 Millennials
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ODP Environmental Anxiety Index: Millennials Want Climate Action
In the Our Daily Planet Environmental Anxiety Index we found high levels of anxiety about climate change, with Millennials' anxiety highest. The fact that Millennials care immensely about climate change is not exactly a revelation. The most surprising thing we surfaced in our poll is that the generation that is farthest from Millennials in their attitudes about climate change is the one closest to them in age -- Gen Xers.
For example, when it comes to government-sponsored climate change science, 73% of millennials surveyed disagreed with the Environmental Protection Agency's removal of references to climate change from its website, while only 52% of Gen Xers disagreed with this action. By comparison, more than 62% of boomers disagreed. Similarly, when it comes to whether the government should be favoring wind and solar over fossil fuel development, millennials overwhelmingly supported wind and solar. The Gen Xers were much less averse to fossil fuels than millennials or boomers.
Why This Matters: The Trump Administration has reversed many Obama Administration policies that helped to grow the wind and solar power industries -- policies that are overwhelmingly supported by Millennials. Instead, the Trump team favors fossil fuels -- but it does so at its political peril. The same is true when it comes to climate change science -- pretending that climate change does not exist is not playing well with the public -- but particularly with Millennials.
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 Land
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Climbers Climb the Hill for Land Conservation
Today a broad coalition of outdoor-oriented non-profits and companies, including the American Alpine Club, The Access Fund, REI, Patagonia and The North Face, plan to charge up Capitol Hill in support of improved access to public lands, smart energy policy on public lands, and retaining the Antiquities Act and re-instating the Bears Ears and other monuments scaled back by the Trump Administration. Their message is clear (and spelled out in detail on their campaign web page) -- the government should be doing more to protect public lands and improve our national parks for recreation. And while not opposed to energy development on public lands, they believe that a full public process that includes all stakeholders is required -- something that has not happened under this Administration. And groups like this one, Conserve With Us, are starting to use new funding mechanisms like crowdsourcing to change the dialogue about conserving land for public use.
Why This Matters to Millennials: Because this group of conservationists is led by Millennials. Look at their "who's coming" page and it is a facebook of young people. This is a great sign for the conservation movement -- we need the youthful energy and new tactics of the social media generation. And we at ODP hope this will inspire other millennials to do the same -- make their views known to our elected leaders and help conservationists "take the Hill" in November. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who founded Earth Day, would be pleased. If there are other conservation groups organizing similar "hill days" -- let us know and we will feature them here at ODP. We know there is a March for the Ocean on June 9 and similar Hill Day planned for that. Keep them coming!
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Photo: Michael Macor/ SF Chronicle
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 Climate Change
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Photo: Michael Macor/SF Chronicle
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There's No Denying Climate Change in California
A report released on Wednesday called Indicators of Climate Change in California, shows a dramatic increase in temperatures in the state since 1895, especially since the early 1980s. The warmest year in California history was 2014, followed closely by 2015, 2017 and 2016. As the SF Chronicle reported, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) report concludes that bigger, more intense forest fires, longer droughts, warmer ocean temperatures and an ever-shrinking snowpack in the Sierra Nevada are “unequivocal” evidence of the ruinous domino-effects that climate change is having on California.
The increase in temperatures has led to an increase in extreme weather with the five largest fire years since 1950 all having since 2006, and last year saw the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in state history. All this comes with a very hefty price tag, last year's wine country fires alone cost at least $9.4 billion in property, vehicle, and business losses, insurance claims show.
Climate change is a bitter reality for California and the state is taking serious steps to reduce emissions and promote clean energy. Senate Bill 32, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016, put California on course to reduce emissions an additional 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. Then yesterday, the state moved forward with a plan to require all new homes to have solar panels starting in 2020. Though some like the Times' Brad Plumer points out that increasing housing density would be a smarter sustainable housing policy.
Why This Matters To Millennials: This is a preview of the challenges climate change will bring to our world and it's going to be Millennials and younger generations that are going to have to bear the brunt and find the solutions. California also happens to have the country's highest population of Millennials (more than the entire population of Switzerland) who are going to have to change their habits in some major ways to adapt to climate change.
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People
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Exclusive ODP Interview with Dan Myers, International Policy Director of the Pristine Seas Program at the National Geographic Society
ODP: You work at National Geographic — how important is exploration to what you accomplish? How important are the visual products — films, graphics, photos, etc.?
DM: Exploration is vital to conservation, especially in the ocean. So little of the ocean has been explored and so few people have seen the extraordinary life that exists under the waves. By capturing world-class images and footage, we can transport leaders, communities, and citizens to the magic of the depths. From there, it's easy to argue that these places must be protected. As another National Geographic Explorer puts it, "the first step to making people want to protect a place is to make them fall in love with it."
ODP: You have worked on projects from Niue to the Canadian Arctic -- what is the key to success for your work with communities?
DM: There is no substitute for time spent on the ground in local communities. No amount of desk research can supplant the days and weeks spent on location, listening to communities to understand their concerns and desires. From there, you can work with the community to create a collaborative partnership to boost their voice and support their work.
