Hundreds of Canadian children took part in a massive protest march against climate change in Toronto, Canada, on May 24, 2019. Creative Touch Imaging Ltd. / NurPhoto / Getty Images
By Heather Houser
Compost. Fly less. Reduce your meat consumption. Say no to plastic. These imperatives are familiar ones in the repertoire of individual actions to reduce a person's environmental impact. Don't have kids, or maybe just one. This climate action appears less frequently in that repertoire, but it's gaining currency as climate catastrophes mount. One study has shown that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from having one fewer child in the United States is 20 times higher—yes 2000% greater—than the impact of lifestyle changes like those listed above.
<p>Yet opponents are quick to accuse child-free for climate advocates of racism and nativism because their aims can resemble those of forced population control. In early 2019, U.S. Rep. <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/431440-ocasio-cortez-in-face-of-climate-change-its-legitimate-to-ask-if-ok" target="_blank">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a> set off a news avalanche for deeming it "legitimate" to ask whether it's "OK to still have children" given the dire predictions for planetary climate change. As a lightning rod for conservatives, AOC got outsized attention for an idea that's been circulating for decades, even centuries: making an ecologically minded choice to forgo reproduction.</p><p>Choice. That word introduces two knotty issues surrounding proposals to go child-free—or child-fewer—for climate. First, choice smuggles in the keyword in anti-abortion versus abortion-rights battles over reproductive liberties in the U.S. Second, it suggests that large-scale social and environmental changes rest on individuals or families acting alone. Limiting one's sights to individual choice passes over the structures within which those choices occur and the histories of gender and racial injustice that shape them—structures and histories that effectively prevent actual choice. The solution, then, lies in viewing reproductive justice through a framework that prioritizes bodily self-determination. </p>
The Stickiness of Population
<p>Only five years ago, there was minimal coverage of the child-free for climate movement. AOC is just one of many reasons it's lighting up now. New scientific analyses, scholarly debates, and social media conversations have shined a light on reproduction and climate. The influential <a href="https://www.drawdown.org/" target="_blank">Project Drawdown</a> framework for climate mitigation includes a list of solutions ranked by their potential impact, two of which—educating girls and providing access to family planning—they project will have <a href="https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions" target="_blank">a greater combined impact</a> on reducing greenhouse gas emissions than almost all other climate solutions because of their effect on fertility rates.</p><p>In January 2020, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/1/8/5610806" target="_blank">11,000 scientists signed onto a study that warned</a> about the unfolding climate emergency. The authors prescribe steps in six sectors that can prevent irreversible planetary collapse, including that "the world population must be stabilized—and, ideally, gradually reduced—within a framework that ensures social integrity." The framework they propose includes universal access to family planning as well as education and equity for young women. (Other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1410465111" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scientific takes</a> on population-based climate actions are more skeptical about their immediate impact given the scale of fertility reductions needed to balance out longer lifespans.)</p><p>Even before 2020, a new movement was afoot to address climate by forgoing reproduction. Blythe Pepino, a British musician in her 30s, formed BirthStrike in 2018 to build a community of people—typically women-identified—who have opted not to reproduce in response to the ecological and social crises that climate change is creating. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, the group recognized the need to acknowledge the oppression that colors conversations about reproduction as it relates to climate and so reformed itself into a support group for those grieving parenthood. Their new stated goal is to channel that loss into action on climate justice.</p><p>Organizations such as <a href="https://conceivablefuture.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Conceivable Future</a>, however, continue to keep reproduction at the fore. Led by climate activists Meghan Kallman and Josephine Ferorelli, Conceivable Future is raising awareness about how the climate crisis affects "<a href="https://conceivablefuture.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">intimate choices</a>" like reproduction. The Conceivable Future and now-defunct BirthStrike campaigns share ideological terrain with "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/479349760/should-we-be-having-kids-in-the-age-of-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">population engineers</a>," a group of bioethicists who <a href="https://doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract201642430" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">forward policies for</a> limiting the size of the global population through positive incentives like family planning classes and negative ones such as taxes on wealthy procreators. </p><p>In proposing specific policies rather than individual action, population engineers acknowledge the structures within which reproductive choices occur, everything from media influence to the tax code. Even with this shift to the structural, however, the racist, sexist, colonialist, and nativist legacies of the population question within environmentalism still plague child-free for climate. As do the historical and social injustices that constrain so-called choices.</p>Racism and Xenophobia in Environmentalism
<p>This summer and fall, the climate crisis and its correlated catastrophes—<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/heat-wave-western-united-states/" target="_blank">extreme heat</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/14/a-third-of-bangladesh-underwater-after-heavy-rains-floods/" target="_blank">flooding</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/wildfires" target="_blank">wildfires</a>—are intensifying alongside Black Lives Matter uprisings and the <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/health-happiness/2020/06/09/coronavirus-public-health-social-justice/" target="_blank">coronavirus health disparities</a> among Black, Indigenous, and Latinx populations. This confluence has brought overdue attention to racism in environmentalism, as evidenced by the Audubon Society's recent <a href="http://audubon.org/magazine/fall-2020/revealing-past-create-future" target="_blank">reckoning</a> with racial injustices in its past and present, including <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/the-myth-john-james-audubon" target="_blank">publicizing</a> that its famed founder was a White supremacist and a slaveholder. The intersections of <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2020/09/23/election-black-voters-climate/" target="_blank">climate justice and racial justice</a> have also come to the fore through <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/climate/heat-minority-school-performance.html" target="_blank">studies of how Black communities are greatly harmed by hotter temperatures</a> and through the popular <a href="https://www.intersectionalenvironmentalist.com/" target="_blank">intersectional environmentalist</a> platform created by Leah Thomas, a young Black activist and "<a href="https://www.greengirlleah.com/about-1" target="_blank">eco-communicator</a>." To these reckonings we need to add the racism and xenophobia that have long characterized environmentally motivated population controls.</p><p>The New York Times recently exposed these sins in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/us/anti-immigration-cordelia-scaife-may.html/" target="_blank">a profile of Cordelia Scaife May</a>, showing how this heir to the Mellon fortune converted a love of birding into a network of anti-immigration, pro-population-control organizations that still influence politics today. In the 1960s May linked threatened birdlife to the rapidly expanding human population. May wasn't wrong to see and worry over this link: A host of human activities—from <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/popular-pesticides-linked-drops-bird-population-180951971/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">toxic agriculture and industry</a> to <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050157" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sprawling settlements</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/10/05/555949789/light-pollution-can-impact-noctural-bird-migration" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">light</a> and <a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/birds-live-near-human-noise-sing-louder-shorter-songs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">noise pollution</a>—decimate avian habitats and habits. May's anti-immigration approach, however, indicates how readily environmentalism can mutate into racist and xenophobic actions.</p><p>The Times investigators show that "protecting natural habitats and helping women prevent unplanned pregnancies merged over time into a single goal of preserving the environment by discouraging offspring altogether." Taken on its own, this goal resonates with Conceivable Future's and population engineers' aims. To be clear, this does not mean that today's child-free climate advocates are racist nativists. However, it does indicate how readily the affiliation arises because of the ugly history of forced population control.</p>Contemporary Examples
<p>And this history is hardly past. For example, race and class conflicts erupted around a population platform within the Sierra Club only 15 years ago. In 2004, a faction of club members took a page from May and argued that more people living in the U.S. meant more encroachment on less developed land and water. As with May's effort, this anti-immigration push amounted to "the greening of hate," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League, who entered the dispute when they found White supremacists lobbying for anti-immigration Sierra Club board candidates. A 2010 <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20100630/greenwash-nativists-environmentalism-and-hypocrisy-hate" target="_blank">SPLC report</a> firms up the connection between environmentalist intentions and racist agendas by explaining why White nationalist John Tanton infiltrated the club: "Using an organization perceived by the public as part of the liberal left would insulate nativists from charges of racism—charges that … would likely otherwise stick."</p><p>Charges of racism ultimately did stick to Tanton and his anti-immigration, pro-population-control allies. And they continue to stick in analyses of the child-free for climate movement today. Earlier this year, climate journalist Meehan Crist <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n05/meehan-crist/is-it-ok-to-have-a-child" target="_blank">took up</a> AOC's question of whether it's OK to have a child. In arriving at an answer (for her, yes), she affiliates child-free positions with "anti-feminist, racist and anti-human" values and with bad science. "Darker visions" proceed from this analysis, she writes, visions of those who believe "racial purity will save the planet. Closed borders. . . . Ecofascist death squads." The dark visions Crist spins from the child-free for climate question underscore how readily calls for reproductive limits touch the third rails of modern environmentalism: racism, eugenics, xenophobia, even death-dealing.</p><p>We get even closer to these third rails when we consider that the question of whether to reproduce is, for some people, no choice at all. Modern efforts to limit fertility, which ramped up after World War II, have targeted poor women in the Global South, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color in the U.S. using coercion and force. BIPOC reproductive justice advocates such as Loretta Ross have condemned dichotomous pro-abortion-rights versus anti-abortion politics for producing "<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Radical_Reproductive_Justice/hN-4DgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=loretta%20ross%20radical%20reproductive&pg=PT8&printsec=frontcover&bsq=anemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">anemic political analyses</a>" that ignore the reality of forced sterilizations in prisons and the appallingly high maternal mortality rate for Black women in the U.S. These are all forms of what medical historian and ethicist Harriet Washington calls "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8WCS1Rs8K8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">medical apartheid</a>."</p><p>This oppression <a href="https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/unwanted-sterilization-and-eugenics-programs-in-the-united-states/" target="_blank">has been used</a> "as a means of controlling 'undesirable' populations—immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill." Recent events confirm this isn't a historical anomaly. In September, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-asks-us-to-clarify-alleged-hysterectomies-on-migrant-women-in-ice-custody/" target="_blank">accusations</a> of nonconsensual hysterectomies and other procedures in an ICE detention center reestablished that, when it comes to women's health, "choice" comes with the privileges of race, class, and citizenship status.</p><p>Reproductive justice advocates offer a way through the rocky shoals of weighing whether to have children amid a climate crisis. The reproductive justice framework prioritizes bodily self-determination for people of all races, genders, classes, and sexualities, and it recognizes that, just as poverty and racism can impinge on that self-determination, so too can environmental degradation. As <a href="https://www.sistersong.net/" target="_blank">SisterSong</a>, a "women of color reproductive justice collective" based in Atlanta, puts it, reproductive justice is "the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities." Because the climate crisis threatens the safety and sustainability of communities, it also threatens the right to bodily autonomy. Within this framework, reproduction is not about choice but about the systems that can make reproductive outcomes no choice at all.</p><p>When we debate climate actions, we often focus on feasibility, economics, and political and popular support. But grim histories also travel with climate proposals: histories of environmentalist racism and of reproductive violence against poor, BIPOC, and other marginalized people in the U.S. and abroad. This shouldn't squelch conversations about child-free for climate. We should take it seriously, but if it is to go from being an expression of individualist privilege to part of a wider debate, we must wrestle with the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Economization_of_Life/MX3WDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=murphy%20economization%20life&pg=PT125&printsec=frontcover&bsq=grammar" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">observation</a> by science studies scholar Michelle Murphy that "race is the grammar and ghost of population." Only through nuanced attention to the histories, values, and associations attaching to climate actions can we hope to sustain dialogue about which ones—whether they be child-free or the Green New Deal—are just and efficacious in these critical times, while keeping reproduction and family part of the climate conversation.</p>
<p><em>Heather Houser writes on the environment, contemporary culture, and science and technology. She's an associate professor of English at The University of Texas at Austin, and her most recent book is Infowhelm: Environmental Art and Literature in an Age of Data (Columbia University Press, 2020).</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2020/10/26/have-kids-climate-change/" target="_blank">Yes! Magazine</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Could the climate crisis drive Homo sapiens to extinction? An artist's illustration shows a desolate landscape, perhaps after global warming has rendered much of Earth inhospital to humans. MARK GARLICK / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images
Could the climate crisis drive Homo sapiens to extinction?
