I became interested in green living before I had my first child, but since the birth of my daughter; I realized the even great impact for the need to protect our environment and our planet. As parents, we are given the enormous responsibility in rearing of our child to raise a compassionate, fulfilled individual, but what’s more important is our role as the guardian of this planet we are entrusted with. Although we as a society might put that care aside or even completely abandon it; I truly believe that we DO and CAN make a difference. Fortunately, I am not the only one who feels this way. A mother and a geneticist, Maggie Zhou headed to Washington, DC to attend Monday’s U.S. Senate hearing on climate change policy. Zhou is paying for the trip with her own money because “I felt I had to be in the same room with the people who are going to make a decision that will determine the kind of world my daughter will live in.”

Zhou is a mother of five year old daughter, but not only is she a mother; she is a scientist as well. Trained as a geneticist, Zhou began digging dipper into the Climate issue by researching scientific reports and discussing her findings with colleagues who specialized in Climate Change. With further exploration, she was convinced that much more had to be done to protect the Earth’s climate. In a press release by Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, Zhou used the scientific understanding she acquired to open a dialogue with national environmental groups and some of the leaders of the climate protection movement.

“The science shows that we may have a critical window of only a few years to take action before planetary processes take the matter out of humanity’s control and bring on catastrophic warming. Congress needs to get this right now if children like my own are to have a future.”

According to Zhou, the recently passed energy bill in Washington, The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is an insufficient solution to the quickly escalating energy crisis that we as a nation will soon face. “This bill does as much harm as good, and in many ways it ties our hands by doing so many favors for the fossil fuel lobby.”

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As of May 15th, this bill was voted out of Senate Committee on the Judiciary and placed on the full Senate’s intent calendar. That means that the entire Senate will be involved in making the next decision about whether this bill will move forward. You can follow the progress of the bill, as well as media coverage of it, at its page on Open Congress or on its official bill status page on the Library of Congress website.

Preparing to Advocate

Before you communicate with your Senators about this bill, you have to do your homework.

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