Climate Emergency:
"A new CNN poll conducted by research firm SSRS shows that 96% of registered Democrats list climate change as a very or somewhat important issue when evaluating potential presidential candidates. If the 2018 midterm election was about health care, 2020 may hinge on what candidates intend to do about the fact that the Earth is warming to unsustainable levels: 82% of those polled saw it as a “very important” issue—by far the most important concern of all issues listed."dailykos
Climate Change Suddenly Matters in the 2020 Race.
Are the Candidates Ready?
The polls say this one really could be a climate election. A top climate thinker games out what it means for the candidates.
Bill McKibben
politico.
"The polls say this one really could be a climate election"
“For three decades in American politics, climate change has been the issue that wasn’t. Even as the temperature steadily rose, and evidence mounted that it was human behavior—and human policies—that were driving this change, candidates mostly deflected. And it wasn’t hard: During the 2016 general election, no journalist even asked the presidential candidates a debate question on the topic.
But that’s not the case this time. Climate change matters for Democratic voters: A Monmouth University poll last month showed the issue as the second most important to Iowa caucus-goers after health care, and a CNN national poll found that 82 percent of Democratic respondents said it’s “very important” that their party’s nominee for president supports taking “aggressive action” to slow the effects of climate change, the highest support among several items on the progressive wish list. Most of the candidates seem convinced it’s a key weakness for Trump, and the front-runners have all embraced the issue. (The latest to weigh in, Beto O’Rourke, chose climate as the subject of his first comprehensive policy plan: a $5 trillion proposal for clean-energy infrastructure.) The question is not whether the candidates are going to talk about global warming, but how.
As the race takes shape, two key questions are materializing: What do climate-motivated voters really want? And how is the issue likely to change the race?”www.politico.com/…
May 24th
Global Strike For the Climate
"Environmentalists are pushing for a presidential debate sometime during primary season that focuses exclusively on climate change. If they get it, expect a chance for some to prove their mastery of climate wonkery. (Inslee really does know the issue inside and out.)"
“When it comes to what activists are looking for, the most important thing is moving beyond symbolism to on-the-line commitments that can be cashed in after Inauguration Day. The group 350 Action, for which I serve as a board member, has the most comprehensive climate scorecard, tracking three key issues.
The first thing to watch as the race evolves is support for the Green New Deal—as an actual policy, not as a political slogan. Since the plan isn’t fully fleshed out, it’s hard to hold candidates completely accountable now, but the Sunrise Movement, the young people who launched the initiative, are holding 100 town halls across the country that began in April. Expect candidates to try to grab those crowds, and in the process commit themselves more fully to the emerging plan.
like all progressives, we’re terrified of another Trump term and worried just a tad about pushing too hard, about setting up the candidate for defeat by getting them too far out on a limb. It would all be easier if we hadn’t wasted the past 30 years, but that inaction has left us at a moment when physics demands enormous change. And so, in the end, we will push.
On a planet where the poles are rapidly melting, what choice do we have?”
politico.
Has the politics of climate change finally reached a tipping point?
John Vidal
People increasingly see the environmental crisis as a national priority. This is an opportunity for bold action from government
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Inslee Climate First on DK-
Even if you are supporting other candidates,
we can all help to support his message.
The most important issue of our lifetime:
He may not be able to win, but he is forcing the issue
to the table in 2020.
This is not a political issue, it's life or death.
Please help us to bring this to the forefront.
(Mission Statement):
Inspired by Governor Jay Inslee who prioritizes defeating climate change first and foremost, this group embraces his positive message that the same Americans who put humankind on the moon can defeat climate change and thrive while doing it. As the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, we accept the mantle of being the last generation who can defeat it.
dailykos.com
Also:
Inslee:Climate First
facebook.