Climate Change: New Polling Shows California Voters Demand Environmental Accountability, Action and Investments NOW

Californians overwhelmingly care about the environment and climate change. Courage California’s newly released polling provides us with a better understanding as to what exactly this means to our state’s diverse communities – how Californians view it, are impacted by it, who they believe is responsible for it –  and what this means for the future of environmental racism and justice. According to the poll, communities that are overburdened by climate change contributing industries, are not willing to exchange jobs for health.  

Sylvia Arredondo from Communities for a Better Environment and Matt Abularach-Macias from EnviroVoters, joins Angela Chavez, communications director at Courage California, to discuss the newly released statewide environmental poll results and what voters want from California’s policy-makers and corporations as we experience increasingly severe impacts of climate change.

https://couragecalifornia.org/california-poll-results/

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Angela: Through Courage is 2021. Polling, we learned that Californians overwhelmingly care about the environment and climate change. In fact, it was the top issue amongst young voters. But it's only through our new polling that was just released, that we're getting results that really help us better understand what this means for the state and the future of our state.

And with that, I'd like to welcome our guest today, sylvia Ardo and matt Abbu Maia to our podcast. Thank you both for joining me today.

[00:00:32] Sylvia: Yeah, it's great to be

here. 

[00:00:33] Matt: It's a pleasure.

[00:00:34] Angela: So if you can give us some background about the organizations you come from and your role there, so we get a better idea of just all the great work you guys are doing in California 

before we dive into this sylvia, I'll start with you.

[00:00:47] Sylvia: Yeah. Sylvia with Communities For a Better Environment, I'm the Civic engagement director. And C B E. We're a statewide environmental justice organization with 45 years of [00:01:00] building people's power in California's communities of color and low income communities in Richmond and in East Oakland, in the East Bay, and here in Los, Los Angeles, in Southern California.

And we achieve environmental health injustice by preventing and reducing pollution, building green, healthy and sustainable communities and environments by providing youth and adult. With organizing and civic mobilization skills, leadership training, legal and scientific research assistants so that they can participate in the decisions that impact their lives.

And we also engage in local, regional, statewide, and national policy.

[00:01:37] Angela: And Matt, do you mind sharing a bit about yourself and your organization 

[00:01:41] Matt: Yeah, of course. I'm mad. Arch Macias. I'm the Deputy Campaigns Director for California Environmental Voters and California Environmental Voters is a statewide organization, has existed for 50 years, and we are in the business of changing what's possible. We know we have the solutions to the climate crisis, but what we lack as a [00:02:00] political will, and our job is to build the political will.

We do a lot of work focusing on electing climate justice champions, holding them accountable to passing bold policy. Also building the support at the grassroots and grass tops level to make sure that policy on climate justice moves forward. And so for us, we really see us not just as an organization that is a policy expert necessarily, or an organization that, has all the most scientific expertise, but the expert that does the political maneuvering to make sure that that policy can move forward and that the experts are heard when making policy in California.

[00:02:39] Angela: I feel like climate change and the environment is on top of everyone's mind right now. You know, just on my mind, there's the wildfires in Canada. I'm hearing about cyclones in Pakistan, and, you know, everyone globally is filling the effects of climate change and environmental justice on top of the minds of a [00:03:00] lot of communities in California.

But, Not necessarily all communities. So while we learned that young voters really care about this issue, it was important for us to do another poll this year. because we learned about the top issues all throughout the state and in 2021, we really wanted to dive into the thing that young voters care about the most and really get a better idea of what that means for California.

California is so diverse in its communities and its geography. The environment has different definitions to different people depending on where you are and who you are. Same with climate change. So we conducted a statewide poll that is brand new, just released. So we went all ages, all demographics.

We really wanted to. Get some of a poll that was reflective of California voters. So we went super diverse on this poll and we asked our respondents about the effects of climate [00:04:00] change, its economic impact, and how to best enact change. So while these results are still very fresh, we have at least had a chance to take a look at the 2023 California Environmental Poll findings.

And I'm curious. As to what really stood out to you both about the polling results. Like was there anything that was really surprising that you didn't expect? Or did you see any major shifts in people's attitudes towards climate change and the environment? Matt, I'll start with you this time.

[00:04:33] Matt: Yeah. I think for me this poll was not surprising, and that's because it's on trend with the. Lot of the polling that we've done the last few years. You mentioned the poll that courage lasted right, and we're seeing similarity result. What is, I think the sur not surprising, but kind of the continued trend that is important to note is that climate change is consistently the top issue on voters' minds.

