In my last post, I tried to analyse conservatives and the reasons for why they subscribe to anti-environmental ideologies. However, it is important to realise that we cannot assume that the Democratic party is free from any criticism.
Since Clinton times, the Democrats have been giving attention to climate change issues, most notably by signing the Kyoto Protocol. For the past 2 elections, the left has seemed to have doubled down on environmental issues and advocacy for climate change, perhaps to contrast the Republicans more starkly or because they actually see the rising concern for it amongst the public. However, the efforts taken by Democratic leaders are still not sufficient in dealing with the current rate of destruction. In fact, no real change occurred in energy-related carbon emissions during Clinton or Obama’s administration(except his last year) and some statistics predict consumption of fossil fuels in America to increase through 2040. On top of that, Democratic administrations have not been particularly great at handling certain environmental crises, the Flint water crisis being a striking example during the Obama administration.
In my previous post, I briefly mentioned lobbyists and suggested that they may be a reason why conservative leaders do not pay much heed to climate change. For democratic leaders, the problem remains. Although we do not have democratic leaders coming out and outright rejecting climate change, there are many instances where they brush climate issues to the side. For instance, in 2019, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez refused to hold a presidential debate addressing climate change. It is said that this could be because of large sums contributed by the American Petroleum Institute for Democratic conventions. On top of that, then-senator Kamala Harris (now Vice-President) has accepted donations from oil industries and even Joe Biden has gotten donations from oil and gas providers.
Well, we can see that both sides have flaws when it comes to addressing climate issues. But to equate both sides and their advocacy for climate change would not be fair as well. There is merit in at least publicly accepting that climate change is an important issue. On top of that, the new administration has a promising plan that shows that they are taking this matter more and more seriously. However, I do think that no governance is free from criticism, wherever we are. As people, we need to choose who we support and what our priorities are wisely so that those in power can see what are the primary concerns of their citizens and take it into account when leading the country!
~Yalini
(Cover Photo: “Flint Water Crisis is ongoing” by hz536n/George Thomas is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
November 9, 2020 at 6:53 pm
This was a great read, Yalini! I always thought that it was only the Republicans who were the “bad guys” when it comes to issues about climate change due to their explicit denial of the issue…so thank you for this post!
The fact that huge oil companies, via lobbying and campaigns, are able to influence government decisions by a great deal, is scary. I hope that with the newly elected president, Joe Biden, the situation might improve with the promise to cut fossil fuel subsidies…
Do you think campaigns such as Fossil Free politics will ever prove to be successful, with governments so determined to please their backers?
Reference
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/23/joe-biden-transition-from-oil-industry-rowing-back
November 10, 2020 at 3:31 pm
Hey Divina!
I think that’s the million-dollar question! But I do think that an increased occurrence of natural disasters, like the forest fires in California, are showing politicians the seriousness of the issue and the potential danger it poses. You can see Biden’s response to the forest fires here! This is because they see how much these disasters can cost economically as well. But I do think in places that are not as directly impacted by climate catastrophes yet, there is negligence to these issues. With the more pressing Covid-19 issue at hand, environmental issues have taken a backseat, if they haven’t been sitting there already. I think as more countries take a step in being sustainable, other countries will follow suit as well but these are just my thoughts 🙂
~ Yalini
November 10, 2020 at 7:20 am
Hi Yalini,
Thanks for sharing about this. I was unaware of how dependant the Democratic party is on donations from the oil and gas industries as well. It’s almost as if the two parties are two sides of the same coin… Interestingly, I read online that Biden’s initial climate plan was not as promising, with the Sunrise Movement, a recently founded NGO, giving him the lowest rating out of all the Democratic Party candidates. This may have been what propelled his campaign to put more focus on tackling climate change. Hopefully, his administration will be able to follow through on this new plan and create some progress towards meeting the Paris Climate Agreement goals.
Cheers,
Jun Yu
November 10, 2020 at 5:46 pm
Hi Jun Yu!
I agree it seems like the 2 parties seem similar but as I do think that at least the democratic party and some of their leaders are willing to vocally talk about these issues. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are 2 prominent leaders who advocate a lot for environmental issues. You mentioned that Biden’s initial plan was weak, he actually picked up on it more during his individual campaign after the nomination. He has a task force set up together with Sanders, and it is chaired by AOC! He also supported the ‘Green New Deal’ a proposal by AOC and Senator Markey, which includes stringent regulations and is explained well here! I think this gives me hope that we can see some positive changes within the party in the future!
~ Yalini
November 10, 2020 at 8:06 am
Hi Yalini,
Very good post !
“As people, we need to choose who we support and what our priorities are wisely so that those in power can see what are the primary concerns of their citizens and take it into account when leading the country!”
This statement, IMO and with all due respect, ignores the reality that the main concerns of citizens may not be the most important factors in policy decisions. In fact, they may not matter at all. At least not in many countries.
Many people argue that the US electoral college system is undemocratic and that, in fact, it isn’t even supposed to be democratic. Add to that the phenomenon of voter suppression, corruption, etc, and what exactly about this leads you to believe that the govt has Americans’ best interests or even concerns at heart ?
Besides, most countries are not democracies. If political systems really were democratic (in the true sense), this would be a very different world, I’m thinking. And in saying that I acknowledge that my bias is highly supportive of democracy, which I view as vital to environmental and social justice. But hey. I could be wrong about that.
November 10, 2020 at 6:36 pm
Hello Dr Coleman!
I do agree that the reality is that those in power often do not consider the concerns of their citizens when passing policies. But I think any country that claims to be democratic should do that. And I think countries that may not practice democracy purely still give heed to the opinions of people if they are unanimous and strong enough (take India’s anti-r*pe laws as a result of protests or even the recent BLM protests that called for the arrest of the guilty police officers and some policy level changes, for example).
I have also heard about how the US electoral college is undemocratic, that it gives an unfair advantage to smaller states due to the all-or-none/winner-takes-all rule. But I still do believe in the power of voting. Keeping the point on the electoral college, Bernie Sanders actually backed up its abolishment. This shows that there are leaders who do have the best interest of all Americans at heart.
So I do agree that the leaders we currently have are not taking the concerns of the citizens seriously and the systems in place are quite broken. But this, in my opinion, makes it all the more important to pick who we support carefully in order to give them more leverage and get the outcome with the best potential. I hope my stand is clearer now!
~ Yalini