Issue: Adaptation/Resilience

This conversation highlights findings from two reports focused on how the climate advocacy community can support equitable climate resilience (the ability of communities to adapt and thrive in the face of impacts from climate change) in climate policies and programs, as advocates nationwide are pushed to think beyond a frame of “simply” climate mitigation: Making Equity Real in Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience Policies and Programs: A Guidebook and Mapping Resilience: A Blueprint for Thriving in the Face of Climate Disasters.

American voters support policies aimed at addressing climate change. Nearly three in four (71%) voters support requiring 100% of electricity to be renewable by 2050, and almost half would support the federal government helping to pay for the energy transition. Two-thirds of voters (67%) believe that government action on climate change would have positive economic effects (job creation, positioning in the international economy). Most voters also support policies that would implement pollution limits for industry and busines, create stricter fuel efficiency standards for trucks and cars, require private companies to pay a tax on their carbon pollution, and policies that would provide assistance to communities losing jobs in the oil and gas sector. There is also high support for updating infrastructure to withstand climate change and for the infrastructure updates to include pollution targets themselves. Finally, most American voters believe that climate change is affecting agriculture, extreme weather, public health, the US economy, and their family’s health.