I’m often asked why a meteorologist would run for office. For me, the reasons are connected to what I remember growing up in Richmond.
I have loved earth science ever since I was a kid in the ‘70s and vividly remember the thick haze that used to hang over the city every summer and the news stories about Kepone poisoning the James River.
And I wondered why we could not do better.
It turns out we could, it just took the long, slow work of the EPA. While not perfect, air and water are cleaner than 50 years ago. But the current administration is happy to take us back to dirty air and polluted rivers.
Of course, there are numerous more urgent concerns that have set the country on fire since the inauguration. Those are now crystallizing since the passage of the Big Ugly Bill.
Augusta Health announced the closing of three healthcare facilities in the Shenandoah Valley, and they specifically referenced the bill as the reason for the closings.
It is only a matter of time before similar cuts come eastward into our part of the Commonwealth. Our friends living on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula will have to drive to Mechanicsville for the same treatments they have been getting much closer to home.
Trump’s tariffs — the legality of which remain in question — have already increased grocery prices. Last month, the cost of my supermarket bag of coffee jumped $3.
Worse, the tariffs are hurting our farmers. A farm owner in King William County told me that China used to be a big market for American soybeans, but now because of the tariffs, they are buying more from Brazil. A Bloomberg story last week confirms it.
It has become clear that our incumbent congressman, Rob Wittman, who is supposed to use his position as a check on executive power, has abdicated his role.
In addition to the visceral attacks on civil rights and the recklessness of ICE, the siege on science — from basic health care to the environment — has also expanded. As a meteorologist, I have seen it firsthand regarding climate change and its solutions.
Wind energy has been attacked by Trump and his cronies, and there is new concern Virginia’s offshore wind project is at risk, even though it is more than halfway to completion.
Complimentary to wind, solar energy is the least expensive energy available, and it can be connected far more quickly to the grid than gas or other fossil fuels.
Combining wind and solar along with industrial scale batteries — which can now store up to four days worth of energy — builds an inexpensive, reliable, and clean domestic energy portfolio.
We need to get back to using data and evidence to make decisions and get away from the horrific Trump policies that Wittman is enabling.
In the ‘80s, when the scientific community discovered an alarming loss of ozone in the stratosphere (which absorbs most of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation), the Montreal Protocol was quickly enacted, dramatically curtailing the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which damage our protective ozone layer.
That loss, often referred to as the ozone hole, is slowly starting to repair, and that protocol provides us a template to slow the warming climate and adapt to its impacts.
In addition to reducing the cost of living, simplifying healthcare, and restoring civil rights, I want to be sure we no longer kick the can down the road with regard to climate change, so that our children and grandchildren are able to enjoy the same environment that we do now.
Sean Sublette
Candidate for Congress
Virginia’s First Congressional District