<p>If history repeats itself, then maybe. In a study published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332220304760?via%3Dihub" target="_blank"><em>One Earth</em></a> Thursday, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientists</a> used a combination of the fossil record and climate modeling to determine that three early human species lost a significant chunk of their climate niche right before going extinct.</p><p>"It is worrisome to discover that our ancestors, which were no less impressive in terms of mental power as compared to any other species on Earth, could not resist climate change," lead author Pasquale Raia of Università di Napoli Federico II in Napoli, Italy said in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-10-climate-drove-early-human-species.html?fbclid=IwAR1jKLrU_rUPVVaNCK8JWyoE-_fNz6WTPjzLbkSb1fhbvzB-RtnblalCHTY" target="_blank">Cell Press press release published by Phys.org</a>. "And we found that just when our own species is sawing the branch we're sitting on by causing climate change. I personally take this as a thunderous warning message. Climate change made Homo vulnerable and hapless in the past, and this may just be happening again."</p>
<p>The researchers looked at six early human species that had existed from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene epochs: <em>Homo habilis</em>, <em>Homo ergaster</em>, <em>Homo erectus</em>, <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em>, <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> and <em>Homo sapiens.</em> They compared 2,754 archeological findings with a climate emulator that determines rainfall, temperature and other factors over the last five million years in order to determine the climate niche for each species and whether it changed over time.</p><p>A climate niche is the sweet spot of climate conditions that are best suited to a given species' survival, <a href="https://institutions.newscientist.com/article/2257479-climate-change-may-have-driven-early-human-species-to-extinction/" target="_blank">New Scientist explained</a>.</p><p>For <em>Homo erectus</em>, <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> and <em>Homo neanderthalensis, </em>their climate niche shrunk just before extinction. <em>Homo erectus</em>, for example, went extinct during the last glacial period, which was the coldest period that species had ever experienced, the study said.</p>
<p>"Our findings show that despite technological innovations including the use of fire and refined stone tools, the formation of complex social networks, and — in the case of Neanderthals — even the production of glued spear points, fitted clothes, and a good amount of cultural and genetic exchange with Homo sapiens, past Homo species could not survive intense <a href="https://phys.org/tags/climate+change/" target="_blank">climate change</a>," Raia said in the press release. "They tried hard; they made for the warmest places in reach as the climate got cold, but at the end of the day, that wasn't enough."</p><p>The researchers do think that, for Neanderthals, direct competition with modern humans combined with climate changes to push the species to the brink.</p>
<p>Other researchers who were not involved in the study cautioned that the fossil record is spotty for all of the species studied besides Neanderthals, which might mean that the species had longer lifespans or different climate niches than revealed in the study.</p><p>"Individuals belonging to these taxa lived at times, and in places, not sampled by the existing fossil record," Bernard Wood at George Washington University in Washington, DC told New Scientist.</p><p>The researchers did try to account for this somewhat by testing for two fossil records: a core fossil record including only remains known to belong to each species and an extended fossil record including unidentified remains that could have belonged to more than one species. They found that the climate niche shrunk before extinction for the three species in question no matter which record they used.</p>
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Worsening floods and storms accounted for about four-fifths of the total from 2000-2019. Pxfuel
Climate change has spurred close to a doubling of natural disasters in the last 20 years, and world leaders are failing to prevent Earth from evolving into "an uninhabitable hell" for millions, the United Nations warned on Monday.
<p>At least 7,348 major disasters had occurred between 2000 and 2019, claiming 1.23 million lives, affecting 4.2 billion people and costing the global economy some $2.97 trillion, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said in a new report entitled: "The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019."</p><p>According to the Geneva-based agency, the last two decades saw the number of disasters caused by extreme weather nearly double to 6,681, up from 3,656 between 1980 and 1999.</p><p>"We are willfully destructive. That is the only conclusion one can come to, with action on climate change and other major threats waning," said Mami Mizutori, the UN secretary-general's special representative for disaster risk deduction.</p>
Climate Change Proves Deadly
<p>Worsening floods and storms accounted for about four-fifths of the total from 2000-2019, while major increases were also registered for droughts, wildfires and heat waves.The report noted that extreme heat is proving especially deadly. Other major recorded disasters included earthquakes and tsunamis.</p><p>The natural disasters also caused almost $3 trillion in global economic losses — almost twice the amount in the preceding two decades.</p><p>The UN body blamed leaders for not only <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-scientists-should-cut-back-on-air-travel/a-42862862" target="_blank">insufficient action</a> in slowing down climate change but also for failing to combat the global coronavirus pandemic which has killed over 1 million people and infected over 37 million in the past nine months.</p><p>"COVID-19 is but the latest proof that political and business leaders are yet to tune into the world around them," Mizutori said in a statement. Despite warnings from experts and UN agencies, "almost all nations" have not done enough to prevent death and illness caused by the pandemic.</p>Asia at Highest Risk
<p>Though the report commended countries including India and Bangladesh for stepping up efforts in evacuating millions of people to safety from life-threatening floods and cyclones, it said the odds "continue to be stacked against them, in particular by industrial nations that are failing miserably on reducing greenhouse gas emissions" in line with an agreed aim of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.</p><p>The report, released ahead of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on Tuesday, relied on statistics from the Emergency Events Database, which records all disasters that kill 10 or more people, affect 100 or more people or result in a state of emergency declaration.</p><p>According to the data, Asia has suffered the highest number of disasters in the past 20 years with 3,068 disasters, followed by the Americas with 1,756 and Africa with 1,192.</p><p>In terms of affected countries, China topped the list with 577 events followed by the US with 467.</p><p>"It really is all about governance if we want to deliver this planet from the scourge of poverty, further loss of species and biodiversity, the explosion of urban risk and the worst consequences of global warming," Mizutori said.<br></p>
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Konso dwellings are seen near the town of Konso, Ethiopia. Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
Indigenous people around the world have lived in concert with nature for centuries, practicing responsible land management, regenerative farming practices and water conservation.
<p>But as Indigenous populations continue to be pushed off of their lands by development, it's more important than ever to learn how their practices can counter the climate crisis.</p><p>"By ignoring what Indigenous people know about how to protect their forests, we lose potential solutions to the climate crisis. We lose time and we lose money. It is unstrategic and unethical," Marcia Nunes Macedo and Valéria Paye Pereira wrote in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/opinion/amazon-rainforest-fire-prevention.html#click=https://t.co/xBBOmRgcQn" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
Controlled Fires
<p>From the Americas to the Amazon to Australia, culturally significant controlled burns have been an integral part of proactive fire management that prevents forest fires from spreading.</p><p>In one example, Karuk tribal traditions in Northern California use frequent, low-intensity fires to help restore and maintain the region's flora and fauna, according to researchers in <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-western-states-can-learn-from-native-american-wildfire-management-strategies-120731" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. More specifically, the fires help restore grassland for elk and for making basketry. Meanwhile, smoke from summer fires provides cool temperatures for river fish.</p><p>"[Cultural burning] links back to the tribal philosophy of fire as medicine," Frank Kanawha Lake, a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, firefighter and Karuk descendent, told the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/native-american-wildfires" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The History Channel</a>. "When you prescribe it, you're getting the right dose to maintain the abundance of productivity of all ecosystem services to support the ecology in your culture."</p><p>Aboriginal Australians monitor controlled fires to prevent them from damaging seedlings or soil nutrients. They also avoid burning logs or trees that house insects and animals. Furthermore, the controlled burns help to restore growth and strengthen ecosystems, <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/01/13/australia-fires-aboriginal-land-management/#:~:text=Aboriginal%20fire%20management%2C%20also%20called,and%20nutrients%20in%20the%20soil." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yes! Magazine</a> reported.</p><p>Over in the Amazon, the Kuikuro people in the Xingu Indigenous Territory use an elaborate system of ditches, dikes and roads to create a break that controls the spread of wildfires, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/opinion/amazon-rainforest-fire-prevention.html#click=https://t.co/xBBOmRgcQn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>Water Management
<p>Australia has been under a severe drought for years, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sydney-water-shortage-2641353372.html" target="_self">threatening Sydney's water supply</a>. As a result, the regional governments of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have teamed up with Aboriginal tribes to learn Indigenous water management techniques. For example, the Ngarrindjeri Nation in South Australia helped implement innovative environmental solutions during the Millennium Drought that lasted from 2001-2009.</p><p>"When Indigenous nations become sovereign partners in environmental management, the power structures and worldviews that underlie decision-making can be productively challenged... creating new solutions to pressing environmental issues," Dr. Samantha Muller, lead author of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1745-5871.12362" target="_blank">Indigenous sovereignties: relational ontologies and environmental management</a>, said in <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191105075838.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Science Daily</a>.</p><p>"Indigenous agency and governance is driving innovations in land management worldwide that provide more equitable solutions and strategic approaches to looking after the lands, waters and all living things, particularly in the face of climate change," she added.</p><p>To increase respect for water usage, Western Australia has issued <a href="https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Education/Water-in-Aboriginal-culture" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lesson plans and instructional videos</a> about water's role in Aboriginal culture.</p>Farming and Land Management
<p><br>The efficient use of water often goes hand-in-hand with farming practices. The Konso people in East Africa have used water and land so effectively that their community is officially recognized and protected by UNESCO as a cultural heritage site. For example, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244016682292" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">one study</a> noted, "They work together to build attractive terracing landscapes and complex village compounds in addition to construction and protection of water systems. To strengthen their togetherness, they frequently use the proverb 'Living together means sharing resources.' This social cohesion is the basic underlying factor in achieving sustainability even in modern management."</p><p>Indigenous communities also use fire to clear small plots of land and strengthen their harvest. In the Amazon, communities grow cassava and then let the land lie fallow for years while farming another section. The fallow period allows the vegetation to improve and helps to prevent soil erosion. The restored land is again burned, with the ashes fertilizing the soil, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/in-a-drier-amazon-small-farmer-and-researchers-work-together-to-reduce-fire-damage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a> reported.</p><p>The idea of Indigenous land control is reinforced by Greenpeace campaigners in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/10/12/to-protect-nature-bring-down-the-walls-of-fortress-conservation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Al-Jazeera</a>. The authors explain how this transfer away from the industrial world would help meet climate goals and reduce pollution. For example, "In Mexico's Cabo Pulmo, local communities secured legal protection and are reviving marine life and livelihoods," they write.</p><p>"There is a lot of potential in providing people with the means to resist industrial expansion that is contributing to species loss, climate breakdown and deepening inequalities," they add.</p>From Your Site Articles
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NHC Director Ken Graham provides an update on Hurricane Delta. NOAA
Hurricane Delta is set to batter southwest Louisiana later today, as residents there prepare to be hit once again by a storm that has rapidly intensified, experts say, largely because of global warming.
