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Harris Should Focus on Pleasing Young Voters, Not Donors and Centrists

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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

My eighteen-year-old summer students came to class early last week and drew coconuts on the board—a reference to one of several rapidly spreading Kamala Harris campaign memes. When the vice president’s campaign video dropped, there was more enthusiasm in my classroom than I’ve seen even for the release of a major rap album or anime. Early polls show young people support Harris over Trump by a staggering margin. Talk to Democratic voters almost anywhere, of any age, right now, and they’re glowing with optimism—maybe, for some, for the first time since Bernie won Nevada in 2020, or for others, since the early years of the Biden administration (remember that feeling when Trump was out of office and we were Building Back Better?). Some of it is simple relief: Biden was too frail and doddering to defeat Trump, struggling to complete sentences, while, at 59, Harris is—by the standards of our gerontocracy—relatively young and vigorous. She sounds great and looks sensational (I sent a photo of her in her pink suit to a dandyish friend who agreed, adding, “Poor Hillary was the victim of decades of bad tailoring”). A former prosecutor, her aggressive stance toward the felon on top of the ticket is, well, brat.But anti-Trump girl-boss feelings, while powerful, do not account entirely for the national giddiness surrounding Kamala Harris, especially on the part of the young. On Twitter, ironic but affectionate coconut memes mask an earnest hope that her policies might be more progressive than some of the centrists that party bosses might have preferred (a hope fueled by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram comments suggesting that the party’s donor class was hoping for someone more conservative than Harris). Many even regard Harris as more progressive than Biden. Republicans share this perception and have already begun attacking Harris on this basis. Some in the media are concluding from these right-wing attacks that Harris’s perceived progressiveness is a liability. But the reality is that Harris’s progressive commitments could help her, and the whole Democratic ticket –if she doesn’t run away from them. They could be critical to voter turnout, especially among young people, people of color and climate voters. The perception that Harris is progressive is not only motivating some voters, but also volunteers. Harris is already running as a far more passionate champion of abortion rights than Biden, which is clearly helping her. Although there isn’t much evidence one way or another on how Harris would approach the genocide in Gaza, many observers view her as more compassionate toward the Palestinians and more dovish overall than Biden. She has also supported Medicare for All in the past, a core commitment of the Bernie Sanders left. She may also be a better messenger than Biden for the most popular aspects of Biden’s pro-labor and family-friendly economic policies, including investments in infrastructure. Her perceived climate progressivism may be especially crucial. Her record here is decent. She has a record to point to. Not only did she back the Green New Deal in the Senate, but as California’s Attorney General, she prosecuted big fossil fuel companies: suing Chevron and ConocoPhillips, over hazardous waste, and gas station violations, respectively. Harris also joined local district attorneys in suing a pipeline operator for polluting about a hundred miles of California coastline. She even created a specific environmental justice unit at the AG’s office, one of the first in the nation.What’s worrisome—both to climate advocates and to anyone who would like to see her hold onto all this electorally favorable good will among the youth—is that when it comes to climate, Harris’s positions are rapidly shifting. She supported the green new deal in 2019, though she has since backed away from it. Last Friday, she also walked back her opposition to fracking, an issue about which Trump has been taunting her in Pennsylvania. The fracking pivot might be electorally necessary, but running too far from her past climate advocacy would be a huge political mistake, given the urgency of the climate crisis and its salience to less-committed voters (people who vote Democrat, but aren’t reliably motivated to vote). Harris should revive her Green New Deal commitment and talk concretely about what that means in 2024, now that the nation has seen some large-scale investment in green infrastructure under Biden. The perception that Harris is an environmental champion is part of why she is popular, polls suggest.Biden has been strong on climate compared to past presidents, but with the hottest summer on record, and wildfires raging, Harris needs to go further to win over the most passionate voters and volunteers. She should run on continuing Biden’s strong regulatory agenda and commitment to renewable energy and outdo that record with a commitment to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure (a huge weakness in the Biden administration, which allowed more new drilling than Trump did). For their part, the youthful climate movement has been forcefully rejecting the Republican ticket, while urging Harris to lean into her strong climate history, and not sell out to the industry. After protesting JD Vance – the VP nominee has close ties to the fossil fuel industry and has questioned the role of humans in climate change— Sunrise marched to the DNC headquarters this week with signs urging Harris to go big, with big banners encouraging her, “Harris: Fight for Young People.” The group previously sent Harris a letter, just three days after Biden dropped out, urging her to distance herself from Biden’s less-popular policies, especially the war in Gaza and the easy approval of fossil fuel projects. They’ve also encouraged her to invest in green infrastructure for public schools and affordable housing, end fossil subsidies, and expanding green jobs through the American Climate Corps. In their letter, Sunrise told Harris, “Young people are energized and ready to fight against fascism and for the future we all deserve. This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance.” Or, as the group put in more succinctly, retweeting Harris’s 2019 Green New Deal endorsement: “we would fall out of a coconut tree” to elect this version of Kamala Harris.The vice president is surely hearing a lot of advice right now, much of it from big donors who may be close to the fossil fuel lobbies and who, as members of the top one percent, tend to resist change no matter what. The future doesn’t have its own lobbyists and doesn’t write big checks, but its closest representatives are young voters, and the climate movement. In this close—and suddenly exciting—election, Kamala Harris and the rest of the Democrats ought to listen more to these emissaries of tomorrow. In urging Biden to drop out, and shifting to the ebullient and youthful Harris, the Democrats dispensed with tradition and ossified thinking, opting instead for common sense. That move has already been more successful than many expected, but only a strong, responsible platform can keep the momentum going. This is no time to let the soul-deadening donor-bound centrists and consultants kill the good vibes.

