No city better embodies the challenges of climate change than the setting for the first Democratic debate in June. At least 10 candidates who meet the Democratic National Committee’s set of polling and grassroots fundraising criteria will take the stage in Miami, a city that will face the threat of encroaching seas on a daily basis over the next 25 years. Many of the climate activists who have urged presidential hopefuls to embrace the Green New Deal and reject donations from fossil fuel industries are preparing for their next battle: pushing for a presidential debate focused entirely on climate.
Environmental and progressive groups, including 350.org, Greenpeace, Sunrise Movement, Credo Action, and Friends of the Earth, plan to ramp up campaigns calling on the DNC, as well as the major TV networks and 2020 candidates, to dedicate one of the dozen official debates to a subject that has never gotten its due in primetime.