<p>Hurricane Delta, the sixth storm so far to meet scientists' threshold for <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVqc7S3kg3BlW4l2r149fYKkyW15bp5B4gZtmDN6TZ7st3p_97V1-WJV7CgH_wW7x651w8fYJ6WW3BmKKh5Y9TlZW6gk1MG8zwY45VB_Kqm4qF5cGV6HmBz8CnvZZW75DQSQ3bg5NbW17SFnZ2DDh1fW5dzkM37bKNZgW6swNLK7K9hb7VV_fcP5WCBwxW1vWh7m5VxbqVW824V6V1kSHtWW4l3Qcs5sXdJ1W6QY_z95fGp9cVpc04z263hv2W16HRh-54z8F2N5c0_KJlwG9vW14z4zn1BCYNhM152SpXQflwV4g3Wx134hZ_W655DbX4HG_3hW4byG5Q8yJ8hhW7sT63X7PC5-tW3B3_0V3vv-nL3k9K1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rapid intensification</a>, exploded from an unnamed storm into a 140 mph monster in just 36 hours. </p><p>"It's more likely that a storm will rapidly intensify now than it did in the 1980s," NOAA climate and hurricane scientist Jim Kossin told the AP. </p><p>The proportion of storms rapidly intensifying in the Atlantic has nearly doubled since 1982, according to a study published last year by Kossin and Princeton climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi, who both told the AP climate change, caused by burning gas, oil, and coal, is clearly playing a major role. </p><p>The increase in storms' rapid acceleration is fueled by oceans heated by climate change.</p>
<p>For Louisiana residents, the danger — and trauma — of repeated storms in such close succession is visceral. </p><p>Hurricane Laura slammed two trees through Janice Duren's Lake Charles home less than two months ago, "And we're fixing to get hit again. You might as well hang it up," Duren told the New York Times from the New Orleans hotel to which she evacuated. </p><p>"It looks like somebody put a bomb off down there [in Lake Charles]," she said. "And you turn around and put another hurricane on top of that? … It'll be double the trouble, but we don't have half the help we need." </p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-oceans-storms-weather-108ee106d20ab2ab4880011b78e71981?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9rfPWaJ6Nsgh39ouOfPSVKLef_r_36cgDAWETlEjtp8tpqk44rnqrSGV2cUhMxE6r-Bx_aNmAc_sHwmpEd7T1u6OVYZAxEDfqVNZe5bQKwL7iONB0&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">AP,</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/us/hurricane-delta-gulf-coast.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9L8dBGijtdmosL7fZ-AhP8JzCMAsoEo3Hg5Cx2BT9hQIeEt-UeZ9n11ZEcI-A6jtpa7KshrW1hcQjCrTjgMqC6-u9r_Lf_kZ13472yV_R_acUPuWA&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-delta-gulf-coast-atlantic-hurricane-season/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--gu8ZAhbKFXA8RN9r7lvrxdNKwmCrKnZUBg-sMIhlFJvBBj_yuAb8vf_Ibcsf8VaBHNWUuV_Mv7LXMVE_2rxxjazB6d7QRikhy1BReEtFy5tuPIns&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">CBS</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/09/weather/hurricane-delta-friday/index.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8AbL2KE9vKkKCAyqPtu1p0hQl44_aarTg85BTDEme8YR6ds5rqA-LIarZ7ePPoXpfvWt4_QD_ADpJH5rDtYwn76fvYyjgOXQhaJnwdc71esCA3us0&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/10/still-reeling-louisiana-braces-for-hurricane-delta/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8vR9mG-ez9w7Ze3HSVTmqUDczekLhL90YZLf4xc4MC6VKVAgOYIeBTUgu9gyYI8qh0z4w7wCFiHbgZMVcRf3-KSiTPOJQBYBlBUfZmK9hUS-syqWU&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/08/hurricane-delta-louisiana-winds-flooding?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8DeglbJVv7uGemAVvk6k0hsPUK-Iioud-Jb_5Y6T98nSH3GzqZhz-AlhApt1zn4BqjCPUamv_6GkT7RMPiOtc9dpcmc8h0tIkiw0v40jxPgNDeIkI&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2020/10/09/stories/1063715877?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-93N8qM3j32oSXm8jaOZhFBgdHQOvSCLbcT7RX9kTCMTlCXtrwvIC1ZL-_CpqSvhLfRlFDMJHU7YDswb7OzBqkTP-HnyNHOy_ZuxoxP96dERjGHe70&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">E&E</a>; Climate Signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-change-hurricanes?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9flwzQxQkArxXK_2x651Pu8knSQrQ82oA9N7AFLNBNm9UdggkNJau51twuNiFMRw0DRomvxXLrEy30ePcbmSVCqALnrM_27o3Ywwjysx_wTKy1po0&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Hurricanes</a>; <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/events/atlantic-hurricane-season-2020?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=97053490&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8r-WjyhSE8jWLf0B3BsLjKv9L6sQyj6liBIqlu7WIVX7i58XG6-ik4pCXrvDbk4n7gkPPGpXhZOTgpSpuAHEZzLE2aJzd9zXSrOoHAjvP6bFtQBk0&utm_content=97053490&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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- Hurricane Delta Floods Parts of Louisiana Still Recovering From August’s Laura - EcoWatch ›
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The Earth has experienced its warmest September since record-keeping began, according to a European Union agency's report. skeeze / Pixabay
The Earth has experienced its warmest September since record-keeping began, according to a European Union agency's report published Wednesday.
<p>The <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/climate-bulletins" target="_blank">Copernicus Climate Change Service</a>, which tracks global temperatures, published statistics that show 2020 is, so far, tying with 2016 for the warmest calendar year. <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/global-heating-could-pass-key-mark-in-5-years-un/a-54116525" target="_blank">Global temperatures in January, May and September</a> exceeded those in 2016 and tied in April and June.</p><p>"There is currently little difference between 2020 and 2016 for the year-to-date," Copernicus researcher Freja Vambourg said.</p><p>The report showed that temperatures in Europe were particularly warm, with the cooling La Nina weather event in the eastern Pacific cooling parts of the southern hemisphere.</p><p>Arctic sea ice saw its second-lowest September average extent on record, more than 40% below the 1981-2020 average. Temperatures in Siberia were "especially high."</p>
Paris Agreement Temperature Rise Maximum Is Close
<p>Monitors of the Paris Climate Agreement will view the figures with particular alarm: for the 12-month period through to September 2020, the planet was nearly 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial levels.</p><p>This is close to the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold for severe impacts to the planet detailed in a 2018 UN climate report.</p><p>The Paris Agreement, of which many UN nations are signatories, has nations aim to cap global warming "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and at 1.5 degrees if possible.</p><p>Overall, September 2020 was 0.05 degrees Celsius warmer than September 2019.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A September 17 report by the Rhodium Group calculates that 1.8 billion tons more greenhouse gases will be released over the next 15 years as a result of climate change rollbacks the Trump administration has achieved so far. Pete Linforth / Pixabay / CC0
By Karen Charman
When President Donald Trump visited California on September 14 and dismissed the state Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot's plea to recognize the role of climate change in the midst of the Golden State's worst and most dangerous recorded fire season to date, he gaslighted the tens of millions of West Coast residents suffering through the ordeal.
