In the US, we are being told repeatedly that the 2024 Presidential election is razor close. I can’t square this fact with the stark differences between the two candidates – Harris and Trump – on so many issues, and on an issue that I am well versed in and care deeply about. The Trump camp, in so many instances, outright denies the climate crisis or outside of outright denial, makes the case that nothing we can do, can change what is happening. They propose, through their Project 2025, getting rid of most federal agencies that work on climate change, including FEMA and NOAA. These two agencies help us with the impacts of climate disasters – both by better understanding our natural world, monitoring storms and weather coming our way, and supporting us after a climate disaster. Privatizing pretty much all government services seems to be the Republican answer to everything these days . This reality means no safety nets. Weather and climate information, health care access, reliable healthy foods, public education, affordable prescriptions – access so many things we have come to expect – will be radically changed.
A democratic future and the last best chance to stave off the worst impacts of our climate crisis are on the line in this election – at least for me, that is how substantial this election feels. So many of the things I believe and hope for, for my children and their future, feel like they are hanging by a thread. Am I overreacting? I wish I was. Sadly, the hateful rhetoric coming from the Trump campaign and Trump himself – the downplaying of the realities of the climate crisis and what can be done to address it – are on full display, almost every day and each day seems to be worse than the next.
I grew up in Canada, moved to the USA for work, fall in love, had two children and become an American citizen in 2007. Voting on issues I care about, taking my children to the voting booth when they were young, discussing issues that were being decided at the ballot box with them now, as young adults, is a big part of what being a good parent means for me. Barack Obama was the first president I voted for. I have voted every year since, in every election – local, state and national. For me, the right to vote and to live in a democracy has been ingrained in me by my parents –whose parents came to Canada as refugees fleeing pogroms in Europe at the turn of the 20th Century. Our rights to vote and to live in a democracy must not be taken for granted.
The connections between our climate crisis and so many of the rights I perceive as fundamental has taken time for me to absorb and to connect the dots. I now understand that equality and equity, public education, accessible and quality health care, access to healthy food and clean water, voting rights, marriage, racial and gender equality all rely on and can only be effective, with a healthy planet. Our species, we human beings, have the singular capability to disrupt our planet’s ability to maintain her health and balance. Too often these connections are hidden down media rabbit holes fed by algorithms that we didn’t ask for nor understand. We are all dealing with these consequences and more – deep fakes, bots, boldface lies – reality itself seems to be on the ballot – yet it stays opaque, behind a veil. We are facing multiple crises – interconnected and urgent – yet too many of us have our eyes wide shut or have reality hidden from us with intent and purpose – and sometimes it feels safer to stay in this space then trying to finding our way back to the surface and reality.
I am a mother first, foremost and forever. I am also an educator, policy analyst, economist, author and activist. As a mother, I feel deep sadness that my children’s future and now is being threatened by these entwined emergencies. As an economist and policy analyst, I also see and feel hope – the transition to a climate aware future is here. Our option to elect an enlightened climate concerned President who already, through the IRA, has taken significant action on climate, is within sight. Yet votes cast in a handful of states in a few short days may forever keep this critical transition out of our reach. As someone who has written about, taught and acted on the climate crisis for decades, I sometimes feel I’m blowing at windmills, as people listen and then seem to shut out the harsh realities’ scientists tell us are here now and waiting just around the corner. Extreme weather events are our everyday lived experience, with floods, fire and hurricane impacts numbing us all. We have a clear choice before us. From my vantage point so many other things we are concerned about – immigration which will only get worse as desperate people flee their own climate disasters seeking refuge in the USA; the economy, our right and ability to choose what happens to our own bodies, all become worse if we don’t address the climate crisis, and it’s causes.
I could write a book on this – indeed I have – but in this limited space what I want to convey most, is that time is not on our side. Our planet is showing us, in no uncertain terms, that we are running out of time. Protest votes, third party candidates, not voting, can’t erase the ever-present dangers that electing the MAGA party will put into play. If we don’t have a government in power who understands our climate realities, who doesn’t appreciate the interconnectedness of our actions and our impact on nature – who isn’t ready to speak hard truths and move quickly, then we have little hope of changing the crash course we are on. We are racing to the edge of the cliff, our children are watching, their future and now in our hands. Please, please join me and vote for #HarrisWalz2024, with all our children in your mind’s eye.
Harriet Shugarman is the author of “How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change, Turning Angst into Action” and a professor of climate change policy, science and world sustainability.
