Sources on the Climate Crisis

Climate change is, short of nuclear war, the single most important security threat we face. Increasing heat in our atmosphere and oceans, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels and methane leakage, is driving more severe weather, affecting our food security and negatively affecting GDP and damaging infrastructure. Across the planet, the areas where humans can live are shrinking and that’s driving migration, which leads to conflict.

This administration is bent upon rolling back the progress we made under Biden, by attacking the Inflation Reduction Act and other climate change action, leaving people less informed, therefore less safe. A lot of this is driven by the fossil fuel industry, who sees climate action as a threat to their profits. The GOP historically has fallen in with the disinformation campaigns of the oil barons and now we have a population that’s either skeptical of climate change or in outright denial. We now have a denier in the White House, and a fossil fuel baron (Chris Wright) at the Department of Energy.

The solution to this crisis is for us to decarbonize the world economy: to transition to carbon-free power and transportation as fast as we can. As I mentioned, Trump, his party and the fossil fuel industry are working to take us backwards, all the while treating people as expendable.

As Democrats, we need to do better in communicating climate to the voters we talk to. With that in mind, I’m linking folks to some sources I stay close to in order to stay informed on the climate crisis and the energy transition. I’m encouraging folks to spend some time delving into them and sharing them with others, so they can know what the Trump administration is taking away from all of us.

• Pew Research Center: How Americans View Climate Change and Policies Meant to Address the Issue
• Dave Roberts’ VOLTS Podcast: First-rate interviews of people on the front lines of the energy transition. I often link people in office to these.
• Mike Murphy’s EV Politics Project: Mike is a Republican strategist who likes electric vehicles and is working against their being polarized.
• Inside Climate News: First-rate reporting on the climate crisis
• Canary Media: Affiliated with the energy research group, RMI (formerly Rocky Mountain Institute), they also provide excellent reporting on the energy transition.
• Climate One: Interviews on all aspects of the climate crisis.

There’s a lot more out there, and I encourage folks to do their own digging. Trump and his allies are doing everything they can to take everything away from us, including our health and a livable planet. If anyone has any questions on anything I’ve submitted here, please feel free to reach out via email.

Thanks.

Tim