A Brief History of the Democrat's Climate Awakening

There are clear signs that climate change has emerged as a central issue for Democrats going into the 2020 presidential elections. This is the first election cycle in American history where climate change will be a front and center issue, at least for the Democrats. President Obama deserves credit for leading Democrats in the fight for climate action. While his legacy of climate action is laudable it is being systematically dismantled by the Trump administration. This is in part why the current slate of Democratic candidates are making the climate crisis a central plank of their presidential campaigns. The Dems' focus on climate action has been more than a decade in the making. Here is a brief review of the long and winding road that has led us to the present moment.

Ten Climate Proposals from the Leading Democratic Presidential Candidates

For the first time ever, all of the leading Democratic presidential candidates agree that climate change is a high priority issue that demands urgent action. They all released climate proposals ahead of the historic climate town halls on September 4th.

There is a great deal of agreement between the leading Democratic contenders. They all want to reverse Trump's actions and rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. They all support zero-emissions, carbon-neutral electricity, the electrification of transportation and ending federal fossil fuel subsidies.

The candidates also share a common focus on socioeconomic disparities. They want to address inequality through climate action that assists vulnerable people in minority and other disadvantaged communities. They all offer varying degrees of support for the Green New Deal.

Top 10 Democratic Presidential Contenders Participate in Climate Town Halls

On September 4th, Democratic presidential contenders made history with their participation in back-to-back climate focused town halls in New York City. For seven hours, one after another, the ten Democrats vying for the party's presidential nomination spoke on the subject of the climate crisis. All ten of these candidates have put forth climate plans and this represents a historic shift for the party and the country. They all agree about the veracity of anthropogenic climate change and the need for consorted action. This is in stark contrast to the current president and most GOP legislators, who equivocate about the veracity or deny it outright.

Governments are Acting to Curb the Fires in the Amazon

Governments are responding to the planetary threat posed by the fires in the Amazon. There has been a 79 percent increase in fires in 2019 compared to the same period last year. These fires are a threat to air, water, and wildlife. The Amazon generates one fifth of the world's oxygen and it is the single largest reservoir of fresh water and biodiversity on Earth. The Amazon also regulates climate including heat and precipitation. The ongoing degradation of this region could trigger tipping points from which we will not be able to recover.

The Earth's Lungs are Burning and Bolsanaro is to Blame

Wildfires have raged all around the world in 2019 but nowhere is the situation more serious than in the record breaking Amazon fires. There have been almost 80,000 fires in the Amazon this year, more than 30,000 in recent weeks and almost 10,000 since the middle of August. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, or INPET reports that there have been 74,155 fires in the Amazon in 2019. The massive plumes of smoke from these fires stretch for 1.2 million square miles, cutting across the entire continent of South America and extending out into the South Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon is composed of 2.12 square miles of rainforest that spans Columbia and Peru as well as other countries. However, the majority of the Amazon is located in Brazil.