Climate change did not take center stage in this week’s presidential election; it didn’t even seem like it was in the wings or in the theater. Instead, the US elected a candidate who has a history of roll back environmental protection and spoke openly about his desire to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels.
But a handful of ballot initiatives have shown that voters in many places are interested in strengthening climate resilience and conservation. “There’s no sugarcoating” the outcome of the presidential election or Republican takeover of the Senate, said Justin Balik, senior state program director for the advocacy group Evergreen Action. But “when push comes to shove, there are voters across the country who care about protecting the environment and cleaning up pollution, especially when it’s articulated in concrete, specific terms.”
In Minnesota, for example, voters overwhelmingly a constitutional amendment to continue to allocate at least 40 percent of state lottery revenue to an environmental and natural resources trust fund through 2050. Since its creation in 1988, the fund has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into more than 1,700 projects nationwide – including local parks, maintenance of the Superior Hiking Trail along Lake Superior, and a wolf conservation center in Ely, Minnesota.
The fund has supported “everything from the data collection that we all use in our work, to direct projects on the ground, plus a lot of things in the clean energy space,” said Kris Larson, CEO of the nonprofit Minnesota Land. Rely. He specifically mentioned its contribution to research at the University of Minnesota and affiliated institutions on how climate change affects lake water quality and bird and plant populations.
The amendment also introduces a new community grant program support environmental education and “to help adversely affected communities respond to environmental degradation and related health issues.”
“It really shows that protecting our outdoors, at least in Minnesota, is something that really matters,” said Liz Deering, communications director for the nonprofit Conservation Minnesota.
Similar initiatives to fund conservation or climate resilience have passed in California, Colorado, Louisiana and Rhode Island. Balik said they succeeded because they communicated the concrete benefits of environmental action: “What does this mean for the air you breathe, how does it make your energy more affordable, how does it make your community safer?”
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
In California, Proposal 4 authorized the government to borrow $10 billion for a number of environmental projects, including mitigating the state’s megadrought — which the worst in 1,200 years and was made more likely by human-caused climate change. The money will also fund efforts to prevent wildfires and protect coastal areas from sea level rise. A proposal in Colorado approved the use of tax revenue from sports betting — which has been legal in the state since 2020 — for water conservation and management projects.
Rhode Islanders approved $53 million in government loans for projects related to flood prevention, restoring coastal habitats and improving forest health. And in Louisiana, voters a constitutional amendment requires federal revenue from offshore energy generation — including wind, solar and tidal energy, in addition to oil and gas — to be put into a coastal restoration fund.
Joshua Basseches, an assistant professor of public policy and environmental studies at Tulane University, told Grist that the Louisiana fund is “doing critical work in combating erosion exacerbated by climate change and thus the sustainability of the state’s economy and improve the well-being of its people. .
“The amendment is also a recognition that renewable and alternative energy is the future, and that even though Louisiana is an oil and gas state, it wants a stake in that future,” he added.
Balik, with Evergreen Action, said ballot initiatives would help advance the climate and environmental agenda during a second Trump administration. “The presidential vote — I don’t think there are many people who would call it a referendum on the clean energy or climate agenda,” he said. “The reasons why people vote the way they do are multifaceted,” but people tend to favor green policies when the issues are isolated.
B. Rosas, policy manager for the Minnesota-based nonprofit Climate Generation, said the passage of climate and environment-related ballot initiatives — plus several initiatives assert reproductive rights and raise the minimum wage – was a bright spot in what was otherwise a difficult week for the climate movement.
“It spreads the message that people do want these progressive policies that are going to protect not only their well-being,” they said, “but the well-being of our planet.”
