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How might lawmakers prioritize the climate with skeptics in power?

Fallen ice melts in an ice cave created by meltwater at the retreating Castner Glacier in the Alaska Range on May 5, 2023 near Paxson, Alaska.
Mario Tama
/
Getty Images
Fallen ice melts in an ice cave created by meltwater at the retreating Castner Glacier in the Alaska Range on May 5, 2023 near Paxson, Alaska. The ice cave is slowly collapsing after a surge of meltwater and high temperatures last summer. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ‘the state is warming at two to three times the rate of the global average’ amid climate change. A 2021 study, using twenty years of data from NASA’s Terra satellite, found that nearly all of the world’s glaciers are melting, with fifty percent of the planet’s glacial loss happening in the U.S. and Canada.

The Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate and humans are responsible. That’s according to NASA. But a new administration is taking over the White House that has a track record of flouting environmental science. What’ll be done over the next few years to address climate change?

In the past few years, lawmakers in Connecticut have gotten closer to meaningful legislation that would lower a vehicle’s carbon footprint. They’ve also introduced a pilot program targeting food scraps in an effort to reduce waste.

Their job may get harder.

President-elect Donald Trump's record on climate change is already forcing state lawmakers to re-think local policy changes. A week after the election, Gov. Ned Lamont said he’s no longer pursuing a mandate that would’ve phased out sales of new gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035.

Today on the Wheelhouse, how initiatives seeking to curb climate change will be impacted by the 2024 election.

GUESTS:

The Wheelhouse is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Frankie Graziano is the host of 'The Wheelhouse,' focusing on how local and national politics impact the people of Connecticut.
Chloe Wynne is a producer for The Wheelhouse and Where We Live. She previously worked as a producer and reporter for the investigative podcast series, Admissible: Shreds of Evidence, which was co-produced by VPM and Story Mechanics and distributed by iHeartRadio. She began her journalism career at inewsource, an investigative newsroom in San Diego, Calif., where she covered housing, education and crime. She earned her master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School in 2021, where she focused on audio storytelling.
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