This is why climate change and environmental policies matter in Election 2020
Also, how social media is influencing the election, a recap of the vice presidential debate, and a conversation starter about Trump's case of coronavirus.
In this week’s issue, the Crash Course team explains why the environment has become a major issue in Election 2020. Ben Crnic spoke with three UConn experts to better understand how the country has come to a crossroads about climate change and environmental policy.
Allison O’Donnell examined how local, state and federal lawmakers impact the health and economic viability of Connecticut's largest natural resource — Long Island Sound.
We also looked at how social media platforms are influencing this year’s election, with Fiona Brady’s chat with UConn Law professor Richard A. Wilson.
Keep reading for Ashley Anglisano’s recap of the 2020 vice presidential debate and Mike Mavredakis’ conversation starter about President Donald Trump’s handling of his COVID-19 infection.
Why environmental issues may sway the 2020 election
Ben Crnic writes: Compared to past presidential elections, the 2020 election cycle has a major difference: climate change and environmental policy have become crucial issues. Americans are concerned about climate change now more than ever, with 6 in 10 adults seeing it as a major threat to the future of the country. The majority of American voters say that climate change will be important in deciding who they vote for on Nov. 3.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden just released a campaign ad in Michigan dedicated to climate change, and the long-running science magazine Scientific American broke a 175-year tradition and endorsed Biden because of environmental concerns. Even in Connecticut, most candidates running for legislative office have made some reference to environmental issues.
So what are the issues?
The largest environmental issue the country faces right now is climate change. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing 250 times faster than it did after the last ice age, and scientists argue this is caused by human activity since the mid 20th century.
Burning fossil fuels, deforestation and land use changes have all contributed to the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in the air, and these gases have contributed to causing earth’s average surface temperature to rise 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century. This rise in temperature has caused warmer oceans and rising sea levels, melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctica, worse storms and an increased amount of wildfires.
UConn Geography professor Mark Boyer said the country is coming to a crossroads regarding climate change.
“We’re starting to get to some tipping points like the speed of warming, the crisis of wildfires and the extreme weather events that are emerging at a faster pace than we expected,” Boyer said.
Climate change resulting from human activity also has another big impact: biodiversity in nature, or the variation in species and the types within these species, is being threatened. This occurs from species struggling to adapt to climate change and habitat loss from human activity.
UConn Ecology & Evolutionary Biology professor Mark Urban explained what the loss of biodiversity could mean.
“With biodiversity loss, there are very substantial effects that can alter our health, well-being and economies. Some of these effects are a bit more indirect and less appreciated in the general public,” Urban said.
According to Urban, biodiversity helps society find solutions to both technological and medicinal problems. For instance, we may find new antibiotics or cancer treatments from certain species of plants, but if these species go extinct, these potential benefits to society are lost forever.
“With biodiversity loss, we’re burning these books of knowledge before we’ve even read them,” Urban said.
What should young voters care about?
“The problem right now is that our president is withdrawing from an international [climate] agreement,” argued environmental journalist Christine Woodside, a UConn Journalism Visiting Professor. “If that happens, the U.S. has decided not to cooperate with other countries on greenhouse gas emissions, and they will think we want to be isolationists. I say for voters, the biggest issue is whether we go forward in the Paris agreement.”
Woodside said she is also concerned that the economic costs of addressing climate change are hindering a solution.
“When money is the only consideration, it almost seems like a cartoon. We know that scientists have been telling us that we need to do something as a nation. Even corporations are studying climate change — everybody knows we need to do something,” Woodside said.
Ultimately, voters should decide if they want someone who is willing to do something about the crisis, she said. Urban agreed, saying young voters should focus on preserving the environment for their generation.
“Many of these negative effects won’t be solved by the people making decisions now, they will be solved by the current generation of college students. The impacts are growing and will be placed on the shoulders of today's college students. If they care about biodiversity of future livelihoods or future medicine, they should care about this issue,” Urban said. Continue reading »
Infographic: Climate Change and Environmental Policies
SOURCES: Wall Street Journal, White House statement on Paris Accord, marinedebris.noaa.gov, National Park Service. Graphic designed by Ashley Anglisano
If water is a valuable resource, how is it being protected in Connecticut?
Allison O’Donnell writes: Long Island Sound is home to more than four million people who live in its coastal communities. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection estimates the Sound is also home to more than 1,200 species of invertebrates, 170 species of fish, and dozens of species of migratory birds. The Sound provides thousands of jobs in commercial transportation and fishing. And its recreational use is estimated to contribute more than $9 billion annually to the Connecticut economy.
