Election Special: Coronavirus and Climate Collide

This is a special crossover episode between The Energy Gang and Climate 2020.

Coronavirus brought the 2020 election to a screeching halt. Climate was once a top issue in the Democratic primary, but it’s been overtaken by a virus and a looming economic apocalypse. 

Primaries are delayed. Traditional campaigning has stopped. Biden is hiding out, preparing for the general election. Bernie Sanders is hanging on. And the way we think about all kinds of issues has totally flipped.

So how will climate, cleantech and the environment fit into this new political world?

The climate community is struggling with how to message. What are the appropriate ways to keep the focus on climate change, while we face public health and economic crises? 

What about the intersection of extreme weather and coronavirus? Many state officials fear the next season’s floods, hurricanes and fires – events that can require evacuation while people are supposed to stay homebound. How will climate change compound the problem?

The Gang includes Stephen Lacey, Katherine Hamilton and Jigar Shah.

Jeff Nesbit, the executive director of Climate Nexus and co-host of the podcast Climate 2020, joins the gang for this special joint episode on politics. Jeff is also an author, former journalist, a senior public affairs official at the FDA, and Dan Quayle’s director of comms.

Mentioned on the show: 

• Twitter: Rachel Bitecofer’s Feed
• Twitter: Leak Stokes’ Feed
• Priorities USA: Political Ad 

Recommended:

• Scientific American: U.N. Shifts from Climate Change to Coronavirus
• The New Yorker: The Coronavirus and the Climate Movement by Bill McKibben
• Inside Climate News: In the Face of a Pandemic, Climate Activists Reevaluate Their Tactics

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