Talk to Democratic voters almost anywhere, of any age, right now, and they’re glowing with optimism—maybe, for some, for the first time since Bernie won Nevada in 2020, or for others, since the early years of the Biden administration (remember that feeling when Trump was out of office and we were Building Back Better?).

Some of it is simple relief: Biden was too frail and doddering to defeat Trump, struggling to complete sentences, while, at 59, Harris is—by the standards of our gerontocracy—relatively young and vigorous. She sounds great and looks sensational (I sent a photo of her in her pink suit to a dandyish friend who agreed, adding, “Poor Hillary was the victim of decades of bad tailoring”). A former prosecutor, her aggressive stance toward the felon on top of the ticket is, well, brat.

But anti-Trump girl-boss feelings, while powerful, do not account entirely for the national giddiness surrounding Kamala Harris, especially on the part of the young. On Twitter, ironic but affectionate coconut memes mask an earnest hope that her policies might be more progressive than some of the centrists that party bosses might have preferred (a hope fueled by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram comments suggesting that the party’s donor class was hoping for someone more conservative than Harris). Many even regard Harris as more progressive than Biden.

Republicans share this perception and have already begun attacking Harris on this basis. Some in the media are concluding from these right-wing attacks that Harris’s perceived progressiveness is a liability. But the reality is that Harris’s progressive commitments could help her, and the whole Democratic ticket –if she doesn’t run away from them. They could be critical to voter turnout, especially among young people, people of color and climate voters. The perception that Harris is progressive is not only motivating some voters, but also volunteers.

Harris is already running as a far more passionate champion of abortion rights than Biden, which is clearly helping her. Although there isn’t much evidence one way or another on how Harris would approach the genocide in Gaza, many observers view her as more compassionate toward the Palestinians and more dovish overall than Biden. She has also supported Medicare for All in the past, a core commitment of the Bernie Sanders left. She may also be a better messenger than Biden for the most popular aspects of Biden’s pro-labor and family-friendly economic policies, including investments in infrastructure.

Her perceived climate progressivism may be especially crucial. Her record here is decent. She has a record to point to. Not only did she back the Green New Deal in the Senate, but as California’s Attorney General, she prosecuted big fossil fuel companies: suing Chevron and ConocoPhillips, over hazardous waste, and gas station violations, respectively. Harris also joined local district attorneys in suing a pipeline operator for polluting about a hundred miles of California coastline. She even created a specific environmental justice unit at the AG’s office, one of the first in the nation.

What’s worrisome—both to climate advocates and to anyone who would like to see her hold onto all this electorally favorable good will among the youth—is that when it comes to climate, Harris’s positions are rapidly shifting. She supported the green new deal in 2019, though she has since backed away from it. Last Friday, she also walked back her opposition to fracking, an issue about which Trump has been taunting her in Pennsylvania.