And I [00:05:00] think that the, then what I find surprising is the continued disconnect between what policymakers and corporations are focused on and investing in versus what voters are saying is most important to them. And I get it, there are a lot of issues in California to resolve, and this is one of many.

However, I'm of the firm belief that addressing climate change and building a climate, just future, It is a pathway to addressing a lot of other injustices that we need to resolve in California.

[00:05:32] Sylvia: I would agree with Matt, right? This data is not surprising. It actually validates and underscores what our communities are experiencing, right? Black Latina, A A P I communities. Especially youth, right in particular, we're the closest to these issues of climate. Impacts environmental racism, right?

When it comes down to it and we see and fill and breathe and live day in and day out, these climate [00:06:00] change impacts and. What I wanna point to is like two very clear examples that underscore, or at least one maybe um, that underscore what this looks like and what we see from the polling results.

Extreme heat is showing as a top um, one of those results of climate change and our communities are filling that. We have little to no place to cool off during the summer. our communities don't have. AC as readily available in our homes, in our apartment units. And so I know as growing up in a frontline community in Wilmington, in one of the communities that CBE organizes in, you know, I didn't have access to ac.

And we're feeling this day in and day out as our summers get hotter, our days were just in heat at night. It's still heat, there's no cooling effect. And this is largely due in part to the urban heat island effect, where our communities are not getting the chance to cool off at all in the summer [00:07:00] and we're experiencing higher pollution levels.

And this is just a, a real recipe for heat related deaths and illnesses. And I think that's really reflected. In the poll, if we start looking at the changes that people are experiencing, and it's coming more so true in the polling results year

after 

year, so, 

[00:07:18] Matt: I just wanna add to what Sylvia's saying here, because people are already dying in California because of heat related death. It's not something that's going to be just something of the future, but it's something that is currently happening now. And we need policy that is going to make sure that people don't die because of heat island effect.

And it's not just, you know, addressing the, the, the symptom of climate change, which is the extreme heat, and making sure that people have a resilient community, but also investing in the long term policy making that will prevent it from happening or getting worse in the future.

[00:07:53] Angela: I feel like there is a huge disconnect. There is urgency in California. There [00:08:00] is major urgency in our most impacted communities, but our leaders just aren't acting with that same urgency. It really makes me think of. This, I heard recently that the people that contribute the least to global warming are facing the highest impact of it.

And that's not just happening in our communities. Like that is AGL global thing that's happening but we're the ones feeling the impact. We're the ones seeing it at our doorstep and having to live it every day. So from our poll, we gathered that depending on age, Depending on, your demographics, where you live, you have different concerns. The major concern we saw was climate change affecting the environment. Cause we also asked about health concerns. We asked a about jobs and economy, but everyone that we polled regardless of age and demographics, really saw the impact of [00:09:00] climate change.

On their environments that they're living in, on disasters, on wildfires, on floods, on, you know, just everything that California is going through and has been going through for a while, but we're seeing it get worse and worse every year. So while it's not just major heat waves, we have droughts, we have fires, we have floods, and it's just getting worse and worse And it's the communities that we represent that are often the ones that have the hardest time recovering from those disasters,

[00:09:35] Matt: Yeah. And if I could add to just kind of. the data points that set out to me is the first question asked. is climate change real and a threat to our future and to our societies? 63% overall said that, yes, climate change is real and it's a threat, and so that shows highest like concern across all groups.

However, it was highest amongst Asians, blacks, and Latinas and people under 45. what that [00:10:00] really shows is that. Bipo communities and young people really understand that climate change is that threat and we need to see action on it. And then what people are seeing now of the impacts of climate change and the effects it's having is through natural disasters, which ultimately hurt economic growth and prosperity, and have real life impact on people.

And the issues there that pulled at the top were drought and water scarcity. Wildfires and air pollution and water quality. So it's clear that these are the top concerns of voters in California, especially amongst Bipo communities and young people. People under 45.

[00:10:41] Angela: with these poll results, I'm, I'm really curious as to what this tells you about Californian's attitudes towards environmental justice and climate change, and knowing now. What we know and how Californians view environmental [00:11:00] justice and climate change and are feeling it, are seeing it how they are receiving information about it.

What do you think this means as we head into the closing of, you know, 2023? We have the ledge cycle that's about to end. We are going to go into. 2024 election year. So what does this mean? This poll mean for the future of California in your eyes.

