Depolarizing climate change in the United States with Matthew Burgess

Addressing climate change requires a society-wide effort sustained over decades. This simply will not happen without bipartisan cooperation and broad public support. Fortunately, there are signs of hope. There have been recent bipartisan climate policies passed at the state and federal levels, and polls increasingly suggest broad and bipartisan support for addressing climate change, especially among younger voters. What does a bipartisan approach to addressing climate change look like? Drawing on analyses of opinion polls, survey experiments, and legislative action from my research group and others, I will argue that strategies for building a big-tent climate movement include: carrots over sticks, optimism over pessimism, national pride over national shame, precise and plain-spoken discourse over hyperbole and histrionics, and kitchen-table-focused approaches to environmental justice rather than identitarian ones.

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Co-hosted with: Office of Energy & Sustainability, Climate Action Network

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