Phoenix Vice Mayor and Arizona Congressional District (CD) One Candidate Yassamin Ansari has been a leading champion for combatting climate change and promoting clean sustainable energy policies during and before joining the Phoenix City Council as that bodies youngest woman member in 2021.
Often partnering with Mayor Kate Gallego, the Vice Mayor has led on many initiatives to make the fifth largest city in the nation a bastion for clean energy sustainability. Among her efforts has been helping to create The Office of Heat Response and Mitigation and being the focal point in Phoenix adopting the city’s Transportation Electrification Plan and the effort to transition the local bus fleet to electric by 2040.
Before her election to the Phoenix City Council, the Vice Mayor had worked on combatting climate change initiatives while working at the United Nations and the Office of California Governor Jerry Brown.
In an interview with Blog for Arizona after announcing her candidacy to succeed Ruben Gallego as the next Representative from Arizona CD One, Vice Mayor Ansari spoke of her advocacy of combatting climate change, commenting:
“…From my time serving as a climate advisor at the United Nations, to my work helping to deliver the historic Paris Climate Agreement and several global climate action summits, I’ve made a career of going head-to-head with corporate polluters, corrupt special interests, and tired, ineffective policies. At this moment, Arizona needs a leader who understands the urgency of the moment and gets things done. I am that leader.”
Last month, the Vice Mayor further advanced her commitment to addressing climate change and clean energy sustainability when she appeared on Sunday Square Off with Brahm Resnik.
In the interview, the Vice Mayor, in response to Mr. Resnik’s question on how, as a House Representative, she would prepare district residents to deal with perpetual hotter temperatures and protect the most vulnerable citizens , commented:
“First and foremost, we need more investment from the federal government in building resiliency to climate impacts. Unfortunately, we have already locked in significant climate impacts that will come…I’ve joined with the leaders who are calling on FEMA to declare heat as a natural disaster. That will unlock significant ability and resource management abilities from the federal government to be able to support Phoenix because we know that heat actually kills more individuals than tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters combined. So, we need more support there.”
On Resnik’s contention that there was nothing that could be done now to lower the hot temperatures, the Vice Mayor responded:
“There are things that can happen right now. The number one culprit for why we are in a climate crisis is the oil and gas industry…It is very, very important that we stand up to big oil. Stand up to these industries that are doing everything in their power to roll back Biden’s climate policies and investments. That is something…I will be doing as a Congresswoman.”
On helping the most vulnerable, the CD Three Candidate offered:
“At the ground level, we know that heat deaths are preventable…There are a lot of resources that are already available. Phoenix operates 62 cooling centers across the city. MAG (The Maricopa Association of Governments has a heat relief network with lots of resources available. We also have programs to help retrofit people’s homes if AC’s aren’t functioning properly. I think we need to do a better job educating residents about these programs…”
On Resnik’s followup on whether all the local cooling centers should be open 24 hours a day (one currently is,) Vice Mayor Ansari said “they do and actually the Mayor (Gallego) and I have been working with the Governor’s (Hobbs) office on this issue. We hope to see progress on this issue soon…One thing I have led on is bringing a cooling bus to the zone. It’s just much easier to bring a bus with AC with water…This week, we’re adding a couple of trailers to the zone…”
Please click below to see the full interview between Miss Ansari and Mr. Resnik on Sunday Square Off.
Please click on the below social media sites for more information on Vice Mayor Ansari and her candidacy for Congress.
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