How to build a clean-energy future? Start by pulling together

At a time when our nation is polarized and elected officials in Washington don’t seem to be able to work together to get much of anything done, a gathering in Florence on Thursday shows that Americans of different backgrounds still understand the importance of finding a way to work together to make our nation a better place.

The “Creating a Climate for Change” conference will be attended by hundreds of Americans from near and far, with a wide range of backgrounds and political views. They all share the view that Americans can’t just sit back and wait for Washington to tackle climate change by creating an equitable clean-energy future. We must get on with the job of doing it ourselves.

In South Carolina, we are already seeing the kinds of severe weather events that scientists say will become more frequent as the earth heats up.

And it’s not just South Carolina. People in Texas and Florida and Puerto Rico face the monumental task of rebuilding in the wake of Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Maria — and are left wondering when the next big storm will strike. Alaskan villagers struggle to build a future as the permafrost their homes are built on melts. Drought-stricken Californians have seen their towns and farms and vineyards wiped out by raging wildfires.

We cannot turn our backs on these facts. We need to move toward a 100-percent clean-energy future that will blunt the worst effects of climate change and include all people: rich, poor, black, white, urban, rural.

At our conference, participants will hear about many approaches and solutions to a problem that unites us all. That is as it should be. We must not give in to the name-calling and verbal combat that marks so much of our public discourse these days. Rather, we must pull together, listen to each other and protect this planet and all the people who call it home.