[00:11:27] Sylvia: for me and what I am seeing, I think it means really two things that come to the top of my mind. One is that Californians will champion and stand alongside bold leaders that lean into taking more aggressive action for climate and environmental justice because right, we feel the impacts day in and day out.

Even our urban communities, neighborhoods that are distant from the wildfires, we still feel those impacts because of smoke pollution that comes into our [00:12:00] communities, our basins. These are communities that are already over impacted by refinery pollution, other industrial areas. And so it's just compounding and pollution impacts.

And so second I think that Bipo voters will support measures that are on the ballot that safeguard their health. They will vote for holding corporations accountable. And all of this underscores that that we have the right messengers, the right message and censoring frontline bipo voices to really drive forward the visions of Californians.

And so voters really have to do see themselves, see people that look like them, hear the frontline stories, to see that. They're not siloed in their own thinking. So that way we could come together and collectively vote for policies and elected officials that will champion and take strong action for the environment and for the health of our [00:13:00] communities.

[00:13:00] Matt: If I was to add anything to that, I thinking, I'm thinking about what's actually happening in the legislature this year. We have a few bills that are around corporate accountability and their emissions and their carbon pollution. We have, bills that are related to, divesting from fossil fuel.

And we also have some policy that will be on the ballot next year around protecting communities from oil drilling in their neighborhoods and upholding that policy that the legislature passed last year. And this polling affirms that Californians to Sylvia's Point, wanna hold these corporations accountable.

They don't want the drilling in their neighborhoods. They want to uphold policy that protects people and their health, and they recognize That government has to act. And also we have poll corporations accountable to acting. And that the future of California is one of clean energy. A climate just future that transitions us away from fossil fuel.[00:14:00] 

And I think it's very evident through the poll results that that's what Californians want.

[00:14:05] Sylvia: I wanna add it and underscore what you're saying here, Matt, right. 64% of Californians believe we should trans. Transition off of dirty fossil fuels and into clean, renewable energy systems. And so it's really investing in those new jobs and at the same time, right, holding those corporations accountable.

And so alongside that, Californians are also putting their foot down on trading our health for a paycheck. I really appreciated seeing that. In the polling results as well because our communities should not have to choose between putting food on their table and whether they can, you know, are going to the doctors, right?

These choices of impacting our health. And so seeing that 72% of Californians disagree with accepting new jobs at the expense of their health is really critical and we should be driving that line forward.

[00:14:56] Matt: Yes, that is exactly the point that I was thinking [00:15:00] about because so much of our policy is held because a lot of legislators and rightfully so, are concerned about the economic impacts of policy and how it will impact individuals within their community. However, they use it as an excuse often to stop good policy from moving forward to say, oh, well this will hurt job growth and creation.

in my district, what we found is that, one, it's usually not true, but two voters still don't want those dirty jobs in their communities either. So what we need them to do is to three, actually think about, well then what's the right solution? To transition my community to make sure that there are good jobs that don't hurt their health in the process.

[00:15:41] Angela: The job ones was really interesting because while Californians aren't willing to take the jobs, if you look a little deeper at the numbers, you start seeing that this bipo community that are slightly more likely to take the jobs that hurt their health. [00:16:00] And for me, like that kind of broke my heart because.

You know what kind of jobs are in those communities and you have to earn a paycheck, our communities are being put in a tight spot in that these warehouse jobs, these refineries, these, the ones that really do hurt and contribute are the ones that a lot of folks have in their community as their jobs, and they have to.

But they don't want to. You're, you're right. They want politicians, corporations to be accountable and to change. Another thing that really caught my attention was they also saw political leaders and corporations as the ones that can do the change and that have the power to do the change, but they also saw them as the barrier to change.

 As we head into the end of the year, the beginning of next year, what [00:17:00] can we, as individual Californians do knowing that it's the corporations, it's the politicians that need to do it. What can we do as individuals?

[00:17:11] Sylvia: before the individual action, I think what's really critical in what I saw and just, you know, digesting the poll results and the experiences that we have as an organization and individually too, or what I, you know, thinking about is there was a split on whether Californians can encourage politicians to address environmental issues.

And you know, this is where I think the collective we could dig into a bit more because we know putting pressure, educating our electeds and working in lockstep with them, right? Having that inside outside strategy, it does work right to make change. But what sometimes doesn't get uplifted or not sometimes a lot of the time, is that frontline leaders are environmental justice organizations.

