Wildfires in California have worsened air quality, causing asthmatics to gasp and reach for their rescue inhalers more frequently. Hurricane Francine hit Louisiana in mid-September. Climate change causes hotter and drier weather, contributing to wildfires and making hurricanes more destructive.
According to a World Meteorological Organization report, there is an 80 percent chance that the annual global temperature rise will temporarily surpass 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the next five years. 1.5 C is the agreed-upon limit to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Climate change barely got a mention during the presidential debate on September 10. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Nominee, proclaimed, “We know that we can actually deal with this issue.” She then listed what the Biden administration has done to promote clean energy development and decrease domestic gas production to “historic levels.”
Harris mentioned that former President Donald Trump said that climate change is a hoax. When asked about climate change, Trump dodged the question as adeptly as a child playing dodgeball.
During the DNC Convention in August, Harris mentioned it once in her acceptance speech, citing the “freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”
Trump, in true MAGA fashion, promised to roll back President Biden’s climate change efforts during his acceptance speech at the RNC Convention in July. He repeated his often-said mantra of “drill, baby, drill.”
Harris and Climate: Why Isn’t Climate Change More Prominent?
In contrast to the convention and debate, the DNC Platform devotes a long section to climate change. “The devastation caused by climate change grows more urgent,” the Platform states. “Across the country, Americans experience the dire impacts of climate change.”
Kamala Harris’s extremely brief mention of climate change in her Democratic National Convention speech capped a week in which the climate crisis conversation was shockingly absent in Chicago. We need concrete, specific commitments to match the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Collin Rees, Political Director at Oil Change U.S.
Why does climate change get so little air time? Perhaps it’s because winning battleground states is critical for Harris’ path to the Whitehouse. Yet, many voters in those states do care about climate change. The Environmental Voter Project (EVP) used predictive models to find which voters were likely to cite climate change as a top political priority.
The organization found that one in six voters aged 65 and older saw climate change as a top priority in the 18 states studied. Older climate voters have a smaller but “still significant” share of the electorate in battleground states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Nevada.
Americans Want Action on Climate Change
Most Americans (54 percent) polled in 2023 described climate change as a significant threat to the nation’s well-being. However, the importance of climate change as an issue depends on the party. Almost eight out of 10 Democrats (78 percent) stated climate change was a serious threat to the U.S., while only one out of four (23 percent) of Republicans agreed.
A January 2024 study projected that “climate change opinion probably cost Republicans the 2020 presidential election.” The study also found that climate change opinion has a “significant and growing effect on voting that favors the Democrats.” That favor is “enough” that it could be pivotal in a close election.
Despite the brief mentions of climate change, most environmental groups endorse Harris. The reason is simple. Brett Hartl, chief political strategist with the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, told Politico, “We don’t want to sabotage her campaign for no valid reason.”
Despite Harris’ relative silence on climate change, it is clear that a Donald Trump presidency would be a climate and environmental disaster that we cannot afford.
Image by Gage Skidmore on Flickr
