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This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including new polling on policies to promote clean energy, clean energy investments as part of potential new economic legislation in Congress, and Americans’ views on whether companies and brands should speak out about climate change.

Being in the climate movement comes with a certain orientation around crisis – disruption is something we are familiar with. From IPCC reports declaring dire and urgent responses to disruptive tactics of resistance being in our movement’s DNA – we may feel endless urgency to fulfill our tactics, strategies, and missions. The Ayni Institute speaks of this as the “endless summer” and points to the inevitable burnout of attempting to sustain this high energy non-stop.
Reflecting on the last 10 years, it’s clear the climate movement has built many of the critical capacities* needed to win. This week’s newsletter focuses on strategic capacity in particular and how understanding and embracing the seasons of leadership and cycles of movements can strengthen it.

Voters want companies and brands to speak out about climate change, and young voters in particular want to see companies take public stances on climate. By a 63%-26% margin, voters say they support companies and brands speaking out about climate change. Democratic voters (85% support / 9% oppose) and Gen Z voters (79% support / 11% oppose) are particularly eager to hear companies speak out about climate change. This high level of support among Gen Z voters is consistent with other recent public polling, which has shown that the overwhelming majority of Gen Zers say it’s important to them to support brands and companies that are sustainable and environmentally friendly.

In 2020, there were about 6 million Afro-Latino adults in the United States. They made up about 2% of the U.S. adult population and 12% of the adult Latino population. About one-in-seven Afro-Latinos – or an estimated 800,000 adults – do not identify as Hispanic. The life experiences of Afro-Latinos are shaped by race, skin tone and other factors, in ways that differ from other Hispanics. The multiple dimensions of Latino identity reflect the long colonial history of Latin America, during which mixing occurred among indigenous Americans, White Europeans, Asians and enslaved people from Africa.