Praises for the courage and integrity of state Rep. Stephen Handy’s Jan. 16 opinion piece. He stated: “Voters are taking notice and backing clean energy more than ever before, across the political spectrum. Public opinion regarding clean energy, especially among conservative voters, has improved dramatically. This trend is perhaps most apparent among young Republicans nationwide.”
What else has improved dramatically? Over the last four years as a member of Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) Salt Lake, I’ve witnessed marked change in political opinion and action on climate change. I first attended the CCL National Conference in Washington, D.C., in June 2016. There were about 450 delegates — young people were hard to spot.
In contrast, at the CCL conference in June 2019, there were 1,500 delegates, about a 300% increase. The noticeable number of young people nearly doubled from about 200 students in 2018 to 380 in 2019. To our delight, we were inspired by a young speaker and University of Utah honors student, Piper Christian, who played a pivotal role in passing H.J.R. 07, the Joint Resolution on Economic and Environmental Stewardship, during the 2018 Utah legislative session.
Praise be to the courage of Rep. Handy and Sen. Romney as Republican standard-bearers on climate. Contact them and thank them.
Jim Wightman, Bountiful