Summers in Maricopa County, Arizona were sometimes intolerable, Kyle Hawkinson said on Friday. Smog and haze were terribly hanging in Phoenix, and the inhabitants were preparing for a fire season that would only exacerbate heat and air pollution. He said climate change is at least partially responsible.
But when 24-year-old cashier Hawkinson voted for Joseph R. Byden Jr. in 2020, he said climate was not a real factor in his choice. “It’s probably going to be a big problem,” he added, “climate change will always be a problem,” he said of the November vote, where the Arizona Governor’s mansion and one of the state’s Senate seats lined up. It’s just given. To be honest, there isn’t much that national leaders can do. “
The news on Thursday that even the demolished compromises to deal with the warming planet seemed dead was greeted by brutal accusations from environmentalists and Democrats. Congressman Pramira Jayapal, a Democrat in Washington, called Manchin’s decision “nothing but catastrophic.”
But voters who are already suffering from inflation, exhausted by Covid, and adapting to structural changes such as the end of constitutionally protected abortion may shrug their resignation from the latest democratic defeat. Hmm. And that may be the reason why climate change remains a problem with little political power, both for those who are pressing for dramatic action and for those who are in the way.
“People are exhausted from the pandemic and are terribly disillusioned by the government,” said Greenpeace USA’s climate campaign director, known for guerrilla tactics but now struggling to mobilize supporters. Anushanarayanan said. She added: “People see climate as a problem of tomorrow. We need to get them to see that it’s not a problem of tomorrow.”
“This challenge isn’t as invisible as it used to be, but for most people, even those living in the big cities of Miami, this isn’t something they encounter every day, but the encounter with gas pumps is very depressing.” Carlos said. A former Republican from South Florida, Carbello pressured the party to deal with climate change. He added: “In an era of healthy economies, it’s easier to focus on these issues. When people are desperate, it all goes out of the window.”
Two years ago, millions of high school students left school early in the “climate strike.” A teenage Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, was a hero when he sailed the Atlantic Ocean for climate negotiations at the United Nations and was preaching the Green New Deal by Senator Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York. In 2020, Biden campaigned for a $ 2 trillion transformation program to pull the country away from fossil fuels.
By this week, what remained in the program, primarily clean energy tax cuts and subsidies for buying electric cars, seems to have been killed and dead by Mr. Manchin, who was in a hurry to exacerbate inflation. It looked like. The bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by Mr. Byden included $ 2.5 billion to help the community install charging stations, but consumers will need juice for cars and trucks. It seemed to bear all the costs.
In another setback for climate activists, the Supreme Court severely restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate climate-warming carbon dioxide from power plants.
Even soaring gasoline prices seem to have undermined the central beliefs of climate change. Higher fossil fuel prices naturally create a rush to more efficient vehicles and alternative energy sources. Instead, gasoline prices above $ 5 per gallon have created a bipartisan call for more oil production.
Understand what happened to Biden’s national agenda
“Better buildback.” Prior to being elected president in 2020, Joseph R. Byden Jr. clarified his ambitious vision for the administration under the slogan “Build Back Better,” invested in clean energy, and raised spending on American-made products. I promised to make sure it was used.
Even strong supporters of the action admit that voters have shelved climate concerns so far. Maryland’s Comptroller, Peter Franchot, who runs for governor on Tuesday, has a history of working on environmental issues and supporting Massachusetts Senator Edmarkey, one of the first sponsors of the Green New Deal. I have.
However, Franchot, who worked as Marquee’s aide in the 1980s, said the climate is not currently the focus of voters. “The biggest problem facing most people in Maryland is economic instability and uncertainty. That’s what people are concerned about, especially about inflation. I have. “
Marquee argued that political consequences would occur if Democrats did not show that they were doing everything they could to the climate. Young voters and liberals have already shrunk due to the Democratic failure to other priorities and the Supreme Court’s ruling. A significant drop in turnout will diminish the Democratic Party’s chances of holding a Senate seat in Georgia, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
Mr. Marquee called on President Biden to declare a national emergency on climate. He argued that this was an action to invigorate voters in the climate.