<p>While Trump declared that the weather will just "start getting cooler" and that science is irrelevant to the wildfires, millions were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/16/smoke-air-west/" target="_blank">struggling to breathe</a> through the toxic smoke that gave Portland the week-long distinction of having the most hazardous air on the planet, with pollution levels in Seattle and San Francisco close behind. Whole towns in California and Oregon have been destroyed by the wildfires.</p><p>A growing body of scientific evidence over the last several decades confirms that as atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases rise, so too will frequent, intense and increasingly deadly weather events. Strange new weather phenomena like fire tornadoes, "snowacanes" and "rain bombs" are now part of our experience and language. Droughts, unprecedented heat, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding are happening more often, becoming more severe, and occurring over larger and larger areas.</p><p>This year several strange and extreme weather conditions combined to create the perfect firestorm across the Western U.S. A prolonged <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-06/southern-california-weather-forecast-sunday-los-angeles-record-breaking-heat" target="_blank">record-breaking heatwave</a> saw temperatures reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, California, on August 16, and 121 degrees Fahrenheit in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills three weeks later on September 6. In mid-August, more than 10,000 dry <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/" target="_blank">lightning strikes began igniting fires</a> in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, including all over the Bay Area where they were eerily close to heavily populated areas. Lightning-induced fires are also torching Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Colorado and New Mexico. Subsequent high winds in drought-stricken landscapes then turned the initial sparks into major conflagrations.</p><p>By the morning of Trump's California appearance, 28 major fires had incinerated more than 3 million acres just in California. Fires in California, Oregon and Washington had combined to create a hellscape of toxic smoke that turned the skies in those states <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/10/leah_stokes_west_coast_fires" target="_blank">orange, blood red and deep magenta</a> and was detected as far away as Europe. At least 35 people had died.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Hurricane Sally, one of five named storms then swirling in the Atlantic, was just two days away from flooding coastal communities from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana. Sally, which submerged downtown Pensacola in five feet of water, hit just three weeks after Hurricane Laura caused massive flooding and 10 deaths. Slamming into the Louisiana coast with 150-mile-an-hour winds, Laura was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/live-blog/hurricane-laura-makes-landfall-category-4-early-thursday-live-updates-n1238373/ncrd1238385#liveBlogHeader" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall in U.S. history</a>.</p><p>So far, 2020 has been an extremely busy hurricane season with more than 20 named storms, seven of which formed in the first half of September. With two more months before the hurricane season officially ends, there could be several more. Meanwhile, many of the fires across the West are still burning.</p><p>Nor has catastrophic weather spared the middle of the country this summer. On August 10, a particularly strong derecho, a quick-forming massive wall of intense winds, blasted through Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The derecho cut a path 770 miles long, held its strength for 14 hours, and clocked winds up to 140 miles per hour. Four people died, and crops and buildings on some 10 million acres in Iowa — nearly a third of the state's farmland — were heavily damaged. This storm also caused significant damage to cars and homes, downed power lines and destroyed massive numbers of trees in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and parts of Chicago.</p><p><span></span>In 2019, the <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/" target="_blank">Fourth National Climate Assessment</a>, a comprehensive report mandated by Congress to study the impacts of climate change, found that without substantial and sustained greenhouse gas reductions along with vast infrastructure upgrades, unabated climate change will threaten much that many Americans take for granted and lead to an unrecognizable, dystopian existence for large swaths of the population.</p>
<p>Among the report's findings: food will become harder to grow and be lower in quality but more expensive. Clean, safe water supplies will become scarce in many parts of the country. Human health will take a significant hit from worsening air and water pollution, greater exposure to disease-carrying insects, pests, foodborne and waterborne pathogens, as well as the <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2020/10/perfect-storm-saipan-typhoon-yutu/" target="_blank">emotional strain of having to deal with the reality and uncertainty</a> of catastrophic weather events and their aftermath. Heat will kill more people. Energy supplies will become increasingly unstable and more costly (because most U.S. power plants need a steady supply of cooling water to operate).</p><p>Moreover, the report predicts that already compromised roads, bridges, and the safety of pipelines all over the country will be vulnerable to damage from violent storms and flooding. Whole communities, especially those facing rising sea levels along the coastline, will be forced to move. Increasing production and supply chain disruptions will cause significant damage to the economy as a whole. Areas and industries that depend on natural resources and good, stable weather will likely be hardest hit with annual losses in the hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, an amount exceeding the current total economic output of many U.S. states.</p><p>Overall, the report predicts "substantial net damage to the U.S. economy throughout this century," though it notes that poor and disadvantaged communities will disproportionately bear the worst impacts.</p><p>A stark illustration of what current levels of greenhouse gas emissions will look like is provided in <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/climate-migration/" target="_blank">maps</a> by the Rhodium Group, a New York-based independent research organization, which forecasts a much harsher living environment for many parts of the U.S. over the next 20 to 40 years. Temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit will become much more common, especially in the South and Southwest, with places like Phoenix, Arizona, much of interior Southern California and southern Texas likely sweltering in 95 degrees or hotter for half the year.</p>
<p>Along with rising temperatures, humidity is expected to dramatically increase, even in places like Arizona, Southern California and Nevada, which have long been known for their dry heat. When excessive humidity combines with extreme heat, it creates "wet bulb" temperatures where sweating fails to cool the body. Such conditions make it dangerous to work outside or for kids to play outside. According to Rhodium's projections, current emissions are on track to turn much of the Mississippi Valley, the above-mentioned areas in the Southwest, southern Texas, and coastal areas in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina into high wet bulb zones.</p><p>Despite all of these future threats — on top of the climate disasters we are already seeing — Trump, the ruling Republicans, the fossil fuel sector and their defenders in right-wing media continue to deny climate change.</p><p>"If we don't have a stable environment to live in, there's no way to have life, liberty, or pursue happiness," Jeffrey Potent, adjunct professor of sustainability at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, told <em>Truthout</em>, decrying the Trump administration's attack on the government's ability to oversee and protect our environment.</p><p>"This is completely different from anything I have encountered in Washington," said Tyson Slocum, director Public Citizen's energy program. "It's an all-out assault on everything for the public interest."</p>
Foxes Guarding the Henhouse
<p>Before he assumed power, Trump attacked regulations as unnecessary barriers to freedom and economic prosperity. Since taking office, he has targeted anything enacted by the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama, and taken steps to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement, the international effort to combat climate change. He has also staffed heads of key agencies with climate deniers of various stripes, forced out career public servants and created a hostile work environment for those who don't profess loyalty to his deregulatory agenda.</p><p>Like Trump himself, some of his cabinet choices displayed an audacious penchant for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">self-dealing</a> and abusing their positions of authority. One example is Trump's first Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Scott Pruitt, who aggressively worked to overturn Obama's climate regulations, spent most of his time in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-epa-head-steps-down-after-wave-of-ethics-management-scandals/2018/07/05/39f4251a-6813-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">private meetings</a> with fossil fuel and chemical company executives, sidelined career EPA staff and reconfigured independent scientific advisory boards to make them more supportive of the industries EPA is charged with regulating. Dubbed "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-pruitt-leaves-20180705-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the most scandal-plagued Cabinet officials in U.S. history</a>," Pruitt resigned in disgrace after revelations about his multiple brazen abuses, including using the agency as his personal concierge service and piggy bank.</p><p>Pruitt's deputy, Andrew Wheeler, a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andrew-wheeler-acting-epa-administrator-former-number-two-before-scott-pruitt-resignation/" target="_blank">former coal industry lobbyist</a> and longtime Republican Washington insider, took over and has continued Trump's deregulatory agenda apace.</p><p>At the Department of Interior (DOI), a sprawling agency that oversees 75 percent of the country's public federal lands and includes the U.S. Geological Survey, which is tasked with evaluating natural hazards that threaten life and the health of our ecosystems, Trump installed another flamboyant anti-environmentalist to head the agency. Like Pruitt, Trump's first Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke aggressively attacked environmental regulations, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/07/epa-dismisses-half-of-its-scientific-advisers-on-key-board-citing-clean-break-with-obama-administration/" target="_blank">ditched more than 200 advisory panels</a>, and pushed to open up vast swaths of public land to oil and gas drilling. Described by one environmental group as "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/interior-secretary-zinke-resigns-amid-investigations/2018/12/15/481f9104-0077-11e9-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the most anti-conservation Interior secretary in our nation's history</a>," Zinke was forced out after numerous highly publicized conflict-of-interest scandals.</p><p>The DOI is now run by Zinke's deputy secretary, David Bernhardt, another longtime Republican Washington insider and former oil industry lobbyist who has also been the subject of <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/this-is-still-happening-david-bernhardt-trump-lincoln.html" target="_blank">several government ethics complaints</a> for various violations favoring polluting industries.</p><p>More recently, longtime climate change denier David Legates, a climatologist at the University of Delaware previously <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19032015/u-delaware-refuses-disclose-funding-sources-its-climate-contrarian" target="_blank">funded by fossil fuel interests</a>, was hired for a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/12/912301325/longtime-climate-science-denier-hired-at-noaa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">top job</a> advancing weather modeling and prediction at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Legates has called for <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/18/noaa_david_legates_climate_crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">increasing carbon emissions</a>.</p><p>The Trump administration has done much more than stack government agencies with fossil fuel industry proponents. It has removed or diluted discussion of climate change from as many government platforms as it can and decimated independent scientific advisory boards that provide unbiased, fact-based information the government needs to enact policies that protect the public. It has also <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/482352-trump-budget-slashes-funding-for-epa-environmental-programs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slashed environmental agency staffing and budgets</a>.</p>The Damage So Far
<p>A September 17 <a href="https://rhg.com/research/the-rollback-of-us-climate-policy/" target="_blank">report</a> by the Rhodium Group calculates that 1.8 billion tons more greenhouse gases will be released over the next 15 years as a result of climate change rollbacks the Trump administration has achieved so far. These include repealing Obama's main climate policy, the Clean Power Plan, which was intended to reduce dirty emissions from power plants; increasing pollution from cars by rolling back fuel economy standards and challenging California's longtime authority to set stricter emissions standards; targeting controls on hydrofluorocarbons, powerful greenhouse gases used mainly in refrigerators and air conditioners that also destroy the Earth's protective ozone layer; and allowing unreported and unregulated emissions of methane, another potent greenhouse gas, by oil and gas companies.</p><p>Besides these measures, Trump is also trying to gut core environmental statutes like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, all of which were enacted to protect human health and preserve a livable world.</p><p>The Paris agreement aims to keep the rise in average global temperatures at less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and hopefully cap it at 1.5 degrees C or lower. We are now at approximately 1.2 degrees C and counting.</p>From Your Site Articles
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President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 04, 2020 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson / Getty Images
By Jan Ellen Spiegel
It wasn't so long ago that the issue of climate change was poised to play a huge – possibly even a decisive – role in the 2020 election, especially in the race for control of the U.S. Senate. Many people supporting Democratic candidates saw a possible Democratic majority as a hedge against a potential Trump re-election … a way to plug the firehose spray of more than 100 environmental regulation rollbacks and new anti-climate initiatives by the administration over its first term.
