As Alaskans choose their Democratic nominee after a winter wiped out by high temperatures, among Republicans the climate question has been near invisible

As Alaskans go to the polls in the Democratic caucuses on Saturday, one of the most pressing issues should be what is staring them in the face – or, rather, what isn’t: snow and ice.



'There was just no snow': climate change puts Iditarod future in doubt Read more

“I’m looking out of the window here in Anchorage and I can just see grass instead of snow,” said Andy Moderow, state director of not-for-profit group Alaska Wilderness Action.

Moderow grew up dog-sledding but said record temperatures have effectively wiped out Alaska’s winter, meaning a miserable time for those who enjoy snow sports.

“There has basically been no snow on the ground all winter in Anchorage. When I was younger, the Iditarod sled race went from Anchorage to Wasilla but there’s no snow there now.

“The changes are all around us. It’s very rare to have multiple winters like this in a row. When you see ski races not take place, grass instead of snow, villages falling into the oceans, you realise the impacts are real.”

But while Alaska is clearly on the melting edge of climate change, this fundamental shift barely registered in the Republican caucus held earlier in March and won by Ted Cruz. Even though Democratic candidates have been more willing to discuss climate change, the topic hasn’t been front and centre ahead of Saturday’s caucus.

It is an absence that has been felt in presidential primaries and caucuses across the US, including states that have been ravaged by drought or sea level rise. In a desperate attempt to reverse the lack of environmental focus, a group of Florida mayors begged CNN to quiz Republicans about sea level rise at a debate held in Miami.

In the event, Florida senator Marco Rubio’s response, like those of many of his fellow candidates, was light on science and heavy on equivocation.

“I suppose the American media has to shoulder some of the blame,” said Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist. “Both Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, consistently emphasise climate change as being one of our greatest challenges.

“They mention it in nearly every speech they give. So the candidates themselves seem to be doing their part. Yet when American journalists have had an opportunity to question the candidates, in the various debates that have been held for example, the topic is rarely mentioned.”

Several factors are tamping down debate over climate change and other environmental issues such as land use, pollution and mining. One is a lack of disagreement between candidates within the parties; another is the feeling that despite record numbers of Americans believing climate change is human-caused and a looming problem, it will not drive voters to the polls in a panic.

For most Americans, climate change is not a crisis. Terrorist attacks and Isis are closer to crises Bill Schneider

“For most Americans, climate change is not a crisis,” said Bill Schneider, a veteran political analyst who has covered every presidential election since 1976. “Terrorist attacks and Isis are closer to crises.

“Unless a problem becomes a crisis, most Americans don’t want to talk or think about it. The only way our country deals with problems is when they become absolutely critical, that’s the way the government is set up. Everything gets blocked otherwise.

“If the city of Miami became hopelessly flooded, maybe it would be an issue. But, like many elections, long-term issues take a back seat. Remember Ebola? It’s not an issue. It’s now Zika. Politics is a short-term game.”

Republican candidates have generally avoided climate change or called the science behind it “bullshit” or a “religion”. Even the Ohio governor, John Kasich, who accepts the world is warming due to human activity, has steered clear of the topic, seemingly out of a sense of political self-preservation. Kasich recently admitted his lack of climate denialism was “apostasy” within the current Republican party.

But even Clinton and Sanders, who both advocate sharp reductions in greenhouse gases and the phasing out of fossil fuels, rarely lead on the issue of climate.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Almaden reservoir in San Jose on 7 February 2014, below, and on 14 March 2016, above, showing the effects of California’s drought. Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

“They want to reassure liberal Democrats that they are thinking about it, but then Sanders instantly changes the topic to inequality and Hillary switches to terrorism,” Schneider said.

“They talk about what they want to talk about. If she’s the nominee, Clinton will talk about climate change, but not too much because it may hurt her in parts of the country reliant on the auto industry or coal.

“Democrats say climate change is a serious problem, much like Republicans say the national debt is a problem. But neither are seen as a crisis. When Republicans are asked if they will cut programs and raise taxes to deal with the debt, they won’t do it. Climate change is the same. There’s not an immediate requirement to deal with it.”

Much like everything in this election, the spectre of Donald Trump looms large. Last week, the Republican frontrunner said: “I am not a great believer in manmade climate change. I’m not a great believer.”

To now customary bemusement, he added: “I think our biggest form of climate change we should worry about is nuclear weapons.”

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Trump’s denial of the science – he regularly conflates climate with the weather – has helped suck oxygen out of the issue.

“With Trump being the dominant news story, it’s hard to hear anything about any of the Democratic priorities,” said Professor Christopher Anderson, a climate scientist at Iowa State University who was part of an effort to get the issue on the political radar ahead of the state’s curtain-raising caucuses.

“In years to come, 2016 will be called the Trump election, all about him,” Schneider said. “He’s driving the Republican race and he’s also driving the Democratic race.”

While the spectacular rise of Trump will live long in the memory, future generations may well be astonished that climate change wasn’t top of the agenda when Americans took to the polls after the world’s warmest year on record, with parts of the country in their worst drought in 1,200 years and millions of people at risk of being swamped by ballooning sea level increases.

“I think historians will be befuddled by the fact that the greatest challenge we face as a civilization was all but ignored by the media and political class,” said Mann.

“But give the two Democratic candidates their due credit. They’re trying.”