We don't [00:18:00] get credit for the work, right? It's the elected officials that claim the credit. And so we're, you know, I said, let's back up from that individual action. It's really about our elected officials bringing us into the fold more bringing communities, highlighting our stories. To put this message on a broader, you know, platform.

Because without acknowledging our frontline communities in this fight and environmental justice partners, climate justice partners who made this work happen, then other Californians will not see that their people power, their individual actions can make change. So I think where I'm getting here is that right, it's to change perspectives.

It's about bringing people to the forefront and centering the experiences that we've had and our victories as shared victories with the elected officials as well. And that's what's been missing and I think that's why I'm seeing right in the poll results, [00:19:00] Californians don't believe that or they're split on if they can actually make change with their elected official.

And, and so that's where I wanted to start us off with before getting into that individual action.

[00:19:11] Angela: I appreciate that 

[00:19:12] Matt: Yeah, this is exactly where I was gonna go. I think the framing of the question of what can you do as an individual, I, I would challenge that framing in a way, because so much of the propaganda of the fossil fuel industry is, You as an individual need to change your ways and your responsibility to be better on the environment.

And you know, there's just this, this corporate propaganda across the board about you as an individual. But what Sylvia said is, what we need is collective action. It's through collective action that we are gonna solve this crisis. And there's a question in the poll question, about uh, what aligns with your economic outlook with respect to climate change and.

The overwhelming response that people responded to was, I agree climate change is an issue and I am trying to make small changes to help where I can. That was more than the rich can make change.[00:20:00] That was more than, there's nothing to do and there's no change to be made, and people really took it as an individual responsibility.

But that is the wrong mindset we need to have because it's not individuals who got us into this disaster. It's corporations profiting billions upon billions each year, making money from extracting and polluting communities, and that is where we need to make change. It's gonna take government holding corporations accountable, guiding the policy and corporations changing and changing the profit models so that it's not just about, oh, what makes your shareholders happy, but what's actually beneficial to the social good and social welfare.

And that's what we need to change. And it's clear that voters identified. In this poll that the top ways To make change are voting and advocating. And that's exactly what Sylvia said. Taking the action and voting is an individual like thing that you do. But when you think about everyone's votes pulled together, it's a collective action that we're all deciding in a public square, this is what we want the [00:21:00] priorities for our community.

This is who we think should be elected for us. Right? And then advocating, telling whoever's elected, this is what we want you to do. And so it's very clear that it's not gonna be individual action to. Solve the climate crisis. It's going to be collective action through voting, advocating holding our electeds accountable and corporations accountable, so that way we can have a climate just future.

[00:21:22] Angela: Yes. I love that. So before we go any further, I wanted to ask, where can people follow you, your organization, to support the work that you both do? Can you guys share your, any social media handles, websites, anything you'd like to share with our listeners so they can support your work?

[00:21:41] Sylvia: Yeah, Communities for a Better Environment, we're on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. So at cbe, c a L, so CBE Cal, and that's the same for our website, cbe cal.org.

[00:21:54] Matt: California Environmental Voters. We're on all the platforms as well. First place you probably wanna [00:22:00] go to our website, enviro voters.org, and that's voters with an s, so enviro voters.org. And you could get the links to all of our socials. And our handle is at Enviro voters on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

So you can follow us there. but just go to our website and it'll link you to all of them.

[00:22:16] Angela: So I am loving this conversation. So where we left off, we were talking about really organizing and the collective. So, So I wanna ask you, how can Progressive Partners, environmental leaders, community advocates best use the findings of this poll?

[00:22:35] Sylvia: I can kick us off. Cuz I do think when I look at the poll and one of those like big takeaways for me is that Bipo voters and their communities are key in pushing forward a just transition into a clean renewable future. And this is what we've been saying throughout this whole podcast, right? The importance of youth and bipo communities.

And so when we center our lived experiences [00:23:00] alongside scientists, right alongside the data we're able to then push forward. A message from Trusted Messengers, right? Folks that are experiencing the impacts of climate change environmental racism. We're experts in our own right and I say we cuz I come from the frontline communities raised in Wilmington.

Not in the shadows of oil. Right? Cuz our communities are stepping, breaking out of those like traditional shadows and being vocal. We're being vulnerable. We're sharing our, you know, very real health. Um, Life threatening experiences, right? Like I've lived through a, a refinery explosion. I know what it's like to have my family like pack up you know, immediately um, when I was a kid, I, I really have that memory of just like the chaos.