The fracking pivot might be electorally necessary, but running too far from her past climate advocacy would be a huge political mistake, given the urgency of the climate crisis and its salience to less-committed voters (people who vote Democrat, but aren’t reliably motivated to vote). Harris should revive her Green New Deal commitment and talk concretely about what that means in 2024, now that the nation has seen some large-scale investment in green infrastructure under Biden. The perception that Harris is an environmental champion is part of why she is popular, polls suggest.

Biden has been strong on climate compared to past presidents, but with the hottest summer on record, and wildfires raging, Harris needs to go further to win over the most passionate voters and volunteers. She should run on continuing Biden’s strong regulatory agenda and commitment to renewable energy and outdo that record with a commitment to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure (a huge weakness in the Biden administration, which allowed more new drilling than Trump did).

For their part, the youthful climate movement has been forcefully rejecting the Republican ticket, while urging Harris to lean into her strong climate history, and not sell out to the industry. After protesting JD Vance – the VP nominee has close ties to the fossil fuel industry and has questioned the role of humans in climate change— Sunrise marched to the DNC headquarters this week with signs urging Harris to go big, with big banners encouraging her, “Harris: Fight for Young People.” The group previously sent Harris a letter, just three days after Biden dropped out, urging her to distance herself from Biden’s less-popular policies, especially the war in Gaza and the easy approval of fossil fuel projects. They’ve also encouraged her to invest in green infrastructure for public schools and affordable housing, end fossil subsidies, and expanding green jobs through the American Climate Corps.

In their letter, Sunrise told Harris, “Young people are energized and ready to fight against fascism and for the future we all deserve. This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance.” Or, as the group put in more succinctly, retweeting Harris’s 2019 Green New Deal endorsement: “we would fall out of a coconut tree” to elect this version of Kamala Harris.

The vice president is surely hearing a lot of advice right now, much of it from big donors who may be close to the fossil fuel lobbies and who, as members of the top one percent, tend to resist change no matter what. The future doesn’t have its own lobbyists and doesn’t write big checks, but its closest representatives are young voters, and the climate movement. In this close—and suddenly exciting—election, Kamala Harris and the rest of the Democrats ought to listen more to these emissaries of tomorrow. In urging Biden to drop out, and shifting to the ebullient and youthful Harris, the Democrats dispensed with tradition and ossified thinking, opting instead for common sense. That move has already been more successful than many expected, but only a strong, responsible platform can keep the momentum going. This is no time to let the soul-deadening donor-bound centrists and consultants kill the good vibes.

Read the full story here.

Photos courtesy of

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More women view climate change as their number one political issue

A new report shows a growing gender gap among people who vote with environmental issues in mind.

A new report from the Environmental Voter Project (EVP), shared first with The 19th, finds that far more women than men are listing climate and environmental issues as their top priority in voting. The nonpartisan nonprofit, which focuses on tailoring get out the vote efforts to low-propensity voters who they’ve identified as likely to list climate and environmental issues as a top priority, found that women far outpace men on the issue. Overall 62 percent of these so-called climate voters are women, compared to 37 percent of men. The gender gap is largest among young people, Black and Indigenous voters. The nonprofit identifies these voters through a predictive model built based on surveys it conducts among registered voters. It defines a climate voter as someone with at least an 85 percent likelihood of listing climate change or the environment as their number one priority. “At a time when other political gender gaps, such as [presidential] vote choice gender gaps, are staying relatively stable, there’s something unique going on with gender and public opinion about climate change,” said Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the organization. While the models can predict the likelihood of a voter viewing climate as their number one issue, it can’t actually determine whether these same people then cast a vote aligned with that viewpoint. The report looks at data from 21 states that are a mix of red and blue. Read Next Where did all the climate voters go? Sachi Kitajima Mulkey Based on polling from the AP-NORC exit poll, 7 percent of people self-reported that climate change was their number one priority in the 2024 general election, Stinnett said. Of those who listed climate as their top priority, they voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by a 10 to 1 margin. The EVP findings are important, Stinnett says, because they also point the way to who might best lead the country in the fight against the climate crisis. “If almost two thirds of climate voters are women, then all of us need to get better at embracing women’s wisdom and leadership skills,” Stinnett said. “That doesn’t just apply to messaging. It applies to how we build and lead a movement of activists and voters.” Though the data reveals a trend, it’s unclear why the gender gap grew in recent years. In the six years that EVP has collected data, the gap has gone from 20 percent in 2019, and then shrunk to 15 percent in 2022 before beginning to rise in 2024. In 2025, the gap grew to 25 percentage points. “I don’t know if men are caring less about climate change. 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This is because women make up a larger share of those living in poverty, with less resources to protect themselves, and the people they care for, from the impacts of climate change. Women of color in particular live disproportionately in low-income communities with greater climate risk. This could help explain why there is a bigger gender gap between women of color and their male counterparts. In the EVP findings there is a 35 percent gap between Black women and men climate voters, and a 29 percent gap between Indigenous women and men. Jasmine Gil, associate senior director at Hip Hop Caucus, a nonprofit that mobilizes communities of color, said she’s not really surprised to see that Black women are prioritizing the issue. 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From Greenland to Ghana, Indigenous youth work for climate justice