Being the state’s largest natural resource, Connecticut has invested millions of dollars in communities throughout the watershed to address pollution concerns and protect tidal wetlands. Having a water resource so significantly impact the Connecticut economy, UConn Law Professor Joseph MacDougald says that state law does a lot to keep Long Island Sound in good health.
What is Connecticut’s approach to water regulation?
MacDougald: “Connecticut has no county government, so we have 169 towns and almost all have an inland wetlands commission. Each town’s commission reports to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for base standards for their wetlands compliance with the state law.
Another thing that I would talk about which is a little different is Long Island Sound itself. We think about Long Island Sound in terms of both a multi-state study because New York is a big player as well as Connecticut in sharing Long Island Sound.
We have federal regulations, many of them that go through Long Island Sound, but the state is also very engaged with everything that happens in and around the coast — runoff that goes into the Sound, the health of the beaches. Sometimes you'll see beaches closed during the summer, or after storms, if large sewage plants become inundated. And a lot of all of this is tied to climate change.” Continue Reading»
Should social media companies police political speech if it poses a threat to public health and public safety?
Fiona Brady writes: Social media is an essential tool for political campaigns. With the 2020 election happening during a pandemic and limiting the candidates’ ability to engage with voters in person, social media has become even more significant. But while social media works as an efficient way to disseminate information to large audiences, serious problems arise when information is misleading or inherently false.
This week, Facebook removed a post by President Trump where he claimed the flu was more deadly than COVID-19. Twitter also flagged the post for containing misleading information and blocked it from being shared.
Facebook also blocked all pages and accounts associated with the far-right conspiracy group QAnon. The movement is responsible for spreading false claims that a network of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is plotting against Trump.
Do social media companies have a responsibility to monitor political speech when it poses a threat to public health or public safety? To answer this question, we spoke with UConn Law and Anthropology Professor Richard A. Wilson, an expert on the First Amendment, hate speech and disinformation. Wilson is also a founding director of UConn’s Human Rights Institute. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:
Q: How have social media outlets changed the landscape of political campaigns?
Wilson: Social media has certainly become very prominent, but it’s only gained in prominence because of the pandemic. Both parties have been faced with the challenge to engage in a general election while not being able to run a campaign in the usual way with mass meetings, mass rallies, and large gatherings of people. That has only elevated the prominence of social media.
A lot of the contestation between parties is occurring on social media. There is a lot of money being spent on ads and those ads are tilted towards the interest of one party or the other. There’s a very delicate balance that social media companies have to find between allowing freedom of expression and disallowing disinformation or material that might in some way damage public health.
Q: What principles do social media companies use to determine whether or not to remove a post?
Wilson: All political election campaigns tell a partial truth, or they spin the truth in a way that helps their campaign. If something is factually incorrect, that still doesn’t imply that it needs to be removed. However, if that factual incorrectness is on a public health matter and could lead to widespread public health consequences, then the social media company is entitled at minimum to label the post.
Another reason to label or remove a post is if it incites violence. Incitement is a well-worn doctrine in criminal law, which says that you cannot directly advocate acts of violence or criminality with the intention that they are committed and with the likelihood that they are committed.
Social media companies are not governed by the First Amendment. They are private clubs and when you sign up to their terms of service you agree to abide by their rules. People who complain that their First Amendment rights are being suppressed on social media actually have no argument.” Continue reading »
Takeaways from the 2020 vice presidential debate
Ashley Anglisano and Ben Crnic write: The vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City offered less chaos than the first presidential debate, but still had its fair share of question dodging and speaking over time limits Wednesday night. Here are some key takeaways:
On COVID-19: Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris accused the Trump administration of knowing how damaging COVID-19 would be, but not telling Americans.
“They knew and they covered it up,” Harris said. “The president said it was a hoax. They didn’t have a plan.” This is misleading though, as Trump was referring to the Democrat’s criticisms of his administration’s response to the pandemic.
Vice President Pence also maintained at one point that the White House Rose Garden event in which 11 people tested positive for COVID-19 afterward was safe because people were tested for the virus. This is misleading as well, as testing is not enough to prevent the spread of infection.
On Abortion and the Supreme Court: Harris argued that the American people need to first fill the White House through the election of a president, and then the Supreme Court seat should be filled. On the other hand, Pence argued for a fair hearing for recent Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Pence accused the Biden administration of looking to add more justices to the Supreme Court if Barrett is confirmed, describing it as “packing the court.” Harris dodged the question.
On Racial Tensions/Racial Justice: In the case of Breonna Taylor’s death by police, Harris said she was not given justice.
“Her life was taken unjustifiably and tragically,” Harris said. “People around our country of every race, every age, every gender, marched fighting for us to achieve the ideal of justice under law. We must fight for the values we hold dear.”
