The Climate Speech I Wish I Heard At The Democratic National Convention – CleanTechnica

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While the Democratic National Convention ended up being an exciting week filled with polished orators, contemporary music, popular celebrities, and short films, one important thing was missing: organizers designated only 13 minutes to address climate issues.

“An American president must lead the world in tackling climate change,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, one of two speakers who addressed climate issues, told the audience. “Kamala Harris understands that assignment.”

And Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Congressional Representative from central Florida, spoke about the impacts of climate change. He discussed how storms have flooded and damaged many homes and how workers must endure hot conditions amidst record heat. He warned the crowd about the impacts of climate change, saying, “I’m here to tell you that the climate crisis isn’t some far-off threat; it is here. Fighting the climate crisis is patriotic!” he added.

The Democratic party nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, noted that among the Freedoms at stake in November’s election are those “to breathe clean air and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”

Each of those comments was important. Yet much, much more could have been done to deconstruct the existential climate crisis as a plank in the Democratic party platform. So here’s a speech I wish I had heard at this week’s Democratic Convention.

Tonight, at this Democratic National Convention, we join together to share in a vision that looks to the future. Kamala Harris will be a President who unites us around our highest aspirations. A President who leads. And listens. Who is realistic. Practical. Who has common sense. And who always fights for the American people.

An important part of that leadership will surround the fight against climate change. This isn’t a new role for her.

In fact, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz each have well-known climate accomplishments.

As Vice President, Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. This was the largest climate investment in US history.

We can now celebrate hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions in planned projects — all tied to the Biden-Harris administration’s climate policies.

And Governor Walz signed a law requiring Minnesota to get all of its electricity from wind, solar, and other carbon-free sources by 2040.

But their opponent, Donald Trump, has promised to repeal regulations designed to cut greenhouse gases. (pause for boos)

We know that globally, for the 12th year in a row, the average sea level on Earth reached a record high.

We know the climate crisis is real, as Vice President Harris affirmed this month. But Donald Trump, well, he claims it’s a hoax. (pause for boos)

We cannot continue to pump planet-heating gases into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, year after year. It is untenable. And it must stop.

This election is one of the most important in the life of our nation.

Let’s just say it the way it is.

We know the primary cause of climate change is burning fossil fuels. They add heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. We need to stop the worst impacts of climate change now, while they can still be avoided.

Yes, it will take more strong action to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions. But we can do it.

That’s because the future is always worth fighting for. And the American people have always been fighters. Fighters who rise up and do the right thing, even when it seems tough.

Kamala Harris looks at climate change as the fight for future generations.

And so it is now that we must stand together and “do something” for the climate.

Something that may seem a bit challenging right now.

Something that will ask each of us to accept new ways of thinking about how we power our lives.

Something that future generations will look at and nod. Our grandchildren and their children will recognize how our struggles translated into their ability to breathe clean air. Drink clean water. Live on a planet full of thriving ecosystems.

You’ve heard people say that cleaning up the climate is too expensive. You know where those claims are coming from? The biggest climate polluters, that’s right. The corporations that are rolling in profits while they pollute at our expense.

The corporations have the most to gain when they pollute the planet. The most to lose when climate laws like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are enacted.

Kamala Harris is a defender of democracy and the truth. Elizabeth Warren assured us on this stage that Kamala Harris will protect US consumers from corporate price gouging. From corporate monopolies that rip off consumers. And Kamala will take on Big Oil.

Make no mistake, America: we are not going back.

We are not going back to a time in which factories pollute our rivers and land without consequences. To a time in which corporations lie about their complicity in climate damage.

We’re not going back to a time in which American citizens are blamed by fossil fuel corporations for the way we power our homes. Or light our streets. Or fuel our vehicles. Because we have renewable energy options.

And in the Harris-Walz administration, renewable energy options will become a priority.

You’ve probably already seen new infrastructure construction in your own home area. Let’s hear it from Ohio, which just officially opened its expanded lithium-ion battery processing facility, using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Across the United States, 3.4 million American families have already claimed more than $8 billion in residential clean energy and home energy efficiency credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. The tax incentives in the IRA could ultimately help fund more than 6,200 projects. Project in utility-scale clean energy and storage.

Tax incentives for electric vehicles — new or used — with made in America parts. Customers are seizing on incentives and falling electric vehicle prices.

Almost four million jobs.

Look at wind power. Under President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’ leadership last year, wind power provided more than 10% of US electricity. It accounted for 12% of new electricity capacity. Wind represented $10.8 billion in capital investment. It supported more than 125,000 US jobs.

Donald Trump hates wind power. Do you know why? In 2006, he bought a large chunk of property on Scotland’s northeastern coast. He wanted to turn it into a golf resort for his billionaire buddies. (pause for boos)

But when a new offshore wind farm was approved, Trump had only one concern: that the offshore turbines would ruin the view from his golf course.

In what’s now a familiar pattern, Trump bundled isolated anecdotes and unconfirmed accusations.

He elevated and exaggerated stories.

He tried to overpower the clean energy advocates. (pause for boos)

Since then, Trump has brought up at nearly every campaign appearance his hatred of wind turbines, which he calls “windmills.”

Let’s ask Coach Walz to demonstrate the difference between a windmill and wind turbines, shall we?

(Governor Walz) A windmill was a medieval-era structure that converted wind power into rotational energy to specifically mill grain.

(Governor Walz) Wind turbines can be built on both land and – increasingly and to great effect – offshore in large bodies of water like oceans and lakes. The turbine converts the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical power. Energy produced by wind doesn’t pollute the air with toxins. It doesn’t emit the dangerous greenhouse gases driving climate change.

Thank you, Coach. In closing, let’s remember how Kamala’s mom reminded us that our lives exist “in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

This Democratic National Convention is about Freedom. Freedom respects the lives we currently live. And yet tonight, guided by optimism, we embark on a journey toward the Freedom to live without the pollution that is fueling the climate crisis.

This election is about your family and your future.  With Kamala Harris as President, we choose the Freedom to fight climate change. Thank you!