.
Benjamin Todd "Ben" Jealous was named the seventh executive director of the Sierra Club in November 2022.
Mary Kay Henry is the international president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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