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Electric Vehicles
In the U.S., transportation is the single greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 27% of the total share. Most transportation emissions are carbon dioxide, a byproduct of petroleum combustion. Because carbon dioxide is a significant driver of global climate change, reducing emissions is an important step in a multi-faceted approach to combating climate change. One way to substantially reduce emissions from transportation is to transition to electric vehicles (EVs). EVs run on electric engines powered by batteries. The batteries must be charged via an electric outlet. (You can read more about the different types of outlets here.) The primary environmental benefit of EVs is that they do not create…
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Call to Action: Ask Your Senators to Support a Legislative Update of the Electoral Count Act of 1887
The Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887 sets out the process of casting and counting electoral votes after a presidential election. It is intended to encourage states to resolve controversial electoral outcomes prior to sending results to Congress in order to avoid the conflicts of interest and pursuit of partisan power that would likely occur if Congress were charged with resolving every election dispute. Unfortunately, the text of the ECA is confusing and antiquated, which means the counting of electoral votes remains vulnerable to abuse by partisan actors. The ECA should be updated to provide clarity and security to this process. This should be a bipartisan priority, as such a…
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Official Statement on the Shooting in Uvalde: Counteracting Violence with the Power of Peacemaking
âFor God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.â â 2 Tim. 1:6â7 This week in Uvalde, Texas, a shooter ended 21 lives and forever altered countless others. As the tragically familiar responses once again play out in news and social media, we can feel fear permeating our conversations: Parents are afraid for their children, trauma from past shootings is revisited, and our most important shared spaces have become killing grounds. Some Americans are afraid of the proliferation of guns, while others fear that their right to own guns may be threatened. Fear motivates the purchase of even…
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Official Statement on the Buffalo Shooting, Replacement Theory, and White Supremacy
With broken hearts we mourn the senseless loss of 10 beloved children of God who were killed in a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 14. Celestine Chaney, Roberta Drury, Katherine Massey, Heyward Patterson, Aaron Salter, Pearl Young, Ruth Whitfield, Margus Morrison, Andre Mackneil, and Geraldine Talley were civil rights activists, community volunteers, parents, siblings, and friends. They were victims of a direct attack on a Black community â an attack that is emblematic of a rising wave of violence driven by white supremacists in the U.S. The alleged shooter sought to do more than kill. It was his intent to use this act of terrorism to promote the…
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‘The Restored Gospel and Good Government:’ A BYU Studies Feature
In late 2020, the editors of BYU Studies offered MWEG the opportunity to guest edit an issue of the journal focused on Latter-day Saint principles of good government. After more than a year of work, âThe Restored Gospel and Good Governmentâ was released last month, and we are thrilled to share it with you. It is a rich, nuanced, diverse meditation on the ways our unique Latter-day Saint culture and doctrine can inform our political engagement. The ideas of many MWEG members are found throughout the journal, beginning with the cover image by MWEG Founding Member Linda Hoffman Kimball. Kimball, along with MWEG Founder Sharlee Mullins Glenn, current MWEG Senior…
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Call to Action: End Using Title 42 as Border Immigration Policy
In March 2020 the Trump administration implemented Title 42, part of the 1944 Public Health Service Act, which “allows the government to prevent the introduction of individuals during certain public health emergencies.” This policy was not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and has enabled both the Trump and Biden administrations to ignore long-standing norms and laws related to the processing of asylum seekers at the U.S. border. TO DO Contact your members of Congress requesting their support for our administrationâs plan to end the use of Title 42 at the border on May 23. You can find instructions and…
