Americans Want The Government To Act On Climate Change. What's The Hold-Up?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

As President Biden and other Democrats work to pass an omnibus budget bill, members of the party are at odds over the topline spending number, with figures ranging between $1.5 trillion to $3.5 trillion. Biden has said it’s likely the bill will end up in the $2 trillion range, which means progressives’ priorities will surely be shrunk, cut or reworked. Progressive lawmakers have signaled that they’re open to compromise, but some are warning that there’s at least one area they’ll refuse to give ground on: climate-related provisions.

Climate change could thus prove to be one of the main sticking points between progressives and centrists in the party. From the progressives’ point of view, the reconciliation bill appears to be the federal government’s best shot at tackling the rapidly escalating climate crisis in the near future. And New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that climate provisions are not something Congress can “kick down the line.” Meanwhile, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the key centrists needed to pass the bill who has already successfully blocked some of Biden’s priority items, has said that he opposes the current bill’s primary climate provision: paying utilities to switch to clean energy.

So where does the public stand on combating climate change? Even before recent devastating weather events, Americans have long said that the federal government wasn’t doing enough. And polls now suggest that public opinion is more on the side of progressives. But the big caveat here is how Americans prioritize action on climate change versus other issues.

Overall, a majority of Americans want action on climate. According to a newly released survey from Monmouth University, 60 percent of U.S. adults said that climate change was “very” or “extremely” important for the federal government to address. Furthermore, 56 percent of U.S. adults said climate change was a “very serious” problem — up from 41 percent in the same poll in December 2015. A recent study from Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of U.S. adults said they were worried about the personal impacts of climate change.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-government-to-act-on-climate-change-whats-the-hold-up/

[rickyhall]

1. The oil companies and their toadies from Trump to Manchin.

[blm]

2. Dem groups should put up full page ads in WV and Az newspapers

With polling information graphics.

Same on infrastructure bill and budget. A large majority of Americans, including Independents and Republicans AGREE with the need to fund these projects after 3 decades of neglect.

[Kaleva]

3. As it may be too late to "combat" climate change, folks need to prepare to adapt

And I don't see much evidence that many are doing so.

[hunter]

4. Thought experiment: Anyone here can disconnect from the electric grid and pour sand...

... into their car's engine. Then what?

People say all sorts of things about climate change but most are in some stage of denial.

The right wing still thinks we can burn a lot more fossil fuels without any danger to our civilization. The left wing doesn't yet realize renewable energy schemes in places like Germany, California, and Denmark have failed and further entrenched our long term dependence on natural gas.

Personally I think the human race has worked itself into a corner. There are so many humans we require high density energy sources to keep us all fed and comfortably sheltered. The only energy source capable of replacing fossil fuels entirely (which we MUST do) is nuclear power.

Fortunately nuclear power is a mature seventy year old technology. Even the worst accidents, Chernobyl and Fukushima, caused very little environmental damage in comparison to the daily horrors we are now experiencing as a direct consequence of our fossil fuel use.

The fundamental problem of our society is our economic system. This thing we now call "economic productivity" is a direct measure of the damage we our doing to the natural environment and our own human spirit. Most of us suffer jobs and lifestyles that are not making the world a better place.

The most horrible thing we learned from the accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima is that humans going about their ordinary daily lives are worse for the natural environment than fallout from a nuclear accident.

[NickB79]

5. We want action on climate, but don't want to be inconvenienced for it

For example, we can't rapidly switch to selling millions of hybrids and EV's while simultaneously keeping gas prices cheap. But everyone wants cheap gas.