PORTLAND, Ore. -- As leaders from around the world meet in Glasgow, the United States' plan to tackle climate change is coming into focus.

The Build Back Better Act in Congress would invest about $550 billion to cut the country's carbon emissions.

Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, who is co-chair of the Elected Officials to Protect America Leadership Council, an organization made up largely of veterans, spoke while traveling to Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where he said there will be plenty of big speeches.

He added that the conference also brings together leaders who are taking climate action with smaller steps.

"The real value is, you get people in the room who are fighting the same fight," Evans explained. "They get to feed off the energy, and they get to recognize that, yeah, this is a huge, huge project, but it's just like my training instructor in the Air Force said, 'You eat an elephant one bite at a time.'"

The conference runs through Nov. 12. Supporters of the Build Back Better Act say the current framework of the package gives the Biden administration the tools it needs to cut the country's carbon pollution to half of 2005 levels by 2030.

Evans believes the package could be one of the most important pieces of legislation in his lifetime.

"It's going to be a historic investment at actually preparing for disasters, mitigating the effects thereof," Evans remarked. "The climate-action job package that they have in there, I think, is going to be transformational."

Republicans have consistently opposed the Build Back Better Act because they believe it is too costly.

Evans argued the stakes are high to act on climate change. He pointed out the changes are already affecting Oregon, with a million acres burning in 2020, more than 800,000 this year, and dwindling snowpack from shorter winters reducing water in the state.

"Nature is changing," Evans stressed. "We either approach this from a can-do approach or we sit on the sidelines and watch the future of our children and grandchildren evaporate -- literally."

Connecticut lawmakers are reluctant to approve new emission standards that would require 90% cleaner emissions from internal-combustion engines and require carmakers to deliver 100% zero emission vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, by 2035.

However, clean-air advocates say misinformation about how these standards would impact residents is making it difficult to get them passed.

Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, said most people think it's a ban on gas-powered cars -- when it's not.

"You will be able to drive a gas-powered vehicle for the rest of your life and never have to think about an EV if you don't want to," she said. "What this requires is that any new vehicle, in 2035, and this would all be phased in, all new vehicles must be clean emissions."

Brown believes broadening education about these standards could help turn the tide of public perception. Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection found that 67% of nitrogen-oxide emissions come from transportation.

Brown is convinced the state needs new emissions standards for cars, large trucks and public buses.

Lawmakers are trying to find a compromise to implementing clean-emissions rules, but neighboring states -- such as New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts -- already have them in place.

Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, said advocates may have to take a non-traditional route in Connecticut.

"The Legislature can revisit the rights if we find that they're not possible to be implemented further down the line," said Swan. "It's important for us to be moving forward at this time and continue on this trajectory."

Attendees of this week's COP-28 talks in the United Arab Emirates were hesitant to establish a firm vehicle-emission standard.

COP-28 president Sultan Al-Jeber said there's no science to support phasing out fossil fuels. Many see this as yet another step in the fossil-fuel industry's climate-change misinformation strategy.


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From prolonged droughts to intense rain and snowstorms, the Midwest is not immune to climate change threats.

An emerging resource aims to place more focus on how these threats intersect with an aging population. Academic leaders have established the Aging and Climate Change Clearinghouse. Officials said the goal is to spur and catalog research, intervention work and policy efforts around the U.S. to address climate change vulnerability among those 65 and older.

Karl Pillemer, professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and professor of psychology at Cornell University, directs the project and said if extreme heat events become more common in this part of the country, older residents are unlikely to be equipped to protect themselves.

"For example, a number of older people in areas prone to heat events don't have air conditioning because they've never needed it," Pillemer pointed out.

He suggested state-level climate adaptation plans need more specific details on protecting older residents. Meanwhile, project officials stressed they do not want to portray senior citizens as victims, and getting involved is not just meant for younger generations. The clearinghouse encourages older individuals to raise awareness and serve as volunteers in making their communities climate resilient.

Pillemer added the nation also needs to set aside political ideology in confronting climate topics.

"Even if you have your doubts about what causes climate change, almost everybody can agree that we're experiencing changing weather patterns that are going to affect vulnerable people," Pillemer emphasized.

Beyond preparation gaps, he noted chronic health issues -- made worse by air pollution -- and health care access barriers are ways in which the population will especially feel the climate change burden. The project cites data showing by 2030, more than one in five Americans will be at least 65 years old, underscoring vulnerability concerns.


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A new report shows Maine is exceeding the home-heating goals set forth in its ambitious four-year climate plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The state surpassed its goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps earlier this summer, and Gov. Janet Mills quickly set a new target of 275,000 by 2027.

Michael Stoddard, Efficiency Maine Trust executive director, said new refrigeration cycle technology is helping both the climate and consumers, who've struggled with volatile prices in home heating oil.

"The advent of highly effective at very cold temperatures and very cost-effective air-sourced heat pumps has been a huge breakthrough for us," Stoddard explained.

Close to 30% of Maine's greenhouse-gas emissions come from heating homes and businesses. The state has set a goal of going carbon neutral by 2045 and is aggressively promoting heat pumps to help reach that target.

The cold and rural state of Maine is the nation's most dependent on home heating oil, with nearly 60% of households reliant on the fuel for warmth, compared with just 4% nationally.

Stoddard said often, households will install a heat pump and continue to use heating oil as a backup source, but added a whole-home heat-pump system can save consumers roughly $1,000 a year.

"So, you can imagine what the impacts of that are, expanded across all the homes that we touch and that we will touch over the next decade," he said.

Stoddard noted many antiquated school buildings in rural Maine could also reap financial rewards by transitioning their heating systems, and said federal and state programs offering financial incentives, especially rebates, are helping drive consumer demand for more efficient heating technologies that also benefit the climate.


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