“There are environmental groups on every high school and every university campus, and the executive action by the Biden administration will give them a strong signal that it is important that they need to revoke their votes.” He said.
If the Senate did not, Biden said he would “take strong presidential action to respond to this moment,” but did not provide details.
Others have expressed broader concerns.
“It’s frustrating to have these negotiations, keep them going as long as they have, and say it’s over now,” said Democratic Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina. .. Manchin. “The government needs to keep pushing.”
Some activists have focused their anger on Democrats beyond Mr Manchin. Chairman Nancy Pelosi said he continued to support moderate incumbents, such as Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, against young and diverse liberals.
Varshini Prakash, Managing Director of the Sunrise Movement, a group of young climate activists, said: “There is a deep frustration among young people that the issue of our time that exists in our survival is not met at the level of battle that deserves it.”
She and other organizers argued that anger at the environmental law in the tank only doubled their commitment to electing progressive Democrats to young voters.
“I don’t think there’s room to recreate the Republican Party, but there’s room in the state to recreate the Democratic Party,” said Christina Zintsun of Nextgen America, a progressive political action committee founded by billionaire Tom Steyer. President Ramirez said. Mobilize young voters.
NextGen has allocated $ 1.5 million to mobilize students on 186 college campuses on the battlefields of Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. We aim to reach 9.6 million progressive voters.
The Sunrise Movement plans to focus on swing states like Pennsylvania and competitive house racing. The Independent Environmental Voter Project targets 8 million people identified as environmentalists who did not vote in the 2020 presidential election.
Democrats blamed Mr Manchin, but there were few signs that Republicans felt political pressure to act on climate change.
Republicans are responding to the local impacts of climate change by calling for action — Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California on Friday. Called for a bill to save the giant sequoia In his district threatened by fire and drought — but those calls do not cite the root cause of the warming planet.
Benjamin Backer, chairman of the American Conservation Union, a central environmental group, said the Republicans have no incentive to come to the table. Their own voters are not demanding action, and liberal activists drifting to the left are unlikely to be content with the compromises that the Republicans can accept.
“The problem with the current environmental movement is that it’s very one-sided, and if someone votes in the right way, it’s considered not enough, and if the Republicans vote that way, voters are worried. I won’t vote for him anyway. “
Mr Backer and other Republicans involved in the matter claim there is a move on their part. There is little complete denial of climate change, at least among elected Republicans. Many Republicans have come to argue that rising temperatures are simply natural.
Now, the main argument has changed again after parliamentarians have recently taken a bipartisan fact-finding trip to see Greenland melt and Alaska’s permafrost burn: carbon pollution from India and China. Because of this, many say that harsh action by the United States is meaningless and overwhelms it.
Still, Republicans are offering step-by-step suggestions to answer broader democratic proposals, such as investing in US renewable energy manufacturers and restoring forests and wetlands. In the face of Democratic failure, Mr. Backer said they may suddenly appear to be more acceptable.
Congressman Nancy Mace, a Republican on the South Carolina coast, believes that climate change is an intergenerational issue for both parties. Young voters and politicians want action. Elderly people do not.
However, it remains unclear what actions can be bipartisan. Mace said the Democratic approach of offering tax cuts on the purchase of electric cars and clean energy “chooses winners and losers.” She said she wanted a widespread tax cut that would give people more money to make such an investment if the Republicans chose to do so.
Democrats tried to stay bright on Friday. Manchin spoke on a West Virginia radio broadcast, he said, and if Democratic leaders were willing to wait until September, maybe something would work.
Democrats say there is still time to invigorate voters by November.
“We’re at stake here,” said Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat and new president of the National Governors Association.
“Whether it’s a prescription drug, the climate, or something else that the Democratic Party has historically gathered and endorsed, I think party unity is so important now that we all get together. I hope, “he said. ..
Katie Glueck When Reed J. Epstein Report that contributed.