Over 160,000 thousand Americans have signed petitions demanding climate change be a primary focus of the presidential debates.
Voters are aware the climate crisis is here and needs immediate action. Back in the 2016 presidential elections, there was not a single question asked about climate change or global warming at any presidential debate. Citizens do not want this to be the case for the 2020 presidential debates.
According to Common Dreams, despite undeniable evidence that the climate crisis is here – and already impacting our country’s health, economy, and national security, debate moderators have largely ignored the issue for more than 20 years.
This week’s first presidential debate of the 2020 presidential election did not have climate change listed as a discussion topic, but the moderator decided to break the 20-year silent streak. The question asked, however, was an outdated question.
The question asked by moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News was: “What do you believe about the science of climate change and what will you do in the next four years to confront it?”
As The Guardian reports, the question framed the existence of a human-made climate crisis as something that is for some Americans still debatable. Science unequivocally shows humans are the predominant cause of global warming.
“Chris Wallace fell into several common traps of asking whether climate change is real and discussing the cost of action without the crucial context of the cost of inaction. The moderators of future debates should build on this foundation and investigate the candidates’ divergent plans on the climate crisis,” says Bracken Hendricks, co-founder of the climate group Evergreen Action.
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