So are Democrats really done with climate politics? Not exactly. An analysis from the Climate and Community Institute points out that candidates in deep blue districts and swing states alike touted their support for clean energy investment and taking on polluting utilities. While these planks weren’t necessarily central, Republicans didn’t manage to sink campaigns by attacking Democrats’ past or present support for a “Green New Scam,” either. Climate politics may not be dead, then, but their future is going to look very different.
Whatever the next era of climate politics holds, it will likely revolve less around the United States becoming some sort of global climate champion and pledges to reach “net-zero” emissions by some point far off into the future. Given the sheer force of the climate disasters now regularly battering the U.S.—from heat waves to wildfires, floods, and droughts—it should probably also engage with climate change as a force that is actively upending life here rather than as a problem still primarily hurting poorer parts of the world. It is difficult, that is, to imagine an affordability agenda that ignores how soaring energy costs make monthly bills unaffordable in scorching summer heat; how the skyrocketing cost of home insurance is driving up housing costs; or how persistent droughts have driven the U.S. cattle down herd to its lowest levels in 75 years and sent beef prices soaring. Addressing these sorts of climate-induced cost of living concerns might also mean a turning away from treating climate change as a distinct issue, and infusing it into a broader-based economic populism.
Such an approach could entail broadening the focus of climate politics beyond the energy sector, where most climate policy and messaging in the U.S. has tended to focus. Although people care quite a lot about how much electricity costs, how those electrons are generated—and how they make their way to homes and businesses—aren’t especially pressing questions for most Americans. Decarbonizing the power sector is both a vital goal and a virtually incomprehensible statement. Fortunately for would-be green populists, some of the same companies that are profiting off of wildly unprofitable data centers are also responsible for rising electricity bills and excess carbon emissions. If greening a utility’s energy mixture doesn’t excite voters, holding its CEOs’ feet to the fire might. Candidates for public utility regulators in Georgia and Arizona focused on expanding renewable energy and reining in utility bosses’ attempts to raise rates for the sake of powering data centers.
The disturbing reality of the climate crisis is that it affects virtually every facet of life. For Democrats who want to help the country navigate a hotter and pricier century, the sheer scope of that crisis can be the grounds for a new climate politics that responds to voters’ concerns with more than abstract pledges.
Hence then, the article about did the midterms kill climate politics was published today ( ) and is available on The New Republic ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Did the Midterms Kill Climate Politics? )
Also on site :
- Documentaries at the Oscars: A History of Breaking Out of Their Category — and What It Means for ‘You Can See Everything’
- Knott’s Berry Farm Sold Just 8 Chicken Dinners for 65 Cents Each in 1934; 63 Years Later, the Theme Park Sold for $300 Million
- One of the ‘Greatest Songwriters of All Time,’ Nicknamed ‘The Storyteller,’ Hit No. 1 52 Years Ago With a Song That Defined Country Music