ODP: What did you learn about how to be an effective conservation advocate from your time working for former Vice President Al Gore on climate change?
DM: Former Vice President Gore taught me that to lead in conservation or environmental work, you have to be resilient. There will be many moments when it seems like everything is falling apart -- where there is no hope. In those moments, we must remember that we are playing the long game. The success of our work will be measured in decades and centuries. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to work.
ODP: At a time of so much challenge for conservation, what makes you optimistic about the future?
DM: It's easy to be pessimistic right now. It seems there's bad news everywhere! My optimism stems from my belief that while the headlines are bad, monumental changes to policy and awareness are underway that will radically reshape the future of our country and our planet. Looking back 50 years from now, this period will be defined both by astounding, willful ignorance and by prescient leaders who are laying the groundwork for a sustainable future.
ODP: Since we are spotlighting the work of the millennial generation, we wonder what millennial stereotypes do you defy and which ones do you resemble?
DM: I cannot stand social media. I do love avocado toast.
Thanks, Dan! We love avacado toast too!
To Go Deeper with National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas, click below.
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 Oceans
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Sea Ice Off Alaska At An All Time Low
On April 23rd scientists measuring sea ice off the Alaskan coast were stunned by the lack of ice they found. Government scientists confirmed that sea ice in the Bering Sea, the body of water between Alaska and Russia, was only at 10 percent of normal levels, according to The Washington Post. "We've fallen off a cliff: very little sea ice remains in the Bering Sea," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientist Rick Thoman tweeted on April 29. The lack of stable ice cover makes it difficult for Alaska residents to travel between communities, and to hunt for dietary staples like fish and crabs.
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Meanwhile, we guess while no one was watching, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) put out a report which showed that the Arctic experienced record-breaking high temperatures in late 2016 that were 30 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit above normal during that time. According to a study published in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes, NOAA scientists found that modeling for natural variations in climate did not account for the temperature hike. Instead, they determined that approximately 60% of the Arctic warmth was human-caused climate change.
Why This Matters to Millennials: The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the rest of the planet, according to NOAA researchers, and November 2016 really stands out as an extreme right now. Antarctica also set records at the time. But the scientists predict that the rate of warming in the Arctic will only get worse. Under some of the worst-case scenarios, the records set in 2016 could become typical by 2030, the study's authors found. It's getting hot in here. And by the time Millennials are in the midst of adulthood, the Arctic will likely be transformed.
One Funny Thing To Make the Point: See the picture above! It's called Project Trumpmore (because it was inspired by Mount Rushmore). The Finnish NGO, Melting Ice, is raising $500,000 in order to create a 115-foot ice sculpture of Trump’s face in the Arctic region. They hope to demonstrate the dangers of climate change by keeping track of how long it takes the iceberg to melt. Just imagine the sight of him melting.
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 Food
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The Future of Feeding America
This week Civil Eats published a fantastic piece by Ash Bruxvoort, a Millennial and farmers daughter, who discussed the urban-rural divide and how farmers like her dad are struggling as a cog in our deeply flawed food system. Her take is that farmers' daughters like herself and the women she highlights in her piece can be the best ambassadors to help fix this food system which forces family farmers (including most organic farmers) to struggle to survive.
Bruxvoort adds that "as more farmland changes hands and family farmers are pushed off the land, farmer’s daughters could play a critical role in shaping our food system and shifting the larger narrative about what we should prioritize within that system. As we’ve watched our families and neighbors struggle and thrive, we’ve seen the holes in the food system and have the tools and transformational stories to bridge the divisive conversation happening today." Noting that the stereotypes we have for one another can keep us from progress: " It is far easier to fit someone into a box like “Trump-supporting, racist farmer” than to understand that person as a human. We talk about the urban-rural divide as if it is a debate, rather than an opportunity for growth and understanding. As people sit on both sides of the divide and assume their own views are correct, we collectively suffer." We highly recommend you read the entire piece here.
Go Deeper: Yesterday the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee released its 2019 spending bill for USDA and FDA and rejected the deep cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. The measure would add $72 million for research and would fund conservation programs at $1.05 billion after the "administration had proposed a 16 percent cut across agriculture programs, including eliminating the Conservation Stewardship Program and Regional Conservation Partnership Program and slashing subsidies for crop insurance." There's bipartisan support for more sustainable farming and that's a really good thing!
Why This Matters to Millennials: Our current system doesn't work for everyone but Millennials, through better-informed voting in elections and in the marketplace, can begin to fix it and make it more equitable for all Americans.
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People
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One Funny Thing: Pruitt Birthday Playlist
Yesterday was EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 50th birthday and the EPA employees union created a very special birthday playlist for him of songs reminiscent of his tenure at the agency. Listen to the Spotify playlist here.
Personally, we would have added 'No Scrubs' by TLC and maybe sang the lyric as "a scrub is a guy who thinks he's fly but lives lavishly off taxpayer money." Tweet us your picks for a Pruitt Bday playlist and if we get enough songs we'll post it on Spotify!
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