“No matter what happens we will stand and we will fight, and we will keep pushing for solutions.”

For the last week, Indigenous leaders from around the world have converged in New York for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFI. It’s the largest global gathering of Indigenous peoples and the Forum provides space for participants to bring their issues to international authorities, often when their own governments have refused to take action. This year’s Forum focuses on how U.N. member states’ have, or have not, protected the rights of Indigenous peoples, and conversations range from the environmental effects of extractive industries, to climate change, and violence against women. The Forum is an intergenerational space. Young people in attendance often work alongside elders and leaders to come up with solutions and address ongoing challenges. Grist interviewed seven Indigenous youth attending UNPFII this year hailing from Africa, the Pacific, North and South America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Arctic. Joshua Amponsem, 33, is Asante from Ghana and the founder of Green Africa Youth Organization, a youth-led group in Africa that promotes energy sustainability. He also is the co-director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund which provides funding opportunities to bolster youth participation in climate change solutions. Since the Trump administration pulled all the funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Amponsem has seen the people and groups he works with suffer from the loss of financial help. Courtesy of Joshua Amponsem It’s already hard to be a young person fighting climate change. Less than one percent of climate grants go to youth-led programs, according to the Youth Climate Justice Fund. “I think everyone is very much worried,” he said. “That is leading to a lot of anxiety.” Amponsem specifically mentioned the importance of groups like Africa Youth Pastoralist Initiatives — a coalition of youth who raise animals like sheep or cattle. Pastoralists need support to address climate change because the work of herding sheep and cattle gets more difficult as drought and resource scarcity persist, according to one report. “No matter what happens we will stand and we will fight, and we will keep pushing for solutions,” he said. Janell Dymus-Kurei, 32, is Māori from the East Coast of Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a fellow with the Commonwealth Fund, a group that promotes better access to healthcare for vulnerable populations. At this year’s UNPFII, Dymus-Kurei hopes to bring attention to legislation aimed at diminishing Māori treaty rights. While one piece of legislation died this month, she doesn’t think it’s going to stop there. She hopes to remind people about the attempted legislation that would have given exclusive Maori rights to everyone in New Zealand. Courtesy of Janell Dymus-Kurei The issue gained international attention last Fall when politician Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performed a Haka during parliament, a traditional dance that was often done before battle. The demonstration set off other large-scale Māori protests in the country. “They are bound by the Treaty of Waitangi,” she said. Countries can address the forum, but New Zealand didn’t make it to the UNPFII. “You would show up if you thought it was important to show up and defend your actions in one way, shape, or form,” she said. This year, she’s brought her two young children — TeAio Nitana, which means “peace and divinity” and Te Haumarangai, or “forceful wind”. Dymus-Kurei said it’s important for children to be a part of the forum, especially with so much focus on Indigenous women. “Parenting is political in every sense of the word,” she said. Avery Doxtator, 22, is Oneida, Anishinaabe and Dakota and the president of the National Association of Friendship Centres, or NAFC, which promotes cultural awareness and resources for urban Indigenous youth throughout Canada’s territories. She attended this year’s Forum to raise awareness about the rights of Indigenous peoples living in urban spaces. The NAFC brought 23 delegates from Canada this year representing all of the country’s regions. It’s the biggest group they’ve ever had, but Doxtator said everyone attending was concerned when crossing the border into the United States due to the Trump Administration’s border and immigration restrictions. Taylar Dawn Stagner “It’s a safety threat that we face as Indigenous peoples coming into a country that does not necessarily want us here,” she said. “That was our number one concern. Making sure youth are safe being in the city, but also crossing the border because of the color of our skin.” The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, protects Indigenous peoples fundamental rights of self-determination, and these rights extend to those living in cities, perhaps away from their territories. She said that she just finished her 5th year on the University of Toronto’s Water Polo Team, and will be playing on a professional team in Barcelona next year. Around half of Indigenous peoples in Canada live in cities. In the United States around 70 percent live in cities. As a result, many can feel disconnected from their cultures, and that’s what she hopes to shed light on at the forum — that resources for Indigenous youth exist even in urban areas. Liudmyla Korotkykh, 26, is Crimean Tatar from Kyiv, one of the Indigenous peoples of Ukraine. She spoke at UNPFII about the effects of the Ukraine war on her Indigenous community. She is a manager and attorney at the Crimean Tatar Resource Center. The history of the Crimean Tatars are similar to other Indigenous populations. They have survived colonial oppression from both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union — and as a result their language and way of life is constantly under threat. Crimea is a country that was annexed by Russia around a decade ago. Taylar Dawn Stagner In 2021, President Zelensky passed legislation to establish better rights for Indigenous peoples, but months later Russia continued its campaign against Ukraine. Korotkykh said Crimean Tatars have been conscripted to fight for Russia against the Tatars that are now in Ukraine. “Now we are in the situation where our peoples are divided by a frontline and our peoples are fighting against each other because some of us joined the Russian army and some joined the Ukrainian army,” she said. Korotkykh said even though many, including the Trump Administration, consider Crimea a part of Russia, hopes that Crimean Tatars won’t be left out of future discussions of their homes. “This is a homeland of Indigenous peoples. We don’t accept the Russian occupation,” she said. “So, when the [Trump] administration starts to discuss how we can recognize Crimea as a part of Russia, it is not acceptable to us.” Toni Chiran, 30, is Garo from Bangladesh, and a member of the Bangladesh Indigenous Youth Forum, an organization focused on protecting young Indigenous people. The country has 54 distinct Indigenous peoples, and their constitution does not recognize Indigenous rights. In January, Chiran was part of a protest in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, where he and other Indigenous people were protesting how the state was erasing the word “Indigenous” — or Adivasi in Hindi — from text books. Chiran says the move is a part of an ongoing assault by the state to erase Indigenous peoples from Bangladesh. Courtesy of Toni Chiran He said that he sustained injuries to his head and chest during the protest as counter protesters assaulted their group, and 13 protesters sustained injuries. He hopes bringing that incident, and more, to the attention of Forum members will help in the fight for Indigenous rights in Bangladesh. “There is an extreme level of human rights violations in my country due to the land related conflicts because our government still does not recognize Indigenous peoples,” he said. The student group Students for Sovereignty were accused of attacking Chiran and his fellow protesters. During a following protest a few days later in support of Chiran and the others injured Bangladesh police used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd. “We are still demanding justice on these issues,” he said. Aviaaija Baadsgaard, 27, is Inuit and a member of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Youth Engagement Program, a group that aims to empower the next generation of leaders in the Arctic. Baadsgaard is originally from Nuunukuu, the capital of Greenland, and this is her first year attending the UNPFII. Just last week she graduated from the University of Copenhagen with her law degree. She originally began studying law to help protect the rights of the Inuit of Greenland.. Recently, Greenland has been a global focal point due to the Trump Administration’s interest in acquiring the land and its resources – including minerals needed for the green transition like lithium and neodymium: both crucial for electric vehicles. “For me, it’s really important to speak on behalf of the Inuit of Greenland,” Baadsgaard said. Taylar Dawn Stagner Greenland is around 80 percent Indigenous, and a vast majority of the population there do not want the Greenland is around 80 percent Indigenous, and a vast majority of the population there do not want the U.S. to wrest control of the country from the Kingdom of Denmark. Many more want to be completely independent. “I don’t want any administration to mess with our sovereignty,” she said. Baadsgaard said her first time at the forum has connected her to a broader discussion about global Indigenous rights — a conversation she is excited to join. She wants to learn more about the complex system at the United Nations, so this trip is about getting ready for the future. Cindy Sisa Andy Aguinda, 30, is Kitchwa from Ecuador in the Amazon. She is in New York to talk about climate change, women’s health and the climate crisis. She spoke on a panel with a group of other Indigenous women about how the patriarchy and colonial violence affect women at a time of growing global unrest. Especially in the Amazon where deforestation is devastating the forests important to the Kitchwa tribe. She said international funding is how many protect the Amazon Rainforest. As an example, last year the United States agreed to send around 40 million dollars to the country through USAID — but then the Trump administration terminated most of the department in March. Courtesy of Cindy Sisa Andy Aguinda “To continue working and caring for our lands, the rainforest, and our people, we need help,” she said through a translator. Even when international funding goes into other countries for the purposes to protect Indigenous land, only around 17 percent ends up in the hands of Indigenous-led initiatives. “In my country, it’s difficult for the authorities to take us into account,” she said. She said despite that she had hope for the future and hopes to make it to COP30 in Brazil, the international gathering that addresses climate change, though she will probably have to foot the bill herself. She said that Indigenous tribes of the Amazon are the ones fighting everyday to protect their territories, and she said those with this relationship with the forest need to share ancestral knowledge with the world at places like the UNPFII and COP30. “We can’t stop if we want to live well, if we want our cultural identity to remain alive,” she said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline From Greenland to Ghana, Indigenous youth work for climate justice on Apr 25, 2025.