<p>Then came COVID-19.</p><p>Now coupled with the singular issue of "Trump" and recently compounded by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, these matters may be sucking the air out of the room for 2020 election issues. So with weeks to go, will climate change manage to play any kind of specific role in the most competitive Senate races where policy details once upon a time counted?</p><p>The answer is – no, yes, maybe.</p><p>"Climate change does not seem to be a big issue in the key Senate races," says Kyle Kondik, via email. He is managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "Even the weather disasters of this summer – hurricanes and fires – are not necessarily easy to connect to climate change for voters."</p><p>A Pew Research Center <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/23/two-thirds-of-americans-think-government-should-do-more-on-climate/" target="_blank">survey</a> of registered voters from late June through early August had climate change second from last among a dozen issues voters considered very important. That was actually 10 percentage points lower than a similar survey had found before the 2016 election.</p><p>A Quinnipiac University <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/south-carolina/release-detail?ReleaseID=3673" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">poll</a> of likely voters in the Maine, South Carolina, and Kentucky U.S. Senate races released September 16, two days before Ginsburg's death, showed climate change in single digits among the most important issue for voters. It was last or next to last in each of those state's Senate races.</p><blockquote>Climate change 'clearly a motivator' for some potential voters, with 'power to move swing voters.'<br></blockquote><p>That finding was underscored in a <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3674" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">national presidential poll</a> by Quinnipiac released September 23 in which climate change was next-to-last at 6% among likely voters as the most important issue.</p><p>So it would seem all the little details and nuances of each candidate's climate and environmental positions in the roughly 10 most competitive Senate races … nope, those really don't matter right now. But let's be clear – they DID matter, especially in a few Democratic primaries, most notably Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey's win over challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III, in which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) support for Markey got him a lot of cred with climate activists.</p><p>And it's clear from surveys that people absolutely do care about climate change broadly. So there are those who think the issue of climate change could be a motivating force for select groups that in past elections have been either less than reliable voters or more persuadable voters. Their participation, some feel, could help push a few candidates over the top even given the "You're-either-with-Trump-or-against-Trump" mentality of the elections.</p>
Potential Climate Voters
<p>In a September 1 memo on climate and the election, Andrew Baumann, vice president of the consultants Global Strategy Group, wrote: "Few issues have seen as dramatic a shift in public opinion as climate change has over the last few years. Only marriage equality and the recent shift in views around racial justice outpace the rapid growth in the salience of climate change as an issue."</p><p>Calling it a "winning political issue" the memo says: "First, it is clearly a motivator for both younger and Latinx voters. Second, it has the power to move swing voters, particularly center-right white women."</p><p>Baumann points to a finding that when a group of such women were asked generic ballot questions, Democrats trailed by nine percentage points. But when the question was revised as a choice between:</p><p>"A Democrat who supports taking strong government action to combat climate change.<br>A Republican who opposes taking strong government action to combat climate change."</p><p>… the result was a 29 percentage point shift, putting Democrats ahead by 20 percentage points among that same group.</p><p>"I think it is playing a role," says Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, a longtime outspoken climate activist who is on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and also on the Senate Democrats' Special Committee on the Climate Crisis. If Democrats win back the Senate, he stands to play an even more pivotal climate role as part of the majority. He is not up for re-election this year.</p><p><span></span>"I think from the Democratic side it's playing a role in generating enthusiasm – particularly making younger voters feel that they have a real stake in this election. On the Republican side, I think things have moved enough that candidates can no longer get away with simply scoffing about climate change."</p>Climate a Top Concern for Youths, Latinx
<p>So who's still thinking climate? Mostly young voters – 18 to 25 or 29 and Latinx voters.</p><p>Climate and the environment are the top concern among young voters, just above racism and healthcare according to <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/poll-young-people-believe-they-can-lead-change-unprecedented-election-cycle" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CIRCLE</a>, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, which focuses on the political life of young people in the U.S. For Latinx youth, it drops a bit but remains in the top three.</p><p>The issues young people care about have an impact on how they volunteer their time, says Kristian Lundberg, an associate researcher at CIRCLE. He says that's played out most notably through the Sunrise Movement, which focuses on climate change and the environment along with other key activist groups such as Black Lives Matter and March for Our Lives.</p><p>He points to polling this summer that showed that 83% of 18-to-29-year-olds felt they had the power to change things. "Young people feel much more empowerment than in 2016 and 2018," Lundberg says. "It's intentional these movements are carving out space for young people. It's an important strategy."</p><p>In positions of power in these organizations, young people have developed peer-to-peer outreach on activism. And Lundberg says young people have made the leap that connects activism to voting as a lever for change. "In the past in very close races, young people breaking heavily have provided the margin of victory," he says.</p><p>CIRCLE is highlighting 10 U.S. Senate races as ones in which young voters can be decisive. Several of them have notable climate or environmental components – most prominently the Colorado and Montana races.</p><p>The Republican incumbents in each state – Cory Gardner in Colorado and Steve Daines in Montana – are running against a popular Democratic governor – John Hickenlooper in Colorado, now out of office — and Steve Bullock, still the governor of Montana. Both governors have had to balance their state's fossil fuel economic interests with supporting climate change solutions.</p><p>The Trump administration has given both GOP Senate incumbents some environmental gifts – the Great American Outdoors Act and establishment of an EPA Office of Mountains, Deserts and Plains in Colorado designed to help with cleanup of abandoned mines in both states. (There's some question of whether that can be done without congressional approval.)</p><p>While both moves are more about land use than climate change, they give the two vulnerable Republican senators a bone to throw to their sizable outdoors enthusiast constituencies.</p><p>"Bullock has been no climate champion by any means," says Emily LaShelle, a volunteer with Sunrise in Bozeman. But she's out there working to get him elected anyway.</p><p>She believes if Bullock were to make a hard pivot to go all-in on climate, "young people would really turn out."</p><p>The Trump administration has also thrown a gift to endangered Republican senators and swing states in the Southeast – a ban on offshore drilling from Florida through North Carolina; the latter state was added after the original ban through South Carolina was announced.</p><p>All those states had opposed offshore oil and gas drilling, which the Trump administration has advocated. Florida and North Carolina are considered presidential swing states and incumbent Republican senators in North and South Carolina and Georgia are facing hard-fought races. So there's clearly some recognition that climate activists could make a difference.</p>
Tying Climate Change to the Economy
<p>In August, Data for Progress, a progressive research think tank, released polling on climate change – including in the battleground Senate elections in Arizona, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina – showing voters back a Senate candidate supporting strong climate action.</p><blockquote>Climate change as 'mobilizing issue … key persuasion issue.'<br></blockquote><p>It also showed that linking climate change to the economy may be key. That means talking about clean energy and jobs together, says Danielle Deiseroth, climate data analyst for <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/poll-young-people-believe-they-can-lead-change-unprecedented-election-cycle" target="_blank">Data for Progress</a>. She says that in addition to jobs, climate change issues include climate justice and economic equality – both of heightened interest because of fallout from western wildfires.</p><p>"Climate change, we've observed over the last year or so, is a key mobilizing issue and a key persuasion issue," she says. "Climate issues can only grow support for Democratic candidates.</p><p>"I think it's pretty naive to say climate is the key issue for voters. For a lot of voters it really exemplifies so many things that are wrong with the Trump presidency," Deiseroth says.</p><p>So a factor among others. Helpful, but pivotal only in narrow circumstances.</p><p>At the League of Conservations Voters, a progressive environmentalist organization putting a lot of money and effort into the 2020 races, Senior Director of Political Affairs Craig Auster says: "I'll push back that climate change doesn't matter or isn't registering."</p><p>"It's still showing up in several Senate races. It's been playing a role in almost all of them."</p><p>Candidates are still talking about it, he says, pointing to Colorado, Montana, Iowa, and other states where ads are addressing climate and environmental issues. That shows the candidates believe their opponent is vulnerable on the issue or they're strong on it, he says.</p><p>Like others, Auster calls climate a motivator.</p><p>"Climate change matters," he says. "We have proof point after proof point about what's happening, whether it's a hurricane, a superstorm, derechos in Iowa, or wildfires out west.</p><p>"Pre-COVID it was top tier for Democratic voters along with healthcare. If COVID didn't happen I think climate would be a big deal."</p>From Your Site Articles
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Smoke from the Glass Fire rises from the hills on September 27, 2020 in Calistoga, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Just days after a new report detailed the "unequivocal and pervasive role" climate change plays in the increased frequency and intensity of wildfires, new fires burned 10,000 acres on Sunday as a "dome" of hot, dry air over Northern California created ideal fire conditions over the weekend.
