PARTITION Part 1

Will climate problems reinforce American divisions?

Mar 03, 2023

Partition, which to Buddy simply meant Separation, was not a concept he ever wanted to think about.

Calls for the US to split into two countries have been growing in recent years. One that got plenty of attention last week was Marjorie Taylor Greene’s thoughts on what she is calling a “national divorce.”

Tragically, I think we, the left and right, have reached irreconcilable differences. I’ll speak for the right and say, we are absolutely disgusted and fed up with the left cramming and forcing their ways on us and our children with no respect for our religion/faith, traditional values, and economic and government policy beliefs.

SOME BIG DIVIDES

Divisions within the country are more developed than most of us realize. Recently CNN’s Ronald Brownstein said it best:

The red states are moving social policy sharply to the right within their borders on issues from abortion to LGBTQ rights and classroom censorship, while simultaneously working to hobble the ability of either the federal government or their own largest metro areas to set a different course. To a degree unimaginable even a decade ago, this broad offensive increasingly looks like an effort to define a nation within a nation – one operating with a set of rules and policies that diverge from the rest of America more than in almost any previous era.

The number of Americans who consider a ‘national divorce’ possible will surprise most of us.

A recent survey found that about 50 percent of Donald Trump voters and 40 percent of Joe Biden voters agreed to some extent with the proposition that the country should split up, with either red or blue states seceding. [UVA Center for Politics]

States where power is shared are few and far between these days. More than 80% of Americans now reside in a state where the legislative majority and the governor are of the same political party. And the US real estate industry is reporting that, especially now that more workers control where they work, political issues are more and more important when they choose where to live.

15% of those surveyed would refuse to live in a place where abortion was “fully legal,” while 12% said they would only live in a place where it was “fully legal.” [Survey by Redfin]

PRACTICAL AND CULTURAL FAULT LINES

Divisions in America run along lots of issues. Many citizens on the Right feel their lives will be better if they live in a jurisdiction where, among other thing,

It’s illegal to teach anything that causes anyone to “feel guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress” due to their race, color, sex or national origin.
Climate- or justice-conscious investment products cannot be created or sold.
Services supporting gay, trans, or homosexual people are illegal.

Many citizens on the Left feel their lives will be better if they live in a state where, among other things,

They or their daughters can safely terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Their next-door neighbor cannot openly carry his firearm when he visits them.
The state legislature cannot quash a city’s ordinance that protects LGBTQ citizens.

WHAT ABOUT CLIMATE FAULT LINES?

While the cultural and ideological differences that characterize Red and Blue states have been shouted ad nauseam, almost nothing is said about the widening differences, state-to-state, related to climate change. Physical and economic more than ideological, those growing distinctions will soon be more stark in many hometowns than those over gun control, education, and abortion.

Few voters seem to understand that certain states, counties and towns are nearly climate-proof, while others are virtually climate-doomed, some by their geography and some by their political leadership.

Across the country families are thinking they’d prefer to live in a state

With much lower than average damage—physical, medical, and economic—predicted from heat waves, tropical cyclones, drought, wildfires, air pollution, sea level rise, water pollution, or floods.
Which has a Chief Resilience Officer, a Climate Action Plan, and other evidence of a public preference for climate action (like Virginia) versus one that doesn’t even mention climate change in its Hazard Mitigation Plan (like South Carolina).
That is providing state funds and training to create local climate protections.
That is willing to support and accept federal programs that help us protect and adapt.
Where we can talk about climate without being attacked as “Eastern academic elite” or “woke.”

Another challenge, depending on the attitudes of the local community, is cooperation. Many efforts to protect ourselves from climate damage will be created at the town and county level, and those efforts are more likely to be effective if residents of the area are not suspicious and resentful of their neighbors on other issues.

Since 2012, when I began writing my book, I’ve been urging people to learn how much climate dangers and costs are going to vary from place to place. The American Right is telling everyone that living in the wrong state could make a huge difference to their mental and emotional comfort. So I’m back on my soapbox reminding everyone that living in the wrong state and hometown can likewise dramatically decrease our climate-related physical, economic and, yes, emotional safety.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

If we don’t know already, check to see if our current hometown would be a red, purple, or blue state.
Add climate safety to our list of criteria for where we want to live.
Inventory our own climate risk. Will our neighbors be moving before long? Are there adaptations and protections that our town can make? Does our Statehouse sound as if it will help plan and fund them?
Check Our List of Climate-Proof Indicators for ratings near us. (Without Buddy, I’ve been slow expanding and updating this resource, but it’s still a good place to start.)
Imagine our hometown’s future. Consider whether it’s not too early to think about migrating for climate or political reasons. Or at least persuading our children to do so.
Do not be mesmerized by political issues while underestimating climate issues.
Read PARTITION Part 2, next week’s ClimateDog, about what an actual divorce might look like and how we might prepare for it.

It’s not yet obvious whether climate safety will become another issue that divides America and defines Left- and Right-leaning states. But today’s maps showing states with high and low climate costs look . . . well, they look something like maps of Red and Blue states.