Of my parents putting us into a car, like grabbing what they [00:24:00] could and like, you know, driving away to another city, which you know, was just into Carson where my other family members lived and just packing us all into one of my tia's houses because we didn't really know where to go. And so it's us, our frontline communities as the trusted messengers.

Who can really share out the narrative to make that change, right? To hold people accountable hold our government elected officials, corporations accountable, but really just holding the messaging together and centering our lived experiences is what I wanna say. Is like trusting and believing in our stories.

[00:24:40] Angela: Matt, do you have anything to add? 

[00:24:41] Matt: How do we get that message into voters' hands so that they too are aware of that their neighbors have the same feelings that they do. That they're not alone in this, and that there is a pathway forward, there's hope for the future as long as they, like, you know, vote, talk to their legislators, elect the right people and make sure [00:25:00] that we can't continue to allow corporations to make decisions over our lives.

That we have the power to make those decisions. And so I think the ways to use this is to continue to uplift and share these results through the media to our legislators, but to our communities as well.

[00:25:16] Angela: Right, right. It's not just getting it to the people who make the decisions, it's also getting it to each other. Like, we're not siloed in this. We all care about this and here's the ways we care about it and what our fears are. What we're willing to do, like according to this poll, we are willing to invest.

We are willing to transition into renewable energy like we are willing to. Focus on green jobs. Like we are willing to do that. We want to do that. the younger generation BiPAP communities like women overwhelmingly want to do that and are seeing our communities and like when we think about future generations, like we [00:26:00] care about future generations, we are future generations.

So it is so important, and it's just letting each other know that we are in this together and we have the power, like according to this poll, we have power

[00:26:11] Matt: Yeah, 

[00:26:12] Sylvia: And we're

ready.

[00:26:13] Angela: and we're so ready.

[00:26:14] Sylvia: yeah, not just willing, wanting, but we're ready to do

this. 

[00:26:18] Matt: Yeah. And, and what we're experiencing now is policy failures of the past, and we can't allow the future to exist with current policy failures. That's why we need to continue pushing now.

[00:26:30] Angela: I wanna go back to the individual.

So what does we as individual Californians do to drive and help and impact change? So I'm, I'm not asking about should we recycle, like no. What can we do? What actionable items can we do to ensure that our stories are getting out there to ensure electives, are hearing it, to ensure our communities are hearing it?

What are your top three to-dos? If someone asked you, well, what can I do?

[00:26:57] Matt: As an organizer, the first thing I think of is talk to [00:27:00] somebody about it. So talk to somebody else. You know, build a relationship around this. But I think something more tangible too is voting and then telling your elected official you want them to ask.

[00:27:12] Sylvia: Yeah. This is on point to what I wrote down as well. Mine in a little reverse order though was voting is, you know, the way to take action that like tangible results. But we have to remember that voting is also very limited. It's just one tool because not everyone has access to vote. And so it leads me to the second point of write the advocacy, the being able to like, speak up, tell your story give public testimony.

Find out who represents you, call them, write to them, right? All those just like. Action steps to uplift frontline stories, to uplift your own story and letting elected officials know where you stand on climate and environmental justice issues, and that you want them to take [00:28:00] action and do all that they can to take that action to protect community health for all of Californians.

And then lastly, it was just getting really connected with our organizations here, with the organization environmental or climate justice organization in your neighborhood. And so just taking that time right to lend your skills and talents to the movement in general. Cuz it's really gonna take like all of us doing all we can,

[00:28:24] Angela: Yeah. Yeah, and I would like to add to that one more item. Holding electeds accountable. electing them into office. We are asking them to do a thing, and it's up to us to hold them accountable. I appreciate all you guys have shared and yes, I Get involved. Learn about these organizations that are doing this incredible work.

And with that, I wanna thank Sylvia and Matt again for joining me today and because I want people to know you guys and know your organizations and the great work you're doing. Do you mind sharing your social media handles and website again one more time for our listeners so they [00:29:00] know where to find you.

[00:29:01] Matt: Yeah, California Environmental Voters. We can be found@envirovoters.org. Our handles are at Enviro voters.

[00:29:08] Sylvia: Yep. And for communities for a Better Environment, we're at cbe cal.org and we're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at CBE cal.

[00:29:17] Angela: Wonderful. Thank you. And as a reminder, you can always reach out to us. Courage, California. You can find us at courage ca on all our social media channels or email us@infocouragecalifornia.org. Thank you both.

[00:29:31] Sylvia: Yeah. Thank you.