The Atlantic

<em>The Weekly Planet</em>: The Question That Haunts Climate Advocates

It’s not “Will Donald Trump win?”
Source: Bruce Gilden/Magnum

Updated at 10:07 a.m. ET on October 28, 2020.

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Every so often, a moment comes along when progress suddenly feels inevitable.

A popular presidential candidate says that few crises “are more urgent than combatting climate change.” Major oil companies—led by BP—are planning for a less carbon-intensive future. About two out of three Americans say that climate change will shape how they vote.

Does all that sound exciting? I hope not. I’m describing the world in 2008, when Barack Obama took office promising that climate-change legislation would be one of his top priorities. But he never passed major climate legislation, even though Democrats held a majority in both houses of Congress for the

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