September 2019 was going to be a good month for climate politics. CNN organized a Climate Crisis town hall with 2020 Democratic candidates. Climate strikes and Greta Thunberg’s appearance on the US political stage invigorated climate discussions. Greta was on the front page of major newspapers. Her testimony in the US Congress and the 495-word speech at the UN were covered extensively by various TV networks, even the ones who employed uncivil language towards her. Greta was news. Climate change was news.
And then ... Ukraine happened
Without getting into the merits of the impeachment inquiry, environmentalists will find that media coverage has dramatically shifted away from climate change. With impeachment hearings, Ukraine will monopolize media attention.
If the House votes to impeach President Trump, the Senate will hold its hearings. Senate Republicans will investigate every possible business dealing of Hunter Biden and maybe even the Clinton Foundation. In all probability, Democrats will not gather the requisite number of Senate votes to convict President Trump. Eventually, the impeachment inquiry will not only affect the Democratic primaries but also become the issue for the November 2020 elections.
Goodbye climate bipartisanship
One could argue that the impeachment inquiry will be good for climate politics because it will help elect a pro-climate President in 2020. However, the Senate control might still remain with Republicans. Even if Democrats take control, they may not get support for climate legislation from Red State Democratic Senators. The bottom line is that a Democrat in the White House will not be able to pass aggressive climate legislation without bipartisan support in the Senate.
This is why many want climate politics to become bipartisan. Indeed, a spark of cooperation across the aisle seemed to have emerged on issues such as the carbon tax and electric vehicles tax credit. Many Republicans now accept climate change although they offer different policy solutions to tackle it. Impeachment will accentuate partisan conflict. This will spill over into post-2020 era and climate bipartisanship will be collateral damage.
Environmentalists need new political strategies
Environmentalists need to figure out how to make climate great again with the media. One might argue that after a couple of weeks of Congressional hearings, the “impeachment fatigue” will set in and climate issues will bounce back. But here again, media might turn to the economy (recession?), immigration or gun violence as opposed to climate change.
Another IPCC report will not change the discourse. Even dramatic events, such as hurricanes and forest fires, will not suffice to change public opinion as some research suggests.
Environmentalists probably need to think of new ways to grab media attention. Celebrations around the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day could provide an important opportunity. These activities should include not only national-level events but mass-mobilization in “swing” states. After all, this is where 2020 Presidential candidates (trailed by media) will be spending much of their time. Major Earth Day events in Seattle, New York or San Francisco will probably not change the media discourse. But such mobilization in key cities of swing states such as Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Columbus, Vegas, Jacksonville, Denver, and Albuquerque could focus media attention on climate issues.
High-tech workers are mobilized, could the financial sector come next?
Climate change requires support from blue-collar workers, especially in the rust-belt. But the recent Amazon’s Climate pledge reveals the political clout of workers in the high-tech industry. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are also facing such demands from their employees. This pressure needs to be kept up.
Amazon’s pledge has an important symbolic significance because it shows that successful companies are taking the lead on climate change. Could this mobilization extend to other sectors as well, especially the financial industry? Imagine employees of Citigroup, JP MorganChase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other financial conglomerates demanding climate leadership from their companies. What if they were to organize a Wall Street Climate Strike on Earth Day? This would make news and put pressure on companies to tackle climate change more aggressively.
Climate change competes with other pressing social, economic, and political problems (and there are plenty of them) for media attention. The reality is that climate did not figure among the top issues in the 2016 Presidential elections or the 2018 Congressional elections. According to the 2016 CNN exit polls, the “most important issues facing the country” were: economy (52%), terrorism (18%), foreign policy (13%), and immigration (13%). The 2018 CNN exit polls reported that the “most important issues facing the country” were: healthcare (41%), immigration (23%), economy (22%), and gun control (10%).
The impeachment inquiry further erodes the policy salience of climate change. The challenge now is to ensure that climate action remains a leading item on the national political agenda.