<p>In Napa County, the <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/MVsnnZz8yLxW6P5d-B4dc0qsW8LzBkh4gwXy7N9cd5Jc3p_b1V1-WJV7CgWgFVy0qkd5XbdwLW5rt4gV4w-xTxV-h4Sg7DzJBzW5VDwxQ3l7DhlVCBttb6m7nxWW8h_xDy6FQdyWN1MjKcdcmhpSW2PLWml7pwBvcW1F6-cJ2tvc7YVLFDBf6T5bxTW23C4-w3v4S8DN8Q-7gX1b8vjW7qpRrH4rKWlkW30JwJZ855nXJW19qdGb16-Nl-W3j2wJ85gX-N5W23Yjdj2WwgVkW1jYthC6rq58qW84KgzL4s_BFqN1gy5rt_sw_1W6SFvpr79sx-dW8BvcQr56DrDjW4QJnYK7VYJQqW3pXL934WSgQ_VkF-F63ZtxGzW3LYfZW47SGGpW8QTrvx7qv7wjW6fxRYj96cjcGW42NZpM87shmPW6_T2nL6KbSm_2jj1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Glass Fire</a> burned more than 2,500 acres, forcing at least 2,000 residents and a hospital to evacuate and threatening about 2,200 structures. </p><p>The fire tore through vineyards and jumped two rivers Sunday evening and was zero percent contained as of late Sunday night. </p><p>"It's a cremation," Craig Battuello, whose family has raised grapes in St. Helena for more than a century, told KPIX.</p>
<p>As of Monday morning, the Shady and Boysen Fires, burning near the Sonoma-Napa county line were believed to be spot fires from the Glass Fire. </p><p>Further north, the <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/MVsnnZz8yLxW6P5d-B4dc0qsW8LzBkh4gwXy7N9cd5Jc3p_b1V1-WJV7CgCKFW50rbql5Kh3Q5N2KHP3P2ScQpW1P-1sG1C8V06W2CLx6N7GgT9BW8qGKpg2vggG-N8vd4vHfRgblW8zkwnS7lVrSGVcvmJ783gfdwW6jC5L78V29r2W2c49zy50gjRHW1ZlstL5wlHn9W6XZmDT55sqxNVCbwwc7xFcL0W6_mQlr1b_tzxN15BHn-N0nvsW6xCrys8JvpZRN2yl4Z979WpGW9jcx4F5zKNh_W4fwqXR5CcvncW4RDx9Z3wWt60N10kQLMKP46nW2JkYKK1j91VMW8928mj2dj6KdW7KgRGL7GLxJyW7yzmXm8dT1KxW8ZDR5K92wwwvW7W69vt7mSF4TW2BvFh62rGtxHW2Mr1r98ZFby7W98zv6k3y1t0n2jH1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zogg Fire</a> had burned 7,000 acres as of Sunday evening. </p><p>Electricity will be shut off for 65,000 Northern California customers in 16 counties to prevent the spread of the fires.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p>Increased frequency and intensity: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54278988?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8qp2mUDhBu291ydfwMMiNGyBDHagoosg_k0IqcpI7CtDhXLM4ZmHgVGa2PRKbaxWoLM6t_MPwLlThcOqkbF70YlOx1D3YHNqvErsDeqFeQuAoxwfg&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">BBC</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2020/09/25/stories/1063714657?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9sDZNbxU236xY4m-Wo12Sv03RABQinScs_T_bXj4OydAg0HafEAxz-H2tjZKojcYTytgAwY8kgfctp1KmPD3T51QSw1yqzM2Lj9nwXcoZ5f1nJLS4&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">E&E</a>; Weekend conditions: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/09/27/california-wildfires-winds-heat/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--eGMrt1syferudaktlGVVKMEY0GtRdCEFE9kh0KVmGUeUqMyFxCIQ0uuU2lQiOoEr4QLg9SDVH3DRcvNTzOD1qgp5_WGz9BcjX4N6GuTxUYJeS0iY&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/25/california-heatwave-temperatures-wildfires?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-852YwT7VEURpg5t5xAoR9oxVViLPVsN2P0wwSp11Y3ArzCpfgKhMttNcRhmr_ZAomIiv3yOhYRU9x44rztsRiJh1QWy3JUwMnn5w_RhEaPG7mkePg&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Hot-temperatures-high-fire-danger-and-slightly-15599419.php?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_deidYKtyzBYgRzfz2uTLKmxXv7ayQ9lx4prpYBmk0kLTr7XmVEO45lydcOhKT74ojRRHrUShZFsnjD4TQoNdt38iAOjvFlvIkNgg1flRtlzrqUkw&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle</a>; Fires: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/28/us/california-wildfires-zogg-fire-glass-fire-monday/index.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_6pqkRWXQh8abROXh8Hd8JX9gf5cB1_tgZjEct1oPBJU-OrfFF6Q8f60lOTKo-GU2tzseTSf9Kv0RNIhWzEacsX3m07IuEMen-BjYaTXskOaX9vMk&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNN</a>, <a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/09/28/wildfire-erupts-near-st-helena-evacuations-underway-in-neighborhoods-near-silverado-trail/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8mQ894hiDyvTPS1n2NPmnSWmEw4Lq7lWXD4R9cqHT4X8F9PuphlEQ31smYpTnEAm9eJ1U4o02_809pVEuttvmBz9a4J9bK1xqiiT0eCKP6tAb7aQk&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KPIX</a>, <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/calistoga-st-helena-deer-park-wildfire-evacuations-15600692.php?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9F4-Wab7eZREhnULDmGIV0k9x_NThFQU5_MSquHuNaZDkQ7bRH6a4Yu-qDDXa55xAVioefHg3tLRHunHs43IHEeaKIrF1QvA6KBmbV5pgy7QjydDY&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">San Francisco Gate</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires0st-helena-wine-country-napa-county-today-2020-09-28/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9P0BbBx9nYT3T_1W-lOffDYHQEjYmkZbDQQIibib1tKlKDaqb51l8wXnA6X5XEXFXkzvfGhFT2z79GUksHfelxxg4MVYL0bPHMOlCY5A65LlPsFHc&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CBS</a>, <a href="https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/early-morning-napa-county-fire-grows-to-800-acres/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9Exio8Ld8lxE0RHLM1p_BgKjdAw9k32hG2HsVJiYGLt3RNPgtSKhF03njhfHjzZlgD9DRwXqHzr10D8ESwuVg7A9wh0Rp9bPno6hjxvZ3wuXPRzPo&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Press Democrat</a>, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/Wildfire-breaks-out-near-St-Helena-in-Napa-15600677.php?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-99w-thHE2aSzf_q6Xk1dgS6yrogihar09euhVC0DLPcYKVgtV0q10OqQhPZWSfU4T404sedEO8ONHYXClq4HmIwj3L2Qe3_8lbm7JIt2LVUjLJxCc&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle</a>, <a href="https://abc7news.com/wildfires-trigger-new-evacuation-orders-in-napa-county/6619307/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC-7 KGO News</a>, <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/27/fire-breaks-out-in-napa-as-forecasters-predict-hot-smoky-week/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-91dr7E9vqo3PKR-X9I3GwmK5scJrwMwNSrP6keEdMz9OtJtMplme2bHxd5_ifedEYGRxjWBUN_ENqITOVBN2pUdFobXvQHWm5LUisYU0sJcru9b4Q&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mercury News</a>, <a href="https://krcrtv.com/news/local/fire-breaks-out-in-igo?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_YUqKikCN8aIADKO_iTe_OqXWKrw5UUYBNuwNHJX914J9zo_nLfPjCd-7DlhquzwJJgLe53hGZYorAMbJ5AOb1Rdx0xVYXjwwjj12TjjjHrZSqmSs&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KRCR</a>, <a href="https://sfist.com/2020/09/27/napa-county-glass-fire-grows-to-over-800-acres-more-evacuations-underway-structures-burned-as-blaze-continues-ballooning/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9ltVJVENifXl3oUfL35FYoQ3V3kLoZchjPypQecv1NlGERt1mMFbUPlwXdxHLOeAV8faIokxuwaY3ytvFDyz795UAyxF-uYAMOrgf-OfhGLD196vg&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SFist</a>, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/California-blazes-exploding-New-evacuations-from-15602171.php?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9dkNr9eCqgGEvxi7dOEa1aCUevyW70sAoQecnkS5HXDhUnLD7j22Q0CbtWWj-QIZOAHcVir2IcolKHa58GHN4jLhEp03DjMLML6hxI0-aY6EQnV3w&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">San Francisco Chronicle</a>, <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2020-09-27-california-napa-county-glass-fire-impacts-evacuations?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9dHhWSMpBzxlxna9RotW7frfqtFg37auwCIa7aomquA5T0AocvkVfG4cXDC46SDmnLmRY5H4DZleZFT5J6o5pqaqGxhrrOfvJpMSabN5m_8ToB39A&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Weather Channel</a>; Climate signals background: <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-change-wildfires?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9zQsXAgonNscvqMBp2K5xbAheSFH5-kQT_5wAP3h2PJMHU4BrnyEMk0rDW8Y7i6GEy__b9ICr4Wq88tNUf6Y10Q4t9gWyCHDhIjx7tiiHjVdBBP8A&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wildfires</a>, <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/events/western-wildfire-season-2020?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=96174415&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_jlihPzlQ5DGWbcnHKcnMuMmAZLm2WudQwftKMhR4ey5l8X06_xMSJqNkdNBq4nj6SMP1pr2rIH_4BDtVYCZ5dB2V6pRZ_Ka6CMg6qOQFA0koy2Z8&utm_content=96174415&utm_source=hs_email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2020 Western wildfire season</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>. </em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A crowd of climate activists march behind a banner in NYC during Climate Week on September 20, 2020. Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images
After decades on the political periphery, the climate movement is entering the mainstream in 2020, with young leaders at the fore. The Sunrise Movement now includes more than 400 local groups educating and advocating for political action on climate change. Countless students around the world have clearly communicated what's at stake for their futures, notably Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who just finished her yearlong school strike for climate. Youth activists have been praised for their flexible, big-picture thinking and ability to harness social media to deliver political wins, as Sunrise recently did for U.S. Sen. Ed Markey's primary campaign. They necessarily challenge the status quo.
<p>"Every social movement in the U.S. that has been successful has always had strong youth and students out there leading the charge—and in most cases, leading the charge more aggressively and demanding actions over and beyond the general population," says Robert Bullard, a professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University. That's certainly true for climate, with youth demanding a radical transition away from fossil fuels on decidedly tighter timelines than their predecessors have advocated for. Pressure from youth such as Varshini Prakash, the co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, led Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to endorse a bolder <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/890814007/biden-outlines-2-trillion-climate-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$2 trillion climate platform</a> over the course of the campaign.</p><p>Sena Wazer, co-director of Sunrise Connecticut, describes how her work is often viewed by older activists: "The main response that I think many of us get from older folks is, 'Well, you're so inspirational and give me hope,' which is nice, but it ends up getting really frustrating, because we're not here to give you hope, you know? We're here to get something done."</p><p>Bullard says it's critical that we, as a society, allow youth's energy and optimism bubble to the top, and to empower young people to assume the leadership they're seeking. Having written more than a dozen books on environmental justice, he considers himself an elder in the movement. In contrast, Bullard calls young people "the tip of the spear," and says it's absolutely critical to have them out there "pushing hard for transformative change."</p>
A Convergence of Issues
<p>The unequal impacts of a changing climate have become extremely clear in 2020, so equity has come to the fore of climate conversations in every corner of the country. A global deadly pandemic continues to rage out of control in the U.S., heat waves are setting new temperature records, wildfires are scorching American Western states, and the hurricane season has already made it to the end of the alphabet for naming storms. In all cases, low-income, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities are bearing a disproportionate amount of the impacts.</p><p>"Today, the scab is off, the ugly reality of injustice is hitting us up close and personal, made more realistic by this COVID pandemic," Bullard says.</p><p>This year the decidedly youthful focus on intersectionality is a big part of what defines the transformation of the climate movement. Climate is not just an environmental issue, according to youth activists. It's also a racial justice issue, an economic issue, and an access-to-health care issue.</p><p>"Environmental justice is really seeing the intersection of these issues," says Alex Rodriguez, a community organizer with the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, which aims to make environmental issues a priority for the state's elected leaders. The group is now focusing their efforts on the coming election and recently succeeded in persuading the state to allow absentee voting in November. "We want people to be safe when casting their vote," says Rodriguez, 26, whose fellow grassroots committee members range from age 16 to 60.</p><p>Rodriguez, who also serves on the equity and environmental justice working group for the Governor's Council on Climate Change, says, "We see our programmatic work as a way to help lawmakers see what they can do to improve the dignity of those suffering from environmental racism, systematic racism, and economic oppression."</p><p>Seeing the overlap and bringing these issues together is a strength that Bullard says was missing from the civil rights organizing he was involved with in the 1960s. He says 2020 is unique in many ways.</p><p>"The number of marchers is unprecedented, from different economic, ethnic, and racial groups—an awakening unlike any that I've seen on this Earth in over 70 years," Bullard says. "Today, the different movements are converging, and I think that convergence makes for greater potential for success."</p>Young and Old
