This week Milwaukee, Wisconsin will be the center stage of the political scene that will kick off the Republican Party’s presidential primary cycle. Although the debate topics have yet to be announced, several local and national leaders hope that the impact of climate change will be included in the conversation, especially considering how this issue affects the lives of Latinos in the state, now amid an extreme heat wave.
Choosing Wisconsin was no coincidence. The results of both legislative and presidential elections have shown that Wisonsin has earned its title of “battleground state,” a decisive state on the American electoral map, where political campaigns will concentrate their efforts to win the next election.
In 2020, the Latino population in the state became the largest minority and today, Latinos represent 7.6% of residents- a number that continues to grow. Since the 2000 Census, the number of Latinos has increased by 46%.
The statistics have resulted in a higher concentration of the Latino population in certain regions of the state, such as Milwaukee and Brown counties. The same counties that are experiencing the greatest impact of climate change.
Brown, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Calumet, and Manitowoc counties are the top five counties in Wisconsin with the fastest temperature rise in the past 100 years.
Just this week, Wisconsin is among the states with extreme heat alerts. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has warned that the heat could create conditions for “pavement buckling.”
“It’s very dangerous, and it’s becoming more and more common with climate change right now, and it’s dangerous to everybody,” said Margaret Thelen, Director of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ climate and health program, speaking about the heat wave in the state during a local interview.
By 2050, Wisconsin is projected to experience a 150% increase in the severity of widespread summer drought, with potentially devastating impacts to the state’s agriculture and dairy industry, which employ a considerable number of Latino workers.
Despite this, Wisconsin Republican leaders such as Senator Ron Johnson have downplayed the issue and even suggest that climate change would be better for Wisconsin. “In terms of excess deaths, a warming planet is really beneficial … Why wouldn’t we console ourselves with that?” the Senator said.
Republicans who will be on stage this week also don’t seem to understand the problem, nor how it impacts local communities. Most of them accept the existence of climate change but reject most efforts to stop it.
Candidates such as Tim Scott, who will participate in the debate this week, said, “It is ridiculous to talk about a climate emergency.”
Projections regarding the economic impact of climate change on the state in the future are even worse. Climate change is projected to cause a 9.75% loss in crop yields in Wisconsin, including a 24% loss in cereals. If this is not important, then what is?
Content provided by Climate Power.
