Good afternoon. My name is Sylvia Glauster, and I teach middle school here in Chicago. As a 

teacher, it's hard for me to make it to these sorts of hearings, which are usually during the school day. 

Issues of energy, pollution, and climate, however, are central issues of our generation and as such are 

never far from the classroom. When I teach data analysis, scientific thought, or social responsibility, 

we take the time to delve deeply into the issues students raise. Let me tell you, it's pretty terrifying 

to look out at those naYve faces and encourage them to really examine our system of energy 

production and its consequences for the first time. 

"Who cares about air pollution?" I ask them. "Well, who here has asthma?" Several children 

in every class raise their hands and the others nod; they see how this is serious business. "Did you 

know that toxic chemicals released by power plants can cause cancer'!" At this point, they are quite 

upset. "And, what's more, the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is causing our entire 

climate and weather patterns to change in ways we are still struggling to understand." Motivated to 

continue researching on their own, various students have come back to the class to inform us of their 

findings: that the emissions from power plants disproportionately affect low-income and minority 

communities; that studies link asthma to energy-related emissions; and that right here in Chicago 41 

people die each year as a result of the dirty power plants we have fought so hard to close. Debating 

in a mock summit, students argue passionately about the need for reduced carbon emissions to 

stabilize our climate and protect reliable food and water supplies. 

Of course, outraged as they are, these kids want to fix the problem right away. We have solar 

panels, we have windmills, we have teams of engineers ready to take on green jobs like installing new 

energy systems and designing better ones. People are dying here! It's not just the people with lung 

diseases and asthma attacks, people unfortunate enough to live under a plant's smokestacks. People 

are dying in escalating storms, starving in the face of crop failures brought about by drought, and 

fighting in contlicts over increasingly scarcer resources. To these students, it's clear that the whole 

world is at stake. "So why hasn't anyone done anything?!" they demand. Too young to be either 

cynical or practical, no excuse is acceptable to them. 

They're right; our current regulations are not acceptable. Why haven't we taken action at 

the national level? We have known that carbon dioxide from fossil fuels causes dangerous changes in 

our atmosphere since before I was born, 30 years ago. We have known that the toxic chemicals in 

our fuel become the toxic chemicals in the air we breathe, the rain that falls, and the food we eat. And 

yet, we are not pushing the electrical industry to do better? We have no national limits on the carbon 

pollution that is hijacking our future security? 

People talk about our children's children, but while those people have been talking their 

children grew up and those hypothetical future generations are real people with tough questions. 

And so I step forward and stand among my students and say, "I don't know. I don't know why we 

haven't done anything yet. I'm frustrated too, I've been waiting my whole life, but now I am an adult 

and, you know what? Now it's on us. It's time for us to lead." 

This regulation is an opportunity for us to do something. It's an opportunity to lead in the 

direction of clean energy and away from deadly complacency. Though this regulation is not as strict 

as I would like and I believe we should act much more aggressively, the move to regulate carbon 

pollution is a critical first step. That's why I am here today, and not in my classroom. It's an 

opportunity for me to return to my students and say, "Guess what? We are doing something about 

this problem. Our government really is working to save lives and keep businesses under controL 

Remember those dirty plants that closed down? Well, the new electricity is going to have to be 

cleaner." 

Am I going to be able to say that? Are these regulations going to go through with their 

current standards or even stricter regulations that include existing power plants? Are other teachers 

and parents and elected officials going to be able to go home and say, "We're taking important steps. 

We're changing the way we do things, we're reducing pollution, and we're moving forward."? I hope 

so. It's on us.