Vote for the winners

When I was growing up, I was excited on Election Day. “Who’d you vote for?” I’d ask my dad. He always answered: “The winner.”

On primary election day, May 17, I’m voting for the winners too.

Who? Candidates who take climate change seriously. Why are they winners? Because they’re following the lead of our region’s citizens.

Ed Maibach, Director of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication, summarizes the climate crisis in 10 words: It’s real. It’s harmful. It’s us. Experts agree. There’s hope.

According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, most people in our congressional district agree. (I’m using the 2021 12th congressional district figures here; the 9th congressional district is also within a couple of percentage points.)

It’s real: 63 percent of us agree that global warming is happening, and 59% say it’s already affecting our weather. The scientific community agrees. The U.S. Global Change Research Program, a collaboration of 13 federal agencies, states in its Fourth National Climate Assessment: “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country.”

It’s harmful: Most folks in the district (56%) worry about global warming, with good reason. In 2021,200 medical journal editors co-signed a comment warning that “the greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1,5°C and to restore nature.”

It’s us: Half our fellow citizens (50%) agree that global warming is mostly human-caused, but about a third think it may be due to natural causes and 13% just are not sure.

Sadly, the link between human activity, especially our use of fossil fuels, and planet-warming is well-established. As NASA stated, “The current warming trend is of particular significance because it is unequivocally the result of human activity since the mid-20th century ...”

Experts agree: Many district residents (50%) know that most scientists think global warming is happening, but 30% think scientists are still debating. In fact, over 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is happening. This is a “gateway” fact: once people understand the strong scientific consensus, they change their views on the issue.

Imagine going to a doctor and finding out that 97% of doctors agree that your symptoms are associated with a specific illness. Would you consider that a lot of disagreement?

There’s hope: District residents strongly support policy initiatives to address the climate crisis: tax rebates for energy-efficient vehicles and solar panels (74%); funding for renewable energy source research (73%); regulating C02 as a pollutant (69%); requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax (62%); setting strict C02 limits on existing coal-fired power plants (59%); and requiring utilities to use renewable sources to produce 20% of their electricity (58%).

Our fellow citizens realize that it’s time for all of us to get involved. Seventy-two percent think schools should teach about global warming. Sixty-eight percent think corporations should do more to address global warming.

As for picking electoral winners, most people (58%) think Congress should do more to address global warming. Furthermore, 60% think that we citizens should also do more. But how?

We can start by doing homework to learn candidates’ views on the climate crisis. Rachel McDevitt of WITF recently provided a summary of the U.S. Senate candidates’ climate stances. Or check out the Sierra Club's candidate endorsements for the U.S. House of Representatives.

We can also get involved in making sure that our district citizens’ views are reflected at the polls. For example, Third Act has launched a climate- focused senior-to-senior voter registration drive, for reaching out to graduating high school seniors and encouraging them to vote.

Finally, we can break our climate silence habit. According to the Yale data, 30% of us discuss global warming with family and friends. On primary election day, we can talk with friends and family about the candidates’ climate stances: do they acknowledge the climate problems? Do they support policy initiatives with strong support within the district? Will they help our district prepare for the climate challenges ahead?

Then, when family members and friends ask who got your vote, you can say “The winners. The climate winners.”

■ Michael A. Smyer is the founder of Growing Greener and a member of the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the Climate Reality Project.

MICHAEL A. SMYER

Forward Thinking