Warming Warning
Critical analysis
According to the data from the graph above, how much has the temperature warmed since 1880?
What would you consider the most effective political method to fight climate change?
Given the fact of unity or party government (The U.S. House of Representatives, The U.S. Senate, and the Presidency are all majority Democratic), describe two ways the Democrats can make environmental policy and fight climate change.
Let’s say you were a minority party and you wanted to fight for more climate change. What are some tactics or methods a minority party could use to try to fight a nomination, legislation, or policy.
List some government department, agencies, or groups that have a role in measuring or regulating climate change.
Explain how the United States’ federal system impacts our nation’s ability to tackle climate change.
In 2021, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan issued the following statement: outlining steps the Biden-Harris Adminstration had taken to fight climate change :
•EPA recently took a major step toward restoring California’s waiver to enforce stringent greenhouse gas pollution standards for vehicles. Additionally, EPA relaunched the agency’s climate change website after the prior Administration had it removed. EPA also awarded approximately $10.5 million to replace older diesel school buses with cleaner buses, including for the first time, alt-fuel and electric buses, through its Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) funding.
In general what would adherents of the following ideologies claim about the role of government in solving the climate change problem:
Climate change is clearly one of the most significant threats to our future. What about our political system has made it so hard to do anything to solve this problem?
Climate is never mentioned explicitly in the U.S. Constitution (neither were elevators, airplanes, self-driving cars, Intercontinental Ballistic missiles, or ROOMBAs). What clause in the U.S. Constitution empowers the U.S. government to tackle climate change?
How do demographics (age, political party) impact American’s views on climate change? (see chart below)*
Learning Extension
Plug your city or town into the temperature calculator to see how much your home has warmed.
Action Extension
Senator Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, has proposed a new bill composed of the climate provisions from the stalled (and some would say dead) Build Back Better bill. All 50 Republican Senators are opposed to the Markey Plan. Some environmentalists see this as the last chance to pass crucial climate legislation before the midterm elections, others see this new plan which would jettison the child tax credit and other progressive measures from the Build Back Better bill. Contact Senator Markey and tell him what you think of his climate proposal.