Climate

Indigenous

Culture

Harris County commissioners approve climate justice plan

Nearly three years in the works, the Harris County Climate Justice Plan is a 59-page document that creates long-term strategies addressing natural resource conservation, infrastructure resiliency and flood control.

Sarah GrunauFlood waters fill southwest Houston streets during Hurricane Beryl on July 8, 2024.Harris County commissioners this month approved what’s considered the county’s most comprehensive climate justice plan to date. Nearly three years in the works, the Harris County Climate Justice Plan is a 59-page document that creates long-term strategies addressing natural resource conservation, infrastructure resiliency and flood control in the Houston area. The climate justice plan was created by the Office of County Administration’s Office of Sustainability and an environmental nonprofit, Coalition for Environment, Equity and Resilience. The plan sets goals in five buckets, said Stefania Tomaskovic, the coalition director for the nonprofit. Those include ecology, infrastructure, economy, community and culture. County officials got feedback from more than 340 residents and organizations to ensure the plans reflect the needs of the community. “We held a number of community meetings to really outline the vision and values for this process and then along the way we’ve integrated more and more community members into the process of helping to identify the major buckets of work,” Tomaskovic told Hello Houston. Feedback from those involved in the planning process of the climate justice plan had a simple message — people want clean air, strong infrastructure in their communities, transparency and the opportunity to live with dignity, according to the plan. It outlines plans to protect from certain risks through preventative floodplain and watershed management, land use regulations and proactive disaster preparation. Infrastructure steps in the plan include investing in generators and solar power battery backup, and expanding coordination of programs that provide rapid direct assistance after disasters. Economic steps in the plan including expanding resources with organizations to support programs that provide food, direct cash assistance and housing. Tomaskovic said the move could be cost effective because some studies show that for every dollar spent on mitigation, you’re actually saving $6. “It can be cost effective but also if you think about, like, the whole line of costs, if we are implementing programs that help keep people out of the emergency room, we could be saving in the long run, too,” she said. Funds that will go into implementing the projects have yet to be seen. The more than $700,000 climate plan was funded by nonprofit organizations, including the Jacob & Terese Hershey Foundation. “Some of them actually are just process improvements,” Lisa Lin, director of sustainability with Harris County, told Hello Houston. “Some of them are actually low-cost, no-cost actions. Some of them are kind of leaning on things that are happening in the community or happening in the county. Some of them might be new and then we’ll be looking at different funding sources.” The county will now be charged with bringing the plan into reality, which includes conducting a benefits and impacts analysis. County staffers will also develop an implementation roadmap to identify specific leaders and partners and a plan to track its success, according to the county. “This initiative is the first time a U.S. county has prepared a resiliency plan that covers its entire population, as opposed to its bureaucracy alone," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement. "At the heart of this plan are realistic steps to advance issues like clean air, resilient infrastructure, and housing affordability and availability. Many portions of the plan are already in progress, and I look forward to continued advancement over the years."

