Pennsylvania election: Group hopes to win over climate voters

This story is part of the WHY News Climate Deskwith news and solutions for our changing region.

What do you want to know about climate change, from the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of Delaware Bay? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

A small group of volunteers gathered in a park in Philly’s Manayunk neighborhood on a Sunday, wearing green check mark stickers on their shirts.

They prepared to spread out through the neighborhood and knock on the doors of people who care about the climate and the environment — but who won’t be voting on Election Day.

“Today we will be talking to registered voters who are unlikely to vote in this upcoming election about voting,” Hilary Naiberk, a South Philadelphia resident who works in the insurance industry, told her fellow volunteers.

As for the presidential nomination in Pennsylvania, the election will likely be decided by a razor-thin margin. So political canvassers are flocking to the state to grab all the votes they can get — including people who care deeply about the climate and the environment but rarely if ever vote.

In Philadelphia, Naiberk helps canvass for the Environmental Voter Project, a national nonprofit dedicated to building a base of environmental “super voters.” Philadelphia is one of four cities where the group is advertising this fall.

“Politicians will only be leaders on climate if voters force them to be,” said Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the Environmental Voter Project.

Stinnett says there are two ways the organization could pursue its goal. One option would be to convince voters to care more about climate change, which Stinnett said would be “difficult, messy and expensive.” The other option is to convince people who already care about the climate to vote.

“This is a little easier,” he said.

That’s why the organization uses surveys to find people for whom climate is already a top political priority, Stinnett said. The group then uses demographics, where people live and consumer behavior – such as whether they recently purchased an electric vehicle – to find more people who they believe have the potential to become consistent environmental voters.

“Young people disproportionately cite climate as a top priority,” he said. “The second most likely age group … is people ages 65 and older.”

The organization has found that people of color — particularly Black, Asian American and Pacific Islander and Native American voters — are more likely to cite climate as a top priority than white voters, and women are more likely than men, Stinnett said. The group also found that people who buy Apple products and engage in outdoor activities are more likely to cite climate and environment as a top priority.

“It’s a combination of 20 or 30 data points that helps us identify these people,” Stinnett said.

The organization is nonpartisan, so its advertisers do not speak about candidates or parties.

In the presidential election campaign, the two candidates are far apart on the issue of climate change. Former President Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax” and rolled back a number of climate-related rules as president. While Vice President Kamala Harris has praised the country’s record-breaking oil and gas production in recent years, she has also vowed to “address the climate crisis” and promoted the federal government’s historic investments in clean energy under the Biden-Harris administration.