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Today, Rep. Caleb Rudow (D-Buncombe) and Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) spoke at a press conference to highlight the ongoing dangers that North Carolinians face due to climate change. Rep. Caleb Rudow represents Buncombe County, one of the many counties severely damaged by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Rep. Butler represents New Hanover County, which was recently devastated by flash flooding. They were joined by Brooks Rainey Pearson, Legislative Counsel for the Southern Environmental Law Center, and Chris Herndon, Director of the Sierra Club’s North Carolina Chapter.
“Western North Carolina was supposed to be a climate haven. But with climate change and more extreme weather events, there is nowhere that is safe,” Rep. Caleb Rudow said. “I hope this is the beginning of a larger conversation, about resilience, about building back better, and about confronting climate change head-on.”
“Let’s be clear. Rebuilding while denying the reality of climate change is dangerous,” Rep. Deb Butler said. “We have been warned by science, by nature and by experience. If we turn a blind eye now, we will be complicit in worsening future disasters.”
“As Helene showed us, no location is safe from the impacts of climate change, and nowhere is prepared for the devastation that storms of this size bring,” Brooks Rainey Pearson said. “As North Carolina faces a future of stronger and more frequent storms, we are looking to our legislature to help us become more resilient, even while remembering there are impacts that cannot be mitigated and that we must do our best to prevent altogether.”
“Now is the time for our elected leadership – in Congress and in North Carolina – to come together, just as the people of Western North Carolina are doing, with support from people across our state and region,” Chris Herndon said. “Right now, our shared goal is to rebuild our neighbors' lives and their communities. Long-term, we must act in equal unity to protect each other from the devastating effects of climate change.”
Pictures from the press conference are available for press here.
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