Build Back Better for Us: Real people. Real stories. Real impacts.

Belmont, MI

“Here in Michigan of all places, we should have safe and clean water to drink. It’s time for our leaders to step up and protect our water. We can get to work doing that right now with President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, which will dedicate funds to update our water infrastructure and clean up toxic PFAS chemicals that threaten our health.”

Detroit, MI

“We must understand that addressing the nation’s infrastructure needs depends upon understanding the implications of climate change, from financial costs and social designs of delivering water, to capturing wastewater and stormwater in sustainable ways. We must understand the immense cost of continuing to do nothing. Members of Congress must put our water concerns at the forefront and that means supporting the American Jobs Plan.”

Traverse City, MI

“The American Jobs Plan is super important. If it was passed with the full 2 trillion, it could really change so many people’s lives and just set our country on track for a brighter future. We have to invest in our country to make sure it thrives and to make sure everybody living here can thrive as well.”

Traverse City, MI

“We need to transition our economy to cleaner sources of energy, and we need to have a lens of environmental justice. The American Jobs plan presents a bold vision to take action on climate change and set our country up for a healthier, more prosperous future.”

Ann Arbor, MI

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to make the investments that put American employees to work in good paying jobs that protect our health, safety and welfare and ensure that we have a livable planet for today and for future generations. The Build Back Better Agenda will put us as the vanguard on the bleeding front of solving the climate crisis and will lead to all kinds of economic opportunities that we can’t even imagine. Why in the world would we not make an investment in the American people?”

Troy, MI

“We have to make sure that we’re thinking about the big picture. It’s really important that we all take bold action together in order to reverse climate change as best as we can.”

Traverse City, MI

“There are many ways to significantly reduce carbon emissions here in the United States and we can be a leader. The technology and opportunities are currently available, we just need the will to use them.”

Detroit, MI

“Transitioning to clean, renewable energy will not only help us mitigate climate change, but it will also help create local, well-paying jobs. Green-collar jobs are the jobs of the future. We need leaders in Congress to recognize this opportunity in the American Jobs Plan to rebuild our economy while protecting our air, land and water for future generations.”

Traverse City, MI

“We are seeing the impacts of climate change right now here in northern Michigan. The American Jobs Plan is our opportunity to create jobs rebuilding our country and tackling climate change. We need bold action and leadership now to tackle the climate crisis, which is why I’m calling on members of Congress to get behind the American Jobs Plan.”

Traverse City, MI

“Northern Michigan and the Leelanau Peninsula is one of the last bubbles of clean water and beautiful spaces. We have to keep it that way, man. Once it goes bad, it’s really hard to reverse those changes. We need to invest in our infrastructure and tackle climate change and pollution to make sure we protect the places we love. We have to be more environmentally conscious. I want to always be able to have this playground and continue doing the things that I love.”

Kalamazoo, MI

“What is the biggest threat to our infrastructure? The biggest threat to our livelihood, to me getting around, to me having a place to live, shelter, to me getting food, is climate change! …Our downtown floods every single spring now. Heat is buckling our roads. People are dying because they don’t have air conditioning, or because their home is not insulated properly. We cannot feed ourselves. So to me, why should every policy decision be a CC decision? It’s because it is our greatest threat. Anything that you want to do, whether it be housing and the equity issues, everything that you want to do is going to be impacted by a climate change effect. So it has to therefore be included.”

Grand Haven, MI

“The United States has only 4% of the population of the planet. Though we need to think globally, we can all act locally to make a difference. We are doing our bit in Grand Haven. So can you!”

East Lansing, MI

“We have some real immediate challenges when it comes to resiliency and adaptation. Climate change is a crisis that is not just immediate, but it is a long term crisis. I don’t think we are ever going to get ahead of it unless we really actively think about how we empower communities to develop approaches, to develop funding, to develop mindsets that encourage more renewable energy development.”

Traverse City, MI

“I’ve been a voice for many years for not just building back to the same,” said Tim Werner. “Let’s not just put a bigger pipe in the ground, let’s have less hard surfaces so we have less stormwater flowing into the system, let’s use green infrastructure. Building back the same is not adequate. We really do need to build back better. Let’s do better because we can.”

Benton Harbor, MI

“We don’t need another Flint and we need help to stop this crisis right now,” Pinkney said. “We are asking the federal government to intervene for the sake of our elders and children. Lead is poison. Lead kills. We desperately need funds to Build Back Better immediately.”

Detroit, MI

“Now is the time to invest in the Build Back Better Agenda, because if we keep pushing climate action aside any longer, the effects of climate change, the effects of all these different aspects are going to continue to get worse and worse and worse until there’s not going to be any solution.”

Detroit, MI

“There are huge opportunities for decarbonization within energy efficiency. We can’t hit climate goals that need to be hit without robust energy efficiency. It’s also such a great way for Congress to support their districts because you are really investing in your own community. You are improving the housing stock and building community value on a residential and a commercial level by focusing on energy efficiency standards. These investments come with quality jobs and are built around sustained operations. Looking at these investments and thinking about ways to thoughtfully invest in the people, the training and the career pathways in parallel with the built environment will have ripple effects in so many positive ways.”