midterm elections

Peter Dykstra: Election Day and beyond

The environment gets orphaned yet again.

There’s no doubt that there’s plenty for House and Senate candidates to talk about as the midterm elections near: inflation, gasoline prices, Putin and Ukraine, Xi and China, race and crime, guns, education, immigration and more.


But all of these issues have crowded out – once again – the only issue that’s certain to be with us 30, 50 or even a 100 years from now: climate change and environment.

Only in Florida

In Florida, things are not going well for the two statewide candidates who have spoken out more strongly for action on climate change. Democrat Val Demings is an Orlando-area Congresswoman who is challenging Republican Marco Rubio for his Senate seat.

Stay informed: sign up for Above the Fold
Consequential news on your health and the planet, FREE to your inbox every morning.

Demings is a former police chief and, while the environment is not her signature issue, she boasts a 97% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters. Sen. Rubio’s score is 7%, and he has often voiced doubt about climate change science. Both numbers are typical for their respective parties, but it's worth pointing out that the scientific consensus puts Rubio’s Dade County home below sea level at some point in this century.

In Florida’s governor race, Democrat Charlie Crist (94% LCV as a Congressman), who represents a Gulf-side Congressional district, is challenging incumbent Republican Governor Ron DeSantis (2% in his prior Congressional career). Crist served as a moderate Republican governor who often clashed with Senator Rubio over climate change a decade ago. Sen. Rick Scott, now Florida’s junior Senator, succeeded Crist as governor and famously barred state employees from mentioning climate change. Then Crist switched parties.

Got all that?

As I write this 11 days before the election, pollsters tell us that voters in the state — arguably one of the most deeply affected by climate change in the U.S. — will likely send Demings and Crist down to defeat.

And in all of this, discussion of climate change has taken a back seat to the nationally chosen issues of the day.

Fracking flip-flop

fetterman fracking

Last Tuesday, Fetterman asserted that he had “always” supported fracking.

Credit: Governor Tom Wolf/flickr

In Pennsylvania, a climate-driven flip-flop headlined last week’s Senate race debate. The fracking industry claims to employ 80,000 Pennsylvanians, making it an economic powerhouse. Initially embraced by many as a benign “bridge fuel” to cleaner alternatives, many, like Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, came to oppose fracking as its environmental risks became clear.

Last Tuesday, Fetterman asserted that he had “always” supported fracking and those 80,000 jobs.

In May, he suffered a stroke, leaving some voters skeptical about his ability to serve. All of a sudden, Fetterman’s ascendance to a U.S. Senate seat was in doubt. And that meant that Democrats’ control of the Senate was in doubt.

And that meant that U.S. climate policy might be in doubt as well.

Mississippi Mud and Arizona Dust

Farther west, the Mighty Mississippi is showing America its bottom -- the driest the river has ever been. Why is this not a major issue? The ideologies of environment and commerce agree so completely. Climate change has screwed both the river and its barge traffic, with national impact.

Or look at the Colorado River, with its bathtub rings of exposed rock and loss of hydro power. Can we talk about this please?

And one more…

October 29 is the 10th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. November 8 is the date for a surprisingly close election for governor of New York. Climate change, anyone?

It astounds me that climate-linked disasters have been out-shouted in campaign ads, rallies and debates. But they have.

Sanity, anyone?

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate, or publisher Environmental Health Sciences.

Person inserting charger into an electric vehicle.

Trump’s new tariffs could drive up electric vehicle prices and reshape the EV market

President Trump’s 25% tariff on imported cars threatens to slow U.S. electric vehicle adoption by raising prices and complicating supply chains dependent on China.

David Ferris and Benjamin Storrow report for E&E News.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
Frozen foods freezer section of a grocery store.

House Republicans move to block Biden-era rules on commercial refrigerator efficiency

House Republicans voted to overturn energy efficiency standards for commercial refrigerators, a move that could increase greenhouse gas emissions and delay progress on climate goals tied to cooling systems.

Lisa Held reports for Civil Eats.

Keep reading...Show less
Mining equipment in a field during sunset.

Bipartisan support for federal effort to map U.S. mineral deposits for clean energy and defense

A quiet but well-funded federal program to locate underground stores of key minerals needed for energy and national security gained support from both Presidents Trump and Biden, even as their broader climate policies diverged.

Maddie Stone reports for Grist.

Keep reading...Show less
Demonstrators hold signs supporting science on a rainy day, with the US Capitol building in background.
Credit: Adam Fagen/Flickr

Trump’s science attacks trigger urgent warning from leading researchers

In an extraordinary move, nearly 2,000 top U.S. scientists are sounding the alarm about what they say is a deliberate campaign to dismantle science under the Trump administration.

Jessica Glenza reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
Aerial view of rows of solar panels lined up on a green field.

Trump administration considers major cuts to clean energy programs, drawing bipartisan pushback

Lawmakers from both parties are pressing the U.S. Department of Energy to preserve billions in clean energy investments after draft lists of possible project cuts began circulating on Capitol Hill.

James Bikales, Josh Siegel, Kelsey Tamborrino and Ben Lefebvre report for POLITICO.

Keep reading...Show less
Closeup of the FEMA webpage.

FEMA freezes $10 billion in disaster aid for nonprofits amid immigration review

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has halted $10 billion in disaster aid for nonprofits while reviewing whether the funds comply with President Trump’s executive order targeting undocumented migrants.

Thomas Frank reports for E&E News.

Keep reading...Show less
Power station smokestacks with pollution billowing from the top.

Zeldin shifts EPA toward deregulation and fossil fuel industry allies

Lee Zeldin, once a climate-conscious Republican from New York, is now steering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to roll back regulations, slash staff, and align with Trump and Elon Musk’s deregulatory vision.

Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

People  sitting in an outdoors table working on a big sign.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

joe biden

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice logo

LISTEN: Reflections on the first five years of the Agents of Change program

The leadership team talks about what they’ve learned — and what lies ahead.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.