A year that will live in infamy?

Those of us who understand the existential threat posed by climate change have been waiting for the “Pearl Harbor moment” that galvanizes people and politicians into taking action to minimize that threat. 2018 is turning out to be a “Pearl Harbor year,” where a majority of Americans support taking action, and we’re ready for Congress to press forward.

We thought the wake-up call on climate change occurred in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina slammed and devastated New Orleans, a disaster that left 1,836 people dead and displaced tens of thousands more. Four years later, when legislation to price carbon made a run in Congress, any sense of urgency to deal with climate change was lost amid partisan squabbling and pushback from special interests.

The next opportunity for action came in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy roared up the East Coast with a storm surge that put much of New York City underwater. The cover of Bloomberg Businessweek proclaimed, “It’s Global Warming, Stupid.” But again, nothing happened. Likewise, last year’s back-to-back-to-back storms – Harvey, Irma and Maria – left a swath of destruction from Houston to Puerto Rico totaling some $300 billion in damage. This, too, was not enough to spur action.

Fortunately, more and more Americans are connecting the dots between extreme weather disasters and climate change, as the latest polling from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication indicates.

The Yale study found that 77 percent of U.S. adults support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and 68 percent support taxing fossil fuel companies while equally reducing other taxes.

The Yale poll should come as no surprise, given that 2018 is turning out to be a Pearl Harbor year, not just a moment:

• Triple-digit temperatures in California have created conditions for the worst wildfires the state has ever experienced. In Redding, Calif., those conditions produced a fire tornado with wind speeds up to 165 mph and temperatures exceeding 2,700 degrees.
• Smoke from western wildfires is creating hazardous breathing conditions across the country.
• A combination of warmer water and nitrogen runoff from farms has produced the worst “red tide” ever seen in    Florida. Manatees, sea turtles and millions of pounds of dead fish have washed up on beaches.
• Hundreds of deaths around the world have been attributed to record-setting heat waves.

But encouragement can be found the growing movement to depoliticize the issue and get Republicans and Democrats talking to each other about solving the problem. There are now 86 members in the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House, half Republican and half Democrat. In late July, caucus co-leader Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) introduced the first Republican-sponsored bill to price carbon in nearly a decade. Curbelo’s bill is a major crack in the dam holding back effective climate legislation, and that dam is likely to burst in the months to come.

As Congress returns from August recess and members make their final reelection push, my hope is that climate change becomes a bridge issue rather than the wedge issue it’s been. Throughout our history, Americans have set aside our differences and come together in times of crisis to turn back a common foe. We can and must do that now with climate change.

The terrifying vortex of fire that swept through Redding, Calif., is the latest Pearl Harbor moment for climate change in a year filled with such moments. Let us hope this year of infamy, together with the growing desire for action, will finally set the wheels in motion for Congress to enact meaningful solutions.

Mark Reynolds

Executive Director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby