Some political organizers have put together a super-PAC to support Democrats and arm them against the Republican, climate-denying kooks. The PAC aims to provide support to Democratic candidates that make climate change a top-priority issue.
Environmental blogger and chair of the California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus R.L. Miller helped found Climate Hawks Vote. Climate Hawks Vote’s main objective is to put together a ranking system that measures where politicians stand on the issue of climate change.
The scorecard developed by Climate Hawks Vote keeps track of how much each House Democrat has actually done on the issue of climate change. On a scale of +100 to -100, each Democratic House member is considered either a climate hawk (those who possess a sincere commitment to addressing climate change), climate duck (those who vote with the party, but never speaks publicly on the issue), or climate peacocks (those who are all talk but no show).
By classifying House Democrats into one of these three categories, Climate Hawks Vote can decide who would be best suited for party leadership concerning climate change. Those considered best-suited by Climate Hawks Vote will receive campaign funding to help these candidates and House members to better spread their message.
“I want to use it to identify the climate champions,” said Miller. “I wanted to create a certain toughness that I think has been missing from environmental politics . . . a hard-headed, in-it-to-win-it attitude when it comes to climate change.”
This effort is the kind of backbone that climate advocates and the Democratic leadership needs to kickstart some real change and fight the obstructionism of the Republican party. The group’s received donations for initial funding have been small, but the group looks to eventually help fund more “on-the-ground organizing.”
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
