Next week, on November 5, the nation will come together for one of the most important days of the year: Election Day. As voters mail-in their ballots, flock to polling stations, and sit by their TVs anxiously awaiting election results, the fate of the next four years — and the future — hangs in the balance.
Election Day has had the country in a frenzy for over a year as politicians, the media, and voters scramble to understand what issues matter to the American people the most. For young people, one issue stands out starkly: climate change. According to a new study from the Lancet, more than 85% of youth aged 18-25 across party lines reported feeling concerned or distressed about climate change. As the world inches closer to a tipping point for climate, many see this election, and the next four years of policy that follow, to be instrumental to the future of climate action. “We’re a lot closer to a new level of climate crisis, depending on how this election goes. The way I think about climate is just feeling worse because what happens here also dictates what is going to happen for many, many years,” BAYCS Member Ryan Lo said.
photo courtesy of US Embassy
Proposition 4
For voters in California, a state that has long been at the forefront of climate action in America, Proposition 4 offers a chance to cement climate action into state policy. Prop 4, or the “Parks, Environment, Energy, and Water Bond Measure” allows the state to sell a $10 billion bond for climate activities and preserving natural resources, most of which would serve as loans and grants for local governments, non-profit organizations, indigenous tribes, and small business. The bond invests into eight broad categories of climate, including drought and flood, forest health, extreme heat, and agriculture.
The bill’s funds are mostly concentrated in the category of drought and flood, allotting roughly $3.8 billion to pay for activities to increase the amount and quality of water, cleaning polluted water, and repairing dams. Although the spending is allotted for a variety of purposes, at least 40% of the money is required to go towards projects that aid disadvantaged communities through grants. This includes funding community centers to protect people from extreme heat, adding greenspaces, renovating local parks, and grants for other environmental activities.
Although the bill will cost taxpayers $400 million for the next 40 years, many of the dozens of environmental justice groups, labor unions, and renewable energy companies that support the proposition say the money is sorely needed. The proposition comes after a $2.9 billion cut to climate programs issued earlier this year in an attempt to close the state’s deficit. “I feel like a broken record, but the cost of inaction is too great,” Mary Creasman, chief executive of California Environmental Voters, said. “There are real opportunities on the table to fund this transition, and California has globally relevant targets in place on emissions reductions and goals. ... And yet we are not going to meet those unless we fund the work. That is our biggest obstacle left in the state.”
Presidential Election
To many voters, the choice in presidential candidates is starkly different; whereas Vice President Kamala Harris has called climate change an “existential threat,” former President Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax.” In fact, as Vice President, Harris has long been a champion of climate action, casting the tie-breaking vote in the Inflation Reduction Act, one of the most landmark climate action laws passed by Congress to date. As a politician, she’s supported investing in clean energy, providing Americans with clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, and backed the Paris Agreement alongside President Biden. However, though Harris herself has denounced fracking in the past, her presidential campaign no longer supports a ban on fracking. The shift comes in an attempt to appeal to voters in Pennsylvania, a swing state where fracking is a major part of the economy and a dealbreaker issue to voters. Fracking, a drilling technique to extract natural gas and petroleum, has produced more than 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent- If the next administration fully realizes the US’s planned drilling projects, they are expected to release another 140 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, according to the Guardian.
On the other hand, Trump has largely strayed in the opposite direction, both in his time as President and as a Presidential Candidate. In 2017, as President, he withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. His current campaign has promised to increase oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and reverse climate friendly laws instituted by the Biden Administration. According to the Washington Post, Trump vowed to remove all current environmental regulations and prevent any new ones from passing in exchange for $1 billion from oil companies for his campaign. “He is in the pocket of big oil,” said Christina Polizzi, Deputy Managing Director of Climate Power. “He gave them $25 billion in tax breaks in his first term — and now it’s clear he is willing to do whatever big oil wants in a potential second term.”
How are youth feeling?
For the 41 million Gen-Z eligible to vote in the 2024 election and the millions more who can’t yet vote, climate change and the election’s role in it has become a top issue for voters and non-voters alike. According to a survey by Chalkbea,t more than half of teen respondents say they expect to feel the effects of election in their lives or their families’ lives, citing the impact on the economy, immigration, and abortion among other issues. The importance of the election on young people’s futures has turned into anxiety for many, especially in a landscape where more than half of youth in the US feel pessimistic about the future, according to the New York Times. This anxiety extends past young people too: a survey by the American Psychological Association found that the 2024 election has heightened stress in 7 out of 10 adults, regardless of political affiliation.
However, even as youth are feeling more anxious about the election, many have also realized that political engagement extends far beyond voting. Whether it's phone banking, volunteering as a poll voter, writing and calling representatives, or simply having conversations about politics, there are an endless amount of ways to make your voice heard and make an impact in one’s own community. “Our system is not really a system where youth can have a voice, and so that’s why I would say [you should] join organizations…because together, we’re more powerful than just one person, and [that] will make the biggest difference,” said BAYCS Co-Chair Aishani Garg.
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