Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski is again pointing to the rapid changes her home state is experiencing due to climate change. Speaking at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting, she called the impacts in Alaska “real,” emphasizing “it is happening, it is now, and almost none of these changes are for the better for us.” Murkowski hasn’t been shy about calling out the reluctance of other lawmakers to take the matter seriously. In Congress, “sometimes it’s a hard conversation to have with people who have said, ‘we don’t need to deal with it’ or ‘I don’t know what the issue is,'” Murkowski said. “Well, I can tell you what the issue is: that when the Arctic starts to thaw, that is not good for the planet.” The chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, she said she’s trying to find common ground for action.
“For those of us in the Arctic, we need to have that freezer kept cold. We need it for us, but you all need it for you here in the lower 48,” she said. “For those of you who are from other parts of the world, we all need the Arctic to stay cool.”