Climate

Conservation

Resources

Suggested Viewing

The Whale Guitar: Instrument of Change

Inspired by Herman Melville's epic tale, "Moby-Dick or The Whale", a late-blooming singer/songwriter and former toy designer, Jen Long, acts on a startling vision and commissions the design and build of a remarkable custom electric guitar. It's body is "The Whale" itself as it snags the mad Captain Ahab in the tangled ropes of his own obsession, and prepares to launch a boat of his whalers to their doom. The entire guitar reinterprets Melville's tale as an Anthropocene climate change warning, with the whale representing the seas and storms of climate change arising on this "third day" of late stage capitalism. Hundreds of guitarists, including J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., and Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females, have played and signed this "Instrument of Change" to amplify the alarm to turn our ship of over-production and over-consumption around while there is still time. As the embroidered strap featuring Starbuck's last words implores: "oh! Ahab, not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist."

Music

Activism

Climate

Resilience

In 1998, a vast power grid serving 5 million people in Canada was destroyed by an ice storm. Twenty years later researchers of that disaster are developing a new kind of resilient power grid. Based in part on the book The Grid and the Village, the film explores how to protect grids and the people they serve from war, terrorist attack, and extreme weather.

Energy

Climate

Crisis

Saving Jaguars and Ourselves

"Saving Jaguars and Ourselves" brings attention to the plight of jaguars, wildlife, the Pantanal in Brazil AND the Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado Savannah. The film combines intimate human conversations and portrayals of jaguars in the Pantanal with clear explanations of larger threats that expand to include the Amazon, Cerrado, and the U.S.—focusing on ways that individuals in the U.S. can act effectively to bring change. These three areas form a critical Triad for preventing global climate change. My film explains why this Triad is crucial--why OUR survival in the U.S. depends on its recovery--and what we must do to literally save it, jaguars/wildlife, and Earth. The Pantanal wetland is larger than Florida and stores at least 10 billion tons of carbon. The Cerrado stores at least 13 billion tons. The Amazon stores 200 billion tons. If ANY of these areas completely burns, the carbon releases would be catastrophic. The Amazon and Pantanal are paradises. The Pantanal is directly affected by destruction of the Amazon and Cerrado savannah. Scientists believe that 80% of the Amazon Rainforest must be protected by 2025 or it will not be able to regenerate itself. The Amazon creates its own weather but if deforestation continues, its ecosystem will die and dying trees will give off as much as 200 billion tons of carbon over the next 30-50 years, effectively destroying our ability to protect the climate--and the Earth will die. The Pantanal is one of the most unique and beautiful places in the world, home to over 5,000 animal species and is now also facing threats from upstream river projects.

Solutions

Animals

Climate

We Trees

Ever wonder what trees think of us now that we have created a climate disaster? This 2-minute film answers that question. As Bill McKibben recently tweeted about the film, “Who speaks for trees? In this short and elegant video, the trees themselves.” It has been screened at Green Fest (Serbia), The Colorado Environmental Film Festival, The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival and Winner of Merit at the Nature Without Borders Film Festival.

Forests

Chemicals

Climate

Voices of Transition

Voices of Transition is an enthusiastic documentary on farmer- and community-led responses to food insecurity in a scenario of climate change, peak oil, and economic crisis. Concrete examples from Cuba, France, and the United Kingdom tell of a future society where our monoculture deserts will be restored to living soil, where fields will be introduced into our cities, and where independence from oil will help us live a richer, more fulfilling life.

Agriculture

Food

Climate

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Suggested Viewing

The Whale Guitar: Instrument of Change

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Harris Should Focus on Pleasing Young Voters, Not Donors and Centrists

Related News

Costa Rica’s Tortuga Island Coral Garden Revives Reefs

More women view climate change as their number one political issue

Climate change could deliver considerable blows to US corn growers, insurers: Study

From Greenland to Ghana, Indigenous youth work for climate justice

Harris County commissioners approve climate justice plan

Suggested Viewing

The Whale Guitar: Instrument of Change

Resilience

Saving Jaguars and Ourselves

We Trees

Voices of Transition

Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Join us to forge
a sustainable future