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On the list of “issues that matter to most,” climate change doesn’t usually rate as highly as it should. But issues significantly affected by climate change are certainly in the top 10: inflation, escalating food prices, rising utility and health care costs, and the lack of affordable housing.
Let’s talk about why climate change doesn’t move the needle for most voters. One reason is that “climate change” is a monolith, encompassing everything from greenhouse gas emissions to deforestation to plastic accumulation in our oceans. The challenges of tackling the myriad causes and effects of climate change are daunting, and all require sacrifice. So people tend to push the issue to the side in favor of problems that seem easier to fix.
For many people, the concept is also terrifying. Climate change has advanced far faster than most scientists predicted. There is real fear that it simply can’t be stopped. For the good of the 8 billion residents of Earth, we must find a way. And the United States, with all its wealth and innovation, should be leading that way.
A CBS News poll did find that 70% of Americans support the government taking action to address climate change, while a Pew Research poll found that a majority of Americans believe that neither large corporations nor the federal government is doing enough to reduce the effects of climate change.
All this was brought into focus today because we have a big problem with plastic. We are drowning in the stuff. Billions of pounds of plastic are floating in the oceans and scattered to the four corners of the globe. In case you didn’t know it, plastics are petroleum products. Yup, Big Oil is getting rich off plastic bottles too.
For years, they’ve claimed all those plastic bottles are recyclable. Not so, says a lawsuit filed today by the state of California against ExxonMobil. The suit alleges that the oil giant has falsely promoted the idea that all plastic is recyclable, when in fact no more than 6% of U.S. plastics are recycled. California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges that the oil company has engaged “in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.” Oil companies have played the long game with what is being called a public relations stunt that has allowed ExxonMobil and others to produce plastics with impunity.
The two presidential candidates will likely have vastly different reactions to this suit as they offer polar opposite approaches to dealing with climate change. Though I am hard-pressed to call Donald Trump’s “an approach” — it’s more of a capitulation.
Trump calls climate change a hoax perpetrated by China. How can you have a plan to fight something you claim doesn’t exist? But it is worse than that. Rather than hedging, Trump has actively and destructively worked against climate action.
During his presidency, he rolled back more than a hundred environmental rules and regulations. He also exited the Paris climate accords. When Trump took office, hundreds of scientists working for the federal government were forced out or silenced. The climate scientists who remained at the Environmental Protection Agency were told to dismantle their own work.
If you think a second Trump administration wouldn’t be any different, I’ve got some plastic for you to recycle. Project 2025 would effectively kill federal environment protections. One scientist warned that it would be “game over for climate progress.”
The far-right policy playbook has called for the elimination of rules to protect clean air and water, the gutting of the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and prioritizing fossil fuel production while getting rid of renewable energy programs.
Trump himself has promised to expand oil and gas drilling on his first day in office, perhaps to make good with the oil and gas execs he propositioned. Remember that back in April he promised them tax and regulatory favors in exchange for a billion dollars in campaign contributions.
If Kamala Harris simply maintained the status quo and kept all of the Biden administration’s environmental policies in place, she would prevent 4 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions being released by 2030.
Though she hasn’t made action on climate change a central pillar of her campaign, Harris has talked about it, calling it one of the “freedoms” she is fighting for. At the Democratic National Convention, Harris included “the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis” on her list.
A new study from New York University suggests that framing climate action as patriotic can increase support among all voters. In an op-ed in today’s USA Today, actor and climate activist Robert Redford concurred. “We have a history, in this nation, of confronting threats to our freedom head-on, not denying they exist until it's too late to act,” he wrote.
At the presidential debate, Harris answered the only question about the environment while Trump went on a nonsensical rant about Chinese car manufacturing and the mayor of Moscow’s wife.
Harris may not have time to break through with all voters on climate policy, but for young voters, the environment is a top-5 issue. For those young people who prioritize climate and the environment, 78% are extremely or very motivated to vote. In 2020 the youth vote helped Biden win the White House; since then, 8 million more Americans have turned 18. They could be the difference in this race too.
However the election turns out, the climate crisis, including the problem with plastic, isn’t going to improve without definitive action.
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Dan
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