<p>But young people are one essential demographic among many when it comes to climate action. With all that's on the line for climate in the coming elections, up and down the ballot, collaboration becomes key. Bullard says previous generations of climate activists can now play the critical role of mentoring, assisting, and supporting. Standing with, not in front of, youth.</p><p>"Youth are leading us and taking on frontline activity," says Jayce Chiblow, the community engagement lead for Indigenous Climate Action, a Canadian organization that works for Indigenous-led climate justice solutions. But in doing so, she says many young Indigenous activists are experiencing the trauma of violence, getting arrested, and being taken away from their land. "All of our older people are supporting those youth: Elders, mentors, people trained in nonviolent action," Chiblow says. "The youth aren't alone."</p><p>That support can go a long way. "There's a lot of anger and a lot of fear, and that's understandable," says Wazer of Sunrise Connecticut. "I definitely feel those things, too, just considering the ways that our future has been threatened and kind of trashed by older generations."</p><p>Under the Trump administration, the number of environmental rollbacks alone can be disheartening, not to mention new <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/video/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge/" target="_blank">drilling permits in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge going up for auction</a>.</p><p>Wazer is frank about the risks of burnout, depression, and anxiety from the stress of it all, but draws inspiration from the example of the late U.S. representative and lifelong civil rights activist John Lewis. "That forgiveness and that ability to keep fighting and stay motivated … I think that that is something really powerful to learn from older generations."</p><p>An intergenerational approach can leverage the individual strengths of youth and older people in all their diversity.</p><p>"The elders hold our stories," says Chiblow, who is Anishinaabe from Garden River First Nation, Ontario. Those stories include lived experiences, culture, history, and generations of adapting to changes in climate. Such collective experience continues to inform Indigenous knowledge and connections to the land, as well as how people manage and govern themselves in relation to it. This knowledge is passed on through relationship-building and storytelling.</p><p>"Every time you hear that story, you're at a different point in your life, and you'll pick up something else … something new," Chiblow says.</p><p>Changes in perspectives that come with time and experience are among the reasons why intergenerational learning and coalitions are critical to the climate movement. To combine that living and learning is to expand the reach and meaning of the message exponentially. As part of her research for her master's degree, Chiblow brought together youth, community leaders, and knowledge keepers in her community to workshop climate action. "Those relationships are vital to keep that movement going," Chiblow says.</p><p>The value of intergenerational relationships resonates far beyond Indigenous cultures, too. Rick Lent, a member of Elders Climate Action in Massachusetts, says he is motivated to act for his granddaughter. He recounts the time she said to him, "Please tell me that there is something hopeful regarding the climate in our, in the future, because I'm going to be living with the repercussions, and I'm scared."</p><p>Lent takes that request seriously and says that working on behalf of future generations translates into effective messaging. "When you show up as a group of elders, and you're talking to your legislator, our pitch is, 'I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for my grandchildren.' So it gives you a whole different story about who you are and why you're doing this work."</p><p>Elders Climate Action has <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/H832" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">campaigned to pass a decarbonization plan</a> in the Massachusetts legislature, which would set a net-zero emissions goal for 2050 and codify environmental justice in state law. With the November elections fast approaching, the group's focus is now on assuring everybody can vote safely. In some states, the group's chapters are pushing for voter registration and in others, ensuring people can vote by mail.</p><p>"We're going to be in a pandemic in this year's elections," Lent says, which poses risks to people's health, especially that of older voters. And because most poll workers, traditionally, have been seniors, Elders Climate Action is also encouraging youth to take up that mantle. "We need vote-by-mail," Lent says, "And we need more poll workers, younger poll workers."</p>
The Unique Value Proposition of Elders
<p>Older activists bring unique strengths to the table, according to gerontologist Mick Smyer, who designs strategies to move people from anxiety to action on climate. He calls himself "the aging whisperer to climate groups" and "the climate whisperer to aging groups." He is quick to point out that the learning can go in both directions.</p><p>"I think older adults are untapped resources," Smyer says. "Older adults bring several resources, one of which is their circles of influence. Just by virtue of having lived longer, older adults are going to have denser and richer networks," Smyer says. "The second is, when it comes to voting and civic engagement, older adults, as an age group, outperform all other age groups."</p><p>He uses the 2016 presidential election to illustrate his point: "The older age groups, 70% of them voted. Nobody [else] came close." He is cautious about making sweeping statements about older people broadly, but he says that ageism is alive and well. And that can deter the kind of collaboration that would beget necessary progress on climate action.</p><p>As the twin global patterns of an aging population and a changing climate continue arm in arm, Smyer says a good place for starting this work is within one's family.</p><p>"We each have that power to use in our circles of influence, particularly in our families, and we don't realize it," Smyer says. Whether it's via Zoom or FaceTime or a phone call or a chat in the living room, Smyer says, family members have a superpower: They will listen to each other, and they'll at least start the conversation.</p><p> "Intergenerational collaboration around climate issues, particularly in this election season, starts at home, and then goes to the polling booth," he says.</p>Speaking the Same Language
<p>As an individual's network of family, friends, and connections becomes wider and more diverse, the more work will need to be done to have them all working toward the same goals. That is equally true for the climate movement at large.</p><p>In bridging the gaps among baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials, Bullard says, "Each generation will have some idiosyncrasy and uniqueness about it that another generation will not understand or comprehend."</p><p>If everybody in a group or institution is similar, then there's no need to explain a lot, Bullard says. There's usually a fair amount of shared knowledge and values. But the more diverse that group gets, in age, race, gender, or culture, he says, the greater the potential for making mistakes, stepping on people's culture, and causing pain. But the potential for learning also increases exponentially.</p><p>Chiblow says successful collaboration comes down to being able to speak in shared concepts. The term "justice," for example, is an English word that's hard to translate into the Anishinaabe language. Chiblow says that because her community sees itself as belonging to the land, and being part of the land, the Anishinaabe worldview, and therefore their understanding of justice, is necessarily more holistic than the mainstream.</p><p>"Indigenous people have been feeling [the effects of climate change] for so long," Chiblow says. Today, as wildfires rage across the West, the mantra of "I can't breathe" is being driven home on a grand scale. For better and worse, climate justice is finally a front-page story.</p><p>"It's affecting the broader society," Chiblow says. "We're finally at the turning point where we could start to make real change because … people are really starting to feel that urgency."</p><p>The urgency will be tantamount in the coming election. A lot is at stake, says Chiblow: "Incentives, funding, all-around agreement, and also the way we're able to manage our lands and ourselves as people."</p><p>Bullard, too, is insistent on urgency. "This election is one of the most important elections of a generation, because there's so many things at stake," he says. "We can't wait another 40 years on climate. We don't have that much time. We don't have 40 years to get justice."</p><p>Issues of climate justice will be on the ballot in state and local elections this fall, such as Nevada's proposed renewable energy standards and Louisiana's proposed disaster funding. And the topic has finally made it onto the national stage. Joe Biden called Trump a "climate arsonist" for not acting on or even admitting that the wildfires in California are clearly climate-related. The frequency and intensity of such disasters is indisputable.</p><p>"Hurricanes don't swerve to avoid red states or blue states. Wildfires don't skip towns that voted a certain way," Biden <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-address-west-coast-fires-confront-growing-threat/story?id=73000218" target="_blank">said in a speech on Sept. 14</a>. "The impacts of climate change don't pick and choose. That's because it's not a partisan phenomenon."</p><p>In many ways, the results of the upcoming elections will reflect the ways youth activists and older activists are able come to a common understanding of what climate justice means and what they want the future world to look like. </p><p>"There's a lot of knowledge built up in experience, and there's a lot of energy that's stored in young people," Bullard says. "When you put those two together, you have … an excellent recipe for potential success."</p>From Your Site Articles
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A meteorologist monitors weather in NOAA's Center for Weather and Climate Prediction on July 2, 2013 in Riverdale, Maryland. Mark Wilson / Getty Images
The Trump White House is now set to appoint two climate deniers to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in one month.
<p>First, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/david-legates-noaa-2647660690.html" target="_self">David Legates</a>, a University of Delaware professor who has questioned the scientific consensus that human activity drives the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> and has argued carbon dioxide emissions are actually beneficial, was named deputy assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation. Now, the Trump administration is in the process of appointing meteorologist Ryan Maue to serve as the agency's chief scientist, two NOAA officials confirmed to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/09/21/noaa-chief-scientist-maue/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Washington Post Monday</a>. Maue, who runs the site <a href="http://weathermodels.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">weathermodels.com</a>, does accept that the burning of greenhouse gases is impacting the global climate. However, he has spoken out against worst-case-scenario climate predictions and criticized activists for using <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events to argue for reducing the burning of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>.</p>
<p>"For the second time this month, a person who misrepresents, distorts, and disagrees with climate science is being placed in a science position at NOAA," professor <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/katharine-hayhoe-climate-change-2550366098.html" target="_self">Katharine Hayhoe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KHayhoe/status/1308235952381362178" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a> in response to the news.</p><p>Maue previously served as an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank that questioned mainstream climate science, The Washington Post pointed out. He co-wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal challenging the climate predictions of NASA scientist James Hansen, which have been supported by peer-reviewed studies. Most recently, he has lashed out against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his supporters for linking the climate crisis to the state's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wildfires-california-washington-oregon-photos-2647585008.html" target="_self">record-breaking wildfire season</a>.</p><p>"Seems the Democrats have coordinated their efforts to use the devastating California fires as an opportunity to score political points in the upcoming election by blaming them solely on climate change (and Trump)," he wrote in a deleted tweet recovered by The Washington Post.</p>
<p>However, a number of studies have shown that changes to the climate are making the state's fires more frequent and more intense.</p><p>As chief scientist, Maue would influence NOAA's research agenda for oceanic and atmospheric science, as well as its scientific integrity policy. He still has to pass ethics and security reviews, but would not require Senate confirmation.</p><p>Other scientists questioned whether Maue had the credentials for the role.</p><p>"Normally, when people are chosen for high-profile positions relating to climate change, I've heard of them. I have no idea who this person is, other than I've seen him saying things about climate that are wrong on social media and in op-eds. I suspect that he has the one and only necessary qualification for the job: a willingness to advance the agenda of climate deniers," Texas A&M climate scientist Andrew Dessler <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewDessler/status/1308241184234631168" target="_blank">tweeted</a> in reaction to Maue's likely appointment. "To me, this emphasizes how thin the climate deniers' bench is. I'm sure they'd prefer to have someone with actual credentials take the job, but this shows that credentialized experts who dispute mainstream climate science simply don't exist."</p>
<p>Maue told <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/climate-science-critic-be-chief-scientist-key-us-climate-research-agency" target="_blank">E&E News</a> he believes in "lukewarming."</p><p>"Lukewarming is not climate denial," Maue said. "Most of us on this side of the issue believe in lower climate sensitivity. We don't believe there's going to be 5° of warming; we figure it's at the lower end of 1.5°."</p><p>However, most scientists think the world could hit 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels within the next two decades and then continue to heat up.</p>
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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg protests in front of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on September 25, 2020. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty Images
By Ruby Russell and Ajit Niranjan
Hamstrung by coronavirus lockdowns, frustrated school strikers have spent months staging digital protests against world leaders failing to act urgently on climate change.
