At a rally on June 14, New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani echoed political inspiration and recent endorser Sen. Bernie Sanders to a crowd of thousands of supporters: “The government must deliver an agenda of abundance that puts the 99 percent over the 1 percent.” While it might not be obvious at first glance, Mamdani’s insurgent campaign for “A City We Can Afford” is not just one of left economic populism; it’s also a winning vision for green economic populism. He has offered a vision for winning meaningful climate action that this country desperately needs.
Temperatures will rise to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit ahead of Election Day in New York City on Tuesday, with heat index values approaching 110 degrees. Polling sites are scrambling to keep voters and poll site workers safe through the heat despite inadequate cooling systems. Thirty percent of New Yorkers who are currently energy insecure, or unable to afford their utility bills, will be forced to choose between staying cool and financial hardship. But the climate crisis itself — experienced as a series of shattered heat records, intensifying flash floods and storms, and troubling environmental irregularities like this spring’s allergy season — has rarely made headlines.
Climate change is making the cost-of-living crisis worse and deepening the wealth gap between the richest and poorest. As the climate crisis destabilizes the planet, the prices of basic necessities like housing, food, childcare, and transit increase, throwing working-class households further into economic precarity. New national polling from Data for Progress shows that two in five voters rank kitchen-table costs like utilities and housing as the most important reasons to address energy and environmental issues. And the scale of transformation required to maintain a livable planet requires building a united working-class base that sees its demands reflected in visions for a…
Auteur: Batul Hassan
