40% of young voters want climate action

Friend, colleague, and all-around awesome person Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson  is my guest editor this week! A marine biologist by training, Ayana founded the Urban Ocean Lab , a think tank envisioning the future of coastal cities in a warming world.

Ayana is a renaissance woman: in addition to being a scientist who’s in love with coral reefs, she’s also a climate activist, policy expert, podcast host, and communicator who’s laser-focused on the climate solutions that will bring about the best possible future for all. 

A few years ago, Ayana co-edited the best-selling anthology of women’s voices on climate change, All We Can Save (including yours truly) and today, her important new book, What If We Get it Right? Visions of Climate Futures, is being released. 

I’ve already read this latest book and, trust me, you do not want to miss it. It is packed with insightful conversations with informed and creative people, all envisioning what the world could look like if, as the title says, we get it right. 

Take it away, Ayana!  

GOOD NEWS

Some 40 percent of young U.S. voters across political affiliations say they will only support a candidate who prioritizes climate action, according to new polling data conducted by Beacon Research on behalf of the nonpartisan Environmental Voter Project in the battleground U.S. states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. This is real stop-lighting-my-future-on-fire energy from these 18-to 34-year olds. Watch this news clip to hear Nathaniel Stinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project , explain these latest data.

Up and down the ballot, from president to city council, this U.S. election is a climate election and a real inflection point. The politicians we elect will determine how quickly and how justly we transition to a clean energy economy. More climate voters leads to stronger climate policy, as politicians shape their platforms to win votes. Young people are again leading the way. 

👋 Katharine here: Youth all over the world share this concern about climate change, and with a record number of national elections happening this year (64 in total, around the world!) I expect this to translate globally. A study published in The Lancet in 2021 found that 70 percent of 16- to 25-year-olds in ten countries said they were “extremely worried” or “very worried” about climate change.

NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS

Over 8 million environmental voters sat out the 2020 election in the United States. That’s people who were already registered to vote and already count climate as their top issue (no convincing needed), but who did not show up to cast their ballots. The environmental movement has a turnout problem. 

“There are tens of millions of dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists out there who just aren’t voting,” Nathaniel Stinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, told Bloomberg.  

Stinnett's organization, where I am delighted to serve on the advisory board, is working to get out those votes by knocking on doors, making calls, and putting out ads and mailers. For more, you can watch Stinnett's TED Talk here. 

👋 Katharine here: A thermometer isn’t red or blue, liberal or conservative, and certainly not Democrat or Republican. It doesn't give you a different answer depending on how you vote. The science is clear: climate is changing, humans are responsible, the risks are serious and we must act now. Climate voters are needed all over the planet!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

If you live in the United States, the most important thing we can do in the next two months is vote for candidates who get it on climate, and volunteer with organizations like Environmental Voter Project and Lead Locally (which supports local climate candidates) to encourage other climate-concerned Americans to go to the polls this November. 

More generally, if you are looking for ways to help solve the climate crisis, I have a worksheet for that! Click here to find a printable version of my Climate Action Venn Diagram. There are three interlinking circles to help you think through how you’re best suited to help. 1) What are you good at? 2) What work needs doing? and 3) What brings you joy? Where those three circles overlap is a climate action you should take!

Thank you, Ayana, for editing this newsletter! I love her “circles” that help us focus on where each of us can most effectively use our abilities, skills, talents and interests to make a difference in the world. As I often say, we can’t do this alone – but we absolutely can do it together.

Where can you learn more? Follow Ayana on Instagram and TikTok. Follow Urban Ocean Lab on Instagram and X. Subscribe to Ayana's new Substack newsletter here and check out her book What If We Get It Right? on sale Tuesday, September 17th.

Did you miss our other recent guest-edited newsletters? In August, Sherri Goodman discussed how the U.S. military handles climate threats while in July, Lew Blaustein from EcoAthletes got us up to date on green sports. Coming up in October, Commissioner Brigid Shea from Travis County, TX will discuss the essential role local government plays in fighting climate change.