{"id":10038,"date":"2015-09-03T15:50:04","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T19:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=10038"},"modified":"2018-12-28T14:07:16","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:07:16","slug":"how-democrats-can-achieve-three-top-priorities-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2015\/09\/03\/how-democrats-can-achieve-three-top-priorities-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Democrats Can Achieve Three Top Priorities – Blog 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
Democrats have outlined three defining challenges of our time: Income Inequality, Climate Change, and Civil Rights.\u00a0 If they were truly interested in addressing these three issues, they need to rethink their position on immigration. Immigration alone has an order of magnitude greater impact on these issues than any current or proposed government program or policy. Democrats need to have an honest discussion on immigration, analyze the facts and data, and adopt policies that lift up all Americans.<\/p>\n
In the second of three blogs, I will address the nexus between immigration and climate change.<\/p>\n
Climate Change<\/b><\/p>\n
While Climate Change is hyper-politicized, I think we can all agree that burning tons of fossil fuels is not good for the environment.\u00a0 President Obama recently launched the latest round of Climate Change plans and actions to use the EPA and others to restrict coal plants, invest in renewable energy, and push for more fuel-efficient vehicles.\u00a0 Combating climate change is all about reducing carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has one of the largest CO2 emissions per capita, from heating and powering our homes and businesses, personal and commercial driving, and consumption of food, goods, and services. A majority of immigrants to the U.S. come from nations with a fraction of per capita CO2 emissions.\u00a0 The U.S. emits five times the amount of CO2 per person as Mexico and over 8000% more per person than Haiti.\u00a0 To put that in context 536,000 Haitians would emit 115,000 tons of CO2, whereas the same number of people in the U.S. would emit nearly 9.5 million tons.\u00a0 The table below shows the CO2 emissions per capita of the top 10 countries of origin for U.S. immigrants and the percentage increase.<\/p>\n
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