Resource Type: Research & Articles

Accountability, gas, and electric vehicles were the climate-related issues that gained most social media traction in April and May 2022. These short reports from 4 regions of the US (Midwest, Southeast, Northeast, West) show some top-performing social media posts per category from April-May. The reports also describe how three issue areas did not get as much traction as expected: transportation, offshore wind, and renewables. These trends were true across all 4 regions. These reports conclude with a way to “put it all together” when constructing social media messaging, including these sample messages: “Jobs: clean energy jobs are real,” “Health: clean energy is safe; fossil fuels threaten your health,” “Action: climate policies are an investment worth making now,” “Fairness: climate change hurts the most vulnerable the hardest,” “Impacts: climate change is directly impacting you,” and “Lies: fossil fuel interests are lying to you; they want to protect their profits—not you.”

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including new polling on voters’ relative trust in the two parties to handle climate change, energy, and the environment; a new poll showing widespread pessimism about the country’s handling of climate change and the environment; and new polls about nuclear power nationwide and in California. 

Deep canvassing is a powerful tool to overcome division and find common ground on issues like climate change. The three keys to deep canvassing include: developing a script that works, developing a canvasser key skills training program, and building a team and creating a culture that supports and heals canvassers. This resource contains beginning-to-end tips for how to plan and execute climate deep canvassing. This set of three PDFs includes a summary of Neighbours United’s two-year deep canvass campaign in British Columbia (with details about tactics, timeline, and more); research on the effects of deep canvassing; and sample scripts, volunteer training programs, tips for data management, and more. Learn more in the Executive Summary and check out their Toolkit with plenty of linked resources and documents to apply to your climate deep canvassing program.

With six months until the 2022 election, most young voters are frustrated with the lack of progress and pessimistic about the future. Voters under 35 say things are not going well with respect to virtually every issue facing their generations, from the economy and health care costs to abortion rights and climate change. Just 22% believe things are excellent or good with regard to climate change. Further, 80% support “Reducing carbon emissions and addressing the impact of climate change.” With few exceptions, they don’t trust either political party in the country to handle their concerns. 90% say things in the country are on the wrong track. Overwhelming majorities of young people say that things are not going well with respect to each issue area tested in this survey, with the exception of the right to vote (55% positive, 45% negative) and protecting LGBTQ rights (split 49% positive, 51% negative). They are the most negative about money in politics (5% positive) and healthcare costs (7% positive). There are some notable differences in assessments of problems by gender and race/ethnicity. These young voters overwhelmingly say the trust the Democratic Party more than Republican Party with many issues. This poll asked more questions about assessments of problems and policies.