<p>Today they are <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-global-climate-strikers-take-on-inactive-leaders/a-55039689" target="_blank">taking to the streets once more</a>.</p><p>The Fridays for Futures movement, which started with activist Greta Thunberg skipping school to sit alone outside the Swedish Parliament in 2018, has become a global youth force calling for climate justice. But a surge in support last year was hobbled after coronavirus lockdowns closed schools and kept children at home. </p><p>The protest on Friday is the group's first global action since the pandemic struck and follows meetings between prominent activists and world leaders. Last month, Thunberg and three other climate activists presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel with <a href="https://climateemergencyeu.org/#letter" target="_blank">a letter signed by nearly 125,000 people</a> demanding EU leaders "stop pretending that we can solve the climate and ecological crisis without treating it as a crisis."</p>
<p>They have called for an immediate halt to investments and subsidies in fossil fuels and, in Germany, pressured the government to bring forward its deadline to phase out coal from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-approves-coal-phaseout-by-2038/a-54040605" target="_blank">2038 to 2030</a>, and to go carbon-neutral by 2035 instead of 2050.</p><p>Line Niedeggen, a physics student at the University of Heidelberg and Fridays for Future spokesperson, believes Germany has a responsibility to lead on climate action. Historically it has been one of the world's <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-emissions-paris-agreement/a-55044341" target="_blank">biggest carbon emitters</a>, she says, is also rich enough to adopt cleaner energy systems, and last month it adopted presidency of the EU Council.</p><p>"We have to use this role as the leader of one of the biggest emitters in the world to start a change of direction because, scientifically, 2020 is the last year we can make changes to actually reach 1.5 degrees," Niedeggen told DW. </p>
Pandemic Stalls Protests
<p>Last November, the head of the UN Environment Program was among the public and scientific figures to warn that 2020 offered a last chance to cut emissions. Then, few could have suspected this deadline would coincide with an unprecedented public health emergency.</p><p>The pandemic has <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/tough-times-ahead-for-climate-protesters-during-corona-pandemic/a-52978469" target="_blank">dealt climate activism a blow</a>. Niedeggen says that as a movement demanding that the world act on scientific advice, the school strikers took lockdown restrictions extremely seriously, halted public protests immediately and took their activism online.</p><p>On April 24, Fridays for Future organized a "digital strike," with Niedeggen hosting a that racked up close to a quarter of a million views. "We were not physically standing together, but we were all fighting together," she says.</p><p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-strikers-get-inventive-during-the-covid-19-crisis-fridays-for-future/a-53229262" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Activists also gathered thousands of placards</a> from across Germany to lay out in front of the German Bundestag around the central slogan: "Fight every crisis."</p><p>Still, corona inevitably pushed <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/life-after-coronavirus-we-can-shape-a-totally-different-world/a-53496208" target="_blank">climate change down the agenda</a>, and according to a poll conducted by Postbank only 6% of German 16 to 18-year-olds joined an online strike, compared to nearly a third who had been to a physical Fridays for Future protest.</p><p>Elsewhere in the world, the shift to online activism may have been even more damaging.</p><p>Fatou Jeng, a climate activist from Gambia, says that in Africa, school strikes are anyway less effective than they are in Europe, although they have inspired other action. Her own activism has mainly focused on conservation work, planting trees to protect vulnerable coastlines, and educating communities about climate change. </p><p>Most of these activities have had to stop as a result of COVID-19, and while Gambian activists have continued to use digital means to pressure those in power, "the provincial areas which are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change don't really have access to the internet," Jeng told DW.</p>
Opportunity for a New Normal
<p>Last September's Global Climate Strike drew young and old protestors around the world, with organizers estimating a global turnout of 7.6 million, including an estimated 270,000 people in Berlin. Activists have adjusted this year's event to account for social distancing and different levels of coronavirus restrictions in cities taking part.</p><p>They say COVID-19 also presents opportunities.</p><p>"The pandemic shows that we can change our normal daily life, and we are very able to adjust to a situation of crisis," she says. The key question is how economies get back on their feet: "We have the possibility to build a new normal, to build a renewable world order, and an environmentally just, climate-just normal for everybody."</p><p>In July, Jeng was among 20 female Fridays for Future activists from the Global South to sign an open letter to G20 finance ministers warning that their decisions in "exclusive backrooms" over stimulus packages and corporate bailouts would "lock in development pathways for decades."</p><p>"The system is not broken, it was built to be unjust. We don't need recovery, we need a reboot," the letter reads, stressing that "black people, indigenous peoples and people of color," have been disproportionately hit by the economic, climate and coronavirus crises. </p>Policy 'Not Quite There Yet'
<p>Figures on stimulus spending do not suggest their words had much impact. The ministers were criticized for failing to relieve the debt of poorer countries, and according to <a href="https://www.energypolicytracker.org/region/g20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Energy Policy Tracker</a>, G20 countries by August had pledged $169 billion (142 billion euros) to fossil fuels since the beginning of the pandemic.</p><p>Katrin Uba, associate professor of political science at Uppsala University in Sweden, is researching Fridays for Future. She says that despite the movement raising awareness and gaining access to policymakers, real policy change "is not there yet."</p><p>Still, she stresses that social movements go through waves of mobilization as public attention on their core issues ebbs and flows. And perhaps one of Fridays for Future's biggest achievements is birthing a politically active generation that will keep the fight up long after corona becomes a memory. </p><p>"We know clearly from our research that many of the people who came to the streets hadn't done any protesting before in their lives," she told DW. "And we also know that if you do one protest, you are likely to do more."</p>From Your Site Articles
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This fall brings three new environmental movies. David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet | Official Trailer
This week marks the official start of fall, but longer nights and colder days can make it harder to spend time outdoors. Luckily, there are several inspiring environmental films that can be streamed at home.
1. Kiss the Ground
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ccc5f0c92a5603e68aec39e56b0db02a"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3-V1j-zMZw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p><strong>Streaming On: Netflix</strong></p><p><strong>Premiere Date: Sept. 22</strong></p><p>Between <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wildfires-california-washington-oregon-photos-2647585008.html" target="_self">wildfires devastating the U.S. West Coast</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tropical-storm-beta-landfall-2647760268.html" target="_self">storms battering the Gulf</a>, the impacts of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> can feel overwhelming right now. <em><a href="https://kissthegroundmovie.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kiss the Ground</a> </em>offers an alternative to all of the bad news by focusing on solutions.</p><p>The film, directed by Josh and Rebecca Tickell and narrated by Woody Harrelson, explains how we can heal the Earth through "regenerative agriculture," farming practices that draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and into soil as a way to restore soil health, which in turn boosts ecosystems and food supplies.</p><p>"<em>Kiss the Ground </em>shows how feasible it is to make these changes at a grassroots level immediately and make a truly substantive impact with low cost and easy to implement solutions," Executive Producer RJ Jain said in an email. "This is why I got involved."</p>2. Public Trust: The Fight for America's Public Lands
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5338f7a2931e356910026e5fd76fac56"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jsKMTAaj_wQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p><strong>Streaming On: YouTube</strong></p><p><strong>Premiere Date: Sept. 25</strong></p><p>This <a href="https://www.patagonia.com/films/public-trust/" target="_blank">award-winning documentary</a> tells the stories of Indigenous activists, journalists, whistleblowers and historians working to protect America's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a>. The film focuses on three political struggles: the shrinking of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bears-ears" target="_self">Bears Ears</a> National Monument in Utah, the mining of Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota and the opening of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Arctic-National-Wildlife-Refuge" target="_self">Arctic National Wildlife Refuge</a> to fossil fuel exploration.</p><p><em>Public Trust</em> was directed by David Garrett Byars and produced by Jeremy Rubingh. Patagonia Films, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and actor Robert Redford are executive producers. It will be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjnIG7puzY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">released</a> on YouTube in time for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-public-lands-day-2640656776.html" target="_self">National Public Lands Day</a>.</p><p>"Our country is fortunate to have millions of acres of public lands, including National Parks, Monuments, Wildlife Refuges and Wilderness set aside for future generations," Redford said. "Sadly, these lands that belong to you and me are under unprecedented threats from the greed of big corporations, eager to weaken restrictions in the pursuit of profits. Many of our current politicians are also to blame. <em>Public Trust</em> tells the story of citizens who are fighting back. It's a much-needed wake-up call for all of us who want to preserve our unique and wild cultural heritage."<br><br>It will be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjnIG7puzY" target="_blank">released</a> on YouTube at 2 p.m. EDT Friday in time for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-public-lands-day-2640656776.html" target="_self">National Public Lands Day</a>.<br></p>3. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="156438a30836a765d7a92982545fc334"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B_OFZvAd05Y?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p><strong>Streaming On: Netflix</strong></p><p><strong>Premiere Date: Oct. 4</strong></p><p>Beloved nature broadcaster <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/David-Attenborough" target="_self">David Attenborough</a> has spent his career introducing viewers to the wonders of our planet. In recent years, his footage of albatrosses swallowing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> in <em>Blue Planet II</em> has been credited with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/2018-fighting-plastic-waste-2624606566.html" target="_self">helping to ramp up</a> the global fight against plastic pollution. Now, in this <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a> (WWF)-produced <a href="https://www.attenborough.film/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">documentary</a>, he reflects on the defining moments of his career and the devastating changes he has witnessed.</p><p><em>David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet,</em> which was also produced by Silverback Films and directed by Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey, features an intimate conversation between Attenborough and Sir Michael Palin as the broadcaster reflects on his life and a career that took him to every continent on Earth. In addition to streaming on Netflix, the movie will be available in select theaters starting Sept. 28.</p><p>"For decades, David has brought the natural world to the homes of audiences worldwide, but there has never been a more significant moment for him to share his own story and reflections," WWF executive producer Colin Butfield said in a <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/david-attenborough-life-our-planet" target="_blank">statement</a>. "This film coincides with a monumental year for environmental action as world leaders make critical decisions on nature and climate. It sends a powerful message from the most inspiring and celebrated naturalist of our time."</p>From Your Site Articles
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