While president-elect Donald Trump has yet to take office, his promise to roll back climate legislation is helping inspire a new generation of green-minded progressives.
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Since the election on November 5, young activist leaders have travelled the US holding mass meetings, organising school protests, and hosting online calls that have drawn thousands of people. The idea is to turn up the volume on environmental concerns and convince policymakers to block legislation that will worsen climate change.
“We’re heartbroken about the election, but we’re really going to do everything in our power to build up locally and win in the states,” said Michael Greenberg, co-founder of Climate Defiance, which calls for “disruptive direct actions.” In the past this has included interrupting a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and descending onto the field during the Congressional Baseball Game.
“The climate crisis won’t be solved by 55-year-old non-profit bureaucrats in a cubicle farm on K Street,” he said, referring to a famous avenue for lobbyists in Washington.
Polling data has previously found that few likely voters – people who have gone to the ballot box previously – identified climate change or other environmental issues as their main priority. The lack of voters selecting global warming as a major worry in the 2024 election comes despite the US having faced some of its most devastating and expensive disasters, including Hurricane Helene, during what’s likely to be the hottest year on record.
By some measures, President Joe Biden has been one of the more progressive US leaders on climate, passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which was poised to slash US greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.
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