Harris said she and Biden intend to reform policing in American, decriminalize marijuana, get rid of private prisons and cash bails. However, Harris has a history of overseeing the arrest and prosecution of thousands of people for marijuana and other drug offenses, many of which were young people of color.
Pence said he trusts the grand jury process, and that there is no excuse for the rioting and looting that occurred after the hearings of the killers of George Floyd. This comes in the wake of President Trump refusing to condemn violent white supremacist groups who act at these riots in the first Presidential debate, though.
Some interesting facts
Pence spoke for only three seconds longer than Harris. More than 57 million people watched the debate on television, 20 million more than the 2016 debate between Pence and Tim Kaine. While talking about policies on policing, many on social media noticed a fly land on Pence’s head. The masses on Twitter also questioned why one of Pence's eyes looked so red. Read more »
Fate of second presidential debate uncertain
Fiona Brady writes: President Trump and former Vice President Biden were scheduled to debate for the second time in a town hall format on Thursday, Oct. 15 in Miami. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that debate would be held virtually for health and safety reasons, following Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis last week.
Trump told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo Thursday morning that the virtual format would be a waste of time and he would not participate.
Biden’s campaign manager Kate Bedingfield released a statement saying Biden would take part in the debate and “looks forward to speaking directly to the American people.” She later suggested the commission postpone the town hall debate. Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien echoed some support of that idea. Stepien called the commission’s decision “pathetic” and said Trump would hold a rally on Oct. 15 instead.
Conversation Starter: Trump contracts coronavirus
Mike Mavredakis writes: President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump both tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Trump spent the weekend being treated for the virus at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He went back to the White House Monday at 6:30 p.m.
When Trump revealed he had contracted the coronavirus on October 2, he said he and the First Lady would quarantine immediately. The president reportedly experienced symptoms of the virus throughout the weekend, but there were conflicting reports about their severity.
Trump’s White House physician, Dr. Sean Conley, admitted to giving the public a rosier picture of the president’s health, while White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was caught on camera divulging a more ‘concerning’ condition.
“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, over his course of illness, has had,” Conley said, according to the Washington Post. “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. And in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true…The fact of the matter is that he’s doing really well.”
Trump experienced low blood-oxygen levels, a cough, fever and fatigue. To treat his infection, the president was given a cocktail of experimental medications— including a dose of the anti-viral Remdesivir, and dexamethasone, a steroid typically reserved for severe cases.
On Sunday, Trump briefly left Walter Reed hospital with two Secret Service members to wave to supporters through the window of an SUV. He drew criticism for potentially exposing the Secret Service members to the virus due to their proximity in an enclosed vehicle. All parties, including Trump, wore masks.
Some questions:
How do you feel about the way Trump has handled his COVID-19 infection? “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he wrote on Twitter. “Don’t let it dominate your life.”
Which version of the reports about his condition do you believe?
Should the president take experimental medication?
Was his ride with Secret Service members to wave at supporters was justified or dangerous?
Has Trump’s bout with coronavirus made you feel sympathetic, as other presidents have experienced when injured or sick? Or schadenfreude?
Talk about it with your friends and family! 🗣🗯
In case you missed it
Here are some notable headlines from the past week:
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito released an opinion criticizing the 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage across the country. Thomas voiced concern about the decision’s limit on religious freedom and suggested it come before the high court again. [CNN]
President Trump told GOP negotiators to walk away from economic stimulus talks Tuesday, but then pivoted to calling for a stand-alone bill to give Americans another round of $1,200 checks as well as a relief package for the airline industry. [The Washington Post] [Reuters]
During President Trump’s stay at Walter Reed Medical Center, he took an experimental antibody '“cocktail.” Two treatments —Regeneron and Remdesivir— were developed using fetal tissue. The Trump administration suspended federal funding for most new scientific research involving fetal tissue from abortions in June 2019. [New York Times]
A watchdog report revealed top Justice department administration officials called for a “zero-tolerance” family separation policy, even for those with young infants, when they began separating migrants from their families at the US-Mexico border in 2018. [NBC News]
Recent polling suggests President Trump is losing a majority of voters of over the age of 65 because of his handling of COVID-19. AARP conducted polling in key swing states — Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina — all of which Trump has lost majority support. [Financial Times]
FBI agents said they thwarted a plot by members of a Michigan militia to violently overthrow the government as well as kidnap and harm Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. [Detroit News]
That’s it for this week’s Crash Course! Next week we will focus on the state of the economy and unemployment. We will also take a look at growing student loan debt and hear from some young activists around campus.
Crash Course is reported, written and produced by UConn Journalism majors Ashley Anglisano, Fiona Brady, Ben Crnic, Mike Mavredakis and Allison O’Donnell, under the guidance of UConn Journalism Associate Professor Marie K. Shanahan. Read more about us »
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