Having attended Republican Rep. Hegedorn’s town hall last week, I am very concerned about his flippant attitude and lack of concern or a plan to address climate change.

He is completely ignoring the science and even a recent report by the Pentagon commissioned by Trump appointee General Mark Milley, the nation’s highest ranking military officer. This Pentagon report clearly states that if something is not done to actively combat climate change, the US military faces collapse within 20 years. Extreme droughts will cause food systems to fail and sea level rise will cause mass migrations which could destabilize the U.S. The Pentagon tested 79 of their installations, including the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy. Of the 79 tested, 53 currently face threats from flooding, 43 face threats from drought, and 36 face threats from wildfires. Rep. Hegedorn is choosing to ignore the consensus of the scientific community along with our own Military and NASA. Eleven thousand scientists just issued a report stating that climate change is man-made and we need to act urgently and strategically. When I asked him about these reports, he was incredible dismissive and chose to follow his standard talking points by bashing the Green New Deal and Alexandria Acasio-Cortez instead of taking my concerns seriously and offering any real solutions.

Lyndsey Waletzke

Austin, MN