Arizona is one of the six or seven states where this year’s presidential election is likely to be decided. With its eleven electors, Arizona could quickly become the swing state that decides whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will govern the United States for the next four years. At the same time, one of the themes that affects voters’ everyday life is almost absent from the election campaign. Status in electorate? Each state in the United States has a given number of electors based on population. Whoever gets the most votes in a state gets all the state’s electors. The candidate with the most electors in total wins the election. Harris 0% support Trump 0% support Average of the latest polls. Updated: Source: 538. More about news’s use of numbers. Far down on the agenda In Arizona, everyday life today is marked by record high temperatures, extreme drought and large forest fires. According to the USA’s own climate report, these are effects of climate change. And it will get worse, according to the report. Nevertheless, there is little indication that the state is in the middle of the climate crisis when you follow the election campaign in Arizona. – Climate issues are not high on the agenda. It is perhaps in 7th or 8th place, says author and USA expert Jan Arild Snoen. Paul Gosar represents Arizona in the House of Representatives in Washington. Photo: AFP Comparing with sun gods and death cults – Republicans say to a large extent that they either do not believe in climate change or say that it is not worth implementing costly and extensive measures anyway, says Snoen. In Arizona, there are more from the first group – those who do not believe in climate change – among the Republicans. One of them is Paul Gosar. He has a long history of denying climate change. NPR writes that in 2019 he boycotted a speech by Pope Francis to Congress because of the pope’s views on climate change. In the same year, he said that the problem of climate change is not real because of photosynthesis, writes Axios. The website’s research editor says in a comment that photosynthesis has nothing to do with climate change. Kristen Kindl works at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. She looks at a hardy saguaro cactus that has been damaged and has lost an arm due to the heat and drought. Photo: AP Gosar is one of six Republicans from Arizona in the House of Representatives in Washington. The Democrats have three representatives. – Since the 1970s, “experts” have been warning us that, like the sun gods of the Mayan Indians, the planet will soon die and everyone who lives there too. Gosar wrote that in his weekly newsletter on 3 March. Gosar’s electoral district is located in western Arizona. It includes the western suburbs of Phoenix, the American metropolis that feels climate change the most. – I reject fake science. I reject the predictions of death cults. If I have to believe in anything, it is Jesus Christ and fact-based science, Gosar wrote further. – Don’t tell me we’re in a strange warming trend. I don’t believe it for a second, says Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for the Senate from Arizona. Photo: AP – It’s hot in Arizona Gosar is far from the only Arizona Republican who rejects climate change. Kari Lake is the Republican candidate for an open seat in the Senate. – Newsflash, it’s hot in Arizona in the summer. That’s how we avoid being swamped by visitors, she said on a podcast according to Cronkite News. In the state senate, local Republicans have gone further. This spring, the Republican majority passed a law – SB 1195 – which was intended to stop all use of public money for climate action. The law would not only prohibit all use of money on measures to reduce emissions, but also all research into climate change. The law was not adopted. Although the Republicans have a narrow majority (31–29) in the House of Representatives as well, the law was stopped there. And even at the very top of the lot, climate receives little attention. – Donald Trump is more concerned with “drill baby, drill” than climate policy, says Snoen. Annual mean temperature in Arizona, 1895–2022. Photo: Arizona’s state climate agency Heat waves in a row Around two-thirds of Arizona’s roughly 7 million inhabitants live in Phoenix or in the city’s suburbs. It’s always been hot in Phoenix, but in recent years it’s gotten noticeably hotter. Last year, the city experienced 31 days in a row with temperatures above 43.3 degrees. Three days in a row the thermometer crawled above 48.3 degrees. This year, a record has been set again, writes Reuters. This year’s summer – the months of June, July and August – was the hottest on record. Last year’s record has been beaten by over a full degree, reports the US National Weather Service. For 113 days in a row, the temperature in Phoenix has been above 37.8 degrees. And the development is clear. In the past five years, the city has had an average of 40 days with a temperature above 43.3 degrees. In the early 1900s, there were five such days each year, according to Arizona’s state climate agency. More people are dying. The result of the more frequent and hotter heat waves is clear. More people die from the heat. From 2022 to 2023 alone, the number of deaths due to heat increased by over 50 percent, from 425 to 645. The figures for this year are not entirely clear. 256 people have been recorded dead due to heat, with a further 393 deaths where heat is suspected as the cause. Around half of those who die are homeless. They are among the few in the city who do not have access to air-conditioning systems. Roberto Delaney brings an ice cream into his tent in a camp for the homeless in Phoenix during a heat wave in the summer of 2022. Photo: AP – Trying to find a balance Even among the Democrats, climate issues do not receive much attention in the election campaign. – Many Americans see extreme weather events as natural variations. Extreme weather is not linked to climate change to the same extent in Europe, says Snoen. At the same time, he does not believe that climate change is a topic that causes one party to take voters from the other. Snoen believes that for the Democrats it is more about mobilizing their own voters. – The Democrats are trying to find a balance between emission cuts and business. Kamala Harris talks about her being in favor of fracking in Pennsylvania, where fracking generates large revenues, while elsewhere she says more about climate policy, he says. Heat warning for those going for a walk in Phoenix Photo: AFP Groundwater is disappearing While politics and the election campaign continue above ground, Arizona is changing underground. For several decades, Phoenix has been the fastest growing large city in the United States. That development may now be over. Last summer, Arizona had to stop issuing permits to develop new residential areas, writes the New York Times. The reason was simple; there is not enough groundwater. Overconsumption, drought and heat have reduced the reserves. The lack of groundwater will, by all accounts, affect the inhabitants strongly in the years to come. But it is not on the political agenda. Published 06.10.2024, at 21.51
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Little climate interest in Phoenix despite consecutive heat waves – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
