There are tons of politicians out there that want to do more. Hardcore green parties, climate advocates, straight up activists. They have been active for years and years.

Nobody votes for them. On the contrary, people are voting increasingly for the exact opposite.

And I mean, why wouldn’t they? The climate disaster snowball is so goddamn big now that the actions needed to take to slow it down is growing increasingly extreme. And as the actions grow more extreme, the immediate impact on personal comfort convenience and quality of life grows. Why would anyone vote for something that objectively makes your life worse?

So instead of voting for that, people vote for the status quo. Maybe for those who commit to some token greenwashing at best. Maybe it won’t be so bad, they say. Maybe it’ll only impact brown people somewhere. Maybe it’s not even real to begin with.

And so the snowball grows, the scale of the reactions needed to stop it grow with it, and the cycle perpetuates. As it has for the last several decades.