News from a Changing Planet -- This Week on Earth #33
The wisdom of the ages, the hard-working otters of California, the dangers of SCOTUS and an argument about growth.
GRANNIES ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES (AND EVERYONE ELSE): “Climate grannies” are one of the largest, if most unrecognized, contingents of climate activists in the U.S. (The 19th/Inside Climate News)
The climate movement, according to research from American University, is predominantly composed of women — about 61 percent. The average age of these activists is 52, and about a quarter are 69 or older.
The same is true when it comes to voting. According to the Environmental Voter Project, after Gen Z, people over the age of 65 are the second-largest climate voting group, defined as people who are most likely to list climate change, the environment, clean air or water as their number one political priority/reason for voting. This group is dominated by women.
“Grandmothers are now at the vanguard of today’s climate movement,” said Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the Environmental Voter Project.
“Older people are three times as likely to list climate as a top priority than middle-aged people. On top of that, women in all age groups are more likely to care about climate than men,” he said. “So you put those two things together … and you can safely say that grandma is much more likely to be a climate voter than your middle-aged man.”
According to Stinnett, there are a number of states where older voters could have an outsize impact in the upcoming presidential election. In Arizona, Stinnett’s organization found, older climate voters represent about 231,000 voters in the state; in 2020, the presidential election was decided by 11,000 votes in Arizona.
“Older climate voters can really throw their weight around in Arizona if they organize and if they make sure that everybody goes to the polls,’ he said.”
[Get involved with the Environmental Voter Project here, whether you are old or young or young or old at heart or a woman or a man or neither or somewhere in between!]
WANT A BETTER COASTLINE? BRING IN SOME OTTERS: Otters help with everything from marshland restoration to kelp forest regrowth. (Associated Press)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to News from a Changing Planet to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.