Climate Changemakers launches “action roadmap” to support climate-focused policies and candidates up and down the ballot
There’s an undeniably festive, almost giddy, quality to the air since Vice President Kamala Harris’s late entrance into the presidential race and the announcement of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. As the flurry of “Kamala is brat” memes morphs into Walz as a Midwest Princess, it’s easy to get caught up in the optimism: could another Trump administration even be possible? In this atmosphere?
Rather than take this hopeful moment for granted, the climate movement is capitalizing on this positive energy. Three months is an eternity in elections-land, and a lot could still happen to turn the tide in either direction.
For climate advocates, the stakes couldn’t be higher. President Biden’s administration was the most ambitious on climate and clean energy in U.S. history, and the climate skeptics and obstructionists on the ticket have made it clear they’d work to undo Biden’s landmark climate law — the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The policies enacted so far are working, but they need time to do their job. Plus, they won’t be enough on their own — the U.S. needs increased climate ambition and more climate champions in government to get to net zero by 2050.
Meanwhile, Harris and Walz boast strong climate credentials, with Walz enacting one of the most ambitious clean electricity standards in the country as governor. And fortunately, there’s a lot that can be done to help win climate majorities in Congress and state legislatures.
Enter the new Climate Vote Hub, powered by Climate Changemakers, a one-stop shop for electing climate champions up and down the ballot. Whether you’re looking for a clear action plan, a full event calendar, playbooks that make it simple to take productive action in your own time, and/or a supportive, like-minded community of busy professionals, you’ll find it at the Climate Vote Hub.
In this all-hands-on-deck moment, we have the opportunity to pull friends, family and colleagues off the sidelines and help them participate
The atmosphere feels more hopeful for those of us who want to see Donald Trump defeated, but we must take care to avoid complacency. To support climate champions everywhere, we must do more than vote. A decisive win for the climate ticket will require solid voter turnout in the places where elections will be won or lost by slim margins.
To help, we can contact voters directly, concentrating our outreach efforts in swing states with high-stakes elections at multiple levels of government, from the Electoral College down to state legislatures. We can help register voters, knock on doors, make calls and write letters and postcards. The Climate Vote Hub connects climate-concerned volunteers with all of these opportunities.
Taking the “do more than vote” mentality to the next level, we can also tap our own networks through “relational organizing.” In this all-hands-on-deck moment, we have the opportunity to pull friends, family and colleagues off the sidelines and help them participate meaningfully in the ways that work best for them.
Your friend is considering sitting out the election? Focus on convincing her to vote and helping her register. Your dad has renewed hope and just bought a camo Walz baseball cap? Drop into an action event together or see if he’ll commit to writing 50 letters to voters before Election Day. You might even invite friends over for a “ballot reading” pizza party — the Climate Vote has a playbook for this, too.
The two-year period from 2021 to 2023 showed us what a difference it makes to have real climate champions in the White House and controlling majorities in both the House and Senate. The IRA has already catalyzed a boom in clean energy investment and domestic manufacturing and is only in its second year of implementation.
If policy agendas like the far right’s Project 2025 prevail, climate progress could suffer a multi-decade setback. We expect margins to be razor-thin in presidential swing states and competitive congressional districts, which means we have a real chance at tipping the scales in the climate’s favor. And the time to get to work is right now.
If you’re ready to do more than vote, visit the Climate Vote Hub and our events page, and sign up for a kickoff event the week of September 8th.
