An Interview With Emily O’Keefe ‘24

Story by Mary Harvey ‘27

For Emily O’Keefe ’24, climate activism started with a lifestyle. She looked at her life and realized that there was a great deal of materialism. A large portion of environmental problems are attributed to waste, and she decided to change the way she was living. For a time, she pursued minimalism, reducing her impact on the world drastically. 

“I went into really extremes of minimalism … I had shaved my head and then I was sleeping in a sleeping bag and wearing the same outfit every day...” 

As she got more involved in the environmentalist movement, O’Keefe found solutions that went beyond individual choices. The Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) at the College of William and Mary is a chapter of the International Citizen’s Climate Lobby nonprofit. They lobby Congress and spread awareness about the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy. O’Keefe is a volunteer with CCL and the Founder and President of the Carbon Fee and Dividend Movement, a push to get the policy through Congress. 

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The policy would mandate that fossil fuel companies pay a fine when polluting the air with carbon. This incentivizes them to lower their emissions, decreasing air pollution. In addition, the fee makes it more expensive to produce goods that have pollution as a necessity, thus encouraging companies to stop producing these products. Instead of focusing on one singular company or industry, the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy tackles air pollution, using minimal government intervention and economic principles to encourage cleaner production. O’Keefe stresses that climate policy is so entwined with economics that working with the economy is more effective than working against it.  

“I feel like people underestimate the importance of economics in solving climate change,” said O’Keefe. 

Working with the economy also makes the policy seem less intrusive, widening its appeal. Making the policy popular and well-received is key to getting it passed. O’Keefe also uses a resource called En-ROADS, a simulator created by Massachusett Institute of Technology’s Sustainability Initiative. It shows each potential policy, and how much it would limit the warming of the planet. One can experiment with deforestation tactics, renewable energy, and energy efficiency. Far and away, the Carbon Price policy has the largest potential to slow global warming according to the simulator.  

“With a lot of them, you can see that they have kind of a marginal impact on their own,” she said. “But if we don't utilize carbon pricing, we're not going to get even close to our targets.” Tools like the En-ROADS simulator help  the public to visualize why the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy is so critical. O’Keefe believes that this understanding is key.  

“It’s like the main crux of the problem [that] not enough people know about this and therefore … not a lot of people can advocate,” she said.  O’Keefe had hopes early on that her movement would spread quickly. She was inspired by Greta Thunberg and hoped that the ‘snowball effect’ Thunberg observed was something she could benefit from, too. But she faced a larger challenge. It is hard to exist in society today and not hear about climate change, regardless of one’s view. This made Thunberg’s message far easier to spread. The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy is more complicated and requires an explanation.  

“We have to take that extra step in informing people about it,” O’Keefe says. Her movement takes a simple approach to this awareness: A sign that says “Most effective climate policy #Carbon Fee and Dividend” with the link to write to Congress. O’Keefe argues that the simplicity of the message makes joining the movement that much easier. 

“All you have to do is just make a sign and show it somewhere and people can see or, you know, follow the link on the sign… So, it makes that barrier to entry so low for something so impactful,” she said. 

O’Keefe also  recognizes that non-partisan efforts are key. CCL places an emphasis on cooperation between parties, and although polarization has been commonly cited as a barrier to climate change policy, O’Keefe is optimistic, stating that there has been change over the years.  

“If things get done in a nonpartisan way, they are much more sustainable,” she said. “The staffer we talked to this time, they have a way different perception of what we're advocating for. Like they're way more supportive. So, I think the change really is possible to happen.” 

As for the opposition, she sees their strength and takes it on. “Of course, there is the question of log lobbyists on the other side. Are they more powerful? But I think one of the great things about this movement, too, is that it almost feels like, well, we're working on shining a spotlight so hard on this policy that it becomes something that people are willing to come out and vote for,” she said. 

To take a climate movement from inception to popularity takes effort and faith. O’Keefe trusts the process, citing the feeling that change will take hold.  “[H]aving that mindset that things are going to go well, I think that's a prerequisite for things going well,” she says. “As the movement continues to grow, it feels like things are falling into place really nicely and I attribute a lot of that to this growing sense of faith… that it will work.”