Environment and Climate Change: Can Young Americans Bridge the Gap?

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Young Americans, aged 18-29, believe that the threat from climate change is real regardless of their ideological leanings, compared to older Americans. Recent polling shows that Republican voters, born after 1980, are much more likely than older Republicans to think that government efforts to reduce climate change have been insufficient (52% vs. 31%). In this episode, we ask: can the youngest generation of voters put aside partisan differences and agree on policies needed to protect climate and the environment as well as address the needs of businesses and the economy? We discuss the role of government, business, and how to find on common ground. Our guests are Danielle Butcher, a conservative political executive and a leader of the American Conservation Coalition, and a liberal, Andrew Brennen, who is a National Geographic Explorer and Education Fellow, who co-founded the Kentucky Student Voice Team.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So many young people are growing up with drier landscapes and hotter summers, as well as raging storms and devastating floods.
0:08.0	Can they succeed where their elders haven't and overcome their differences to stop things from getting worse?
0:19.0	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Melntite.
0:23.0	And I'm Richard Davies.
0:25.0	In this episode, we speak with two young climate activists from different political perspectives.
0:32.0	They discuss how they see the environmental crisis and what they want to do about it.
0:38.0	Well, they do have a lot in common. They feel differently about the big roles government and the private sector can play in addressing some of these issues.
0:47.0	Daniel Butcher is Executive Vice President of the Nonprofit American Conservation Coalition.
0:52.0	Andrew Brennan is a National Geographic Education Fellow and co-founder of the Kentucky Student Voice Team.
1:00.0	Ashley starts us off.
1:02.0	You've both spoken in the past about how your generation seems to be better at crossing ideological lines when it comes to the environment.
1:13.0	Why is that? Like, why is your generation going to be the one to find common ground on the environment?
1:18.0	What's different about you? Andrew, do you want to go first?
1:21.0	Why do I think young people are willing to cross ideological lines?
1:27.0	Well, I think in part it's because young people recognize that the challenges we face are so big and have such significant implications for how we're going to be able to inhabit this earth.
1:43.0	That things like whether you're a Republican or a Democrat seem insignificant in comparison.
1:51.0	When we're thinking about issues like climate change and talking about what is the future of our planet look like?
1:57.0	Young people have the most at stake.
2:00.0	We have the most to lose when our leaders are not pursuing policies that have an eye toward the long term.
2:10.0	And so half the world's population is under the age of 30.
2:14.0	And I think we take that as both a responsibility and then also as an opportunity.
2:24.0	Danielle?
	...

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