In his first 100 days in the United States Senate, Eddie will declare climate as a national security emergency, sponsor a resolution to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, and enact a Marshall Plan to revitalize rural communities, who can usher the state to lead down the path to a sustainable future.
On day one, Eddie pledges to get Iowa, and the United States, on the path to a Net Zero Carbon future by the year 2045, to invest in critical infrastructure and bring back principles of basic conservation compliance into the Farm Bill.
In the Senate and the 21st century, Eddie wants to ensure working people can improve their quality of life — by preserving and maximizing both environmental and economic benefits of urgent action on climate.
Among a host of reforms to be made, there are other legislative goals on Eddie’s agenda to combat the climate crisis.
You can read the rest of Eddie’s climate policies here.
Confronting climate through the lens of farmers
Amidst the climate chaos still lingers a trade war and a stagnant ethanol deal, with farmers on the frontline battling climate change — exacerbated by the lack of courage from our leaders and those more focused on playing politics rather than finding common ground and solutions.
Now, more than ever, it is important to work in partnership with farmers and to earn their trust; that’s why Eddie is making sure to hear the issues and concerns of Iowa farmers on the trail.
He’s already visited north of 75 of Iowa’s 99 counties since May.
He wants to foster relationships with farmers, landowners, scientists, agribusiness, and other conservation leaders — to improve soil health, protect sources of clean drinking water, improve the economics of Iowa agriculture, and to provide incentives for farmers to help choose conservation practices.
If we can partner with farmers and other stakeholders on climate solutions, Iowa can lead the charge for a climate stable future.
Right now, our current government and top-down structures are preventing them from doing so.
Climate changing beyond Iowa
Outside of his local activism efforts, Eddie heads The Purify Project, an organization committed to providing clean water for school children in communities in Tanzania, Africa, where climate change is already posing considerable challenges for their communities.
An uptick of more major and sporadic weather events is pushing people away from their homes — causing a mass migration issue in North Africa and Central America.
“I’m seeing firsthand, in Tanzania, the impacts of climate change, of widespread droughts and pollution that have led people to flee their home countries. “Mass migration — we’re seeing it in North Africa, we’re seeing it in Central America, which is having people knocking on our doors. Those are the real impacts of climate change.” — Iowa Starting Line, 11/13/19
The climate crisis is an existential threat to humanity. Nothing we’re fighting for matters if we don’t address it urgently and aggressively.
Instead of leadership that fails to recognize, or even acknowledge the climate chaos raining down on our communities, Eddie is ready to fight back with a plan to confront the crisis — which entails comprehensive approaches that can shift the paradigm to find the solutions we desperately need in a sustained fashion.
The groundwork can be laid in Iowa. If the state can be a leader in feeding the world, then Iowa can surely navigate the bureaucratic waters to be a sustainable leader moving forward.