New Los Angeles record with 49 degrees in the shade. But American voters are calm on the climate issue.

Heat waves and fires are ravaging California. At the same time, American voters are lukewarm in allowing climate change to decide elections.

In El Dorado, ten miles west of Los Angeles, a couple threw a party this weekend. The highlight should be revealing whether the baby you are expecting is a boy or a girl. This revelation is usually marked with fireworks.

At the same time, the most populous state in the United States is hit hard by forest and land fires. So far this year, the California fires have covered an area slightly smaller than Rogaland County. The heat and drought have created small sparks that can have major consequences.

This time went wrong. The fire brigade had to leave with four helicopters, 60 fire trucks and more than 500 crews. The sparks ignited a fire that reached an area about a hundred times larger than Frognerparken.

Heat record in Los Angeles

And it is very hot in the area at the moment. On Sunday, meteorologists measured 121 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees) in the shadow of Woodland Hills. This is a neighborhood in Los Angeles County, a half hour drive west of downtown. Never before has such a high temperature been measured in Los Angeles.

In and around the big city, the authorities opened 41 centers where people could come to cool off. Beaches have been closed on other major holiday weekends this summer due to the coronavirus. This weekend, authorities chose to keep them open before Monday’s day off due to the sweltering heat.

In the heat, people cool the air at full blast. This prompted warnings from the power companies that the areas would suffer power outages in turn. On Monday morning, this had been avoided so far.

Non-central climate

Until now, climate issues have not been a central part of the presidential campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Some surveys can help explain why:

Yes, that’s a problem …

Current events in California illustrate how Americans view problems with a changing climate. Six out of ten say in a survey for Pew Research that climate change affects their local environment. People who live closer to the US coast than 40 km are more likely than others to believe that climate change can be felt in their homeland.

… also in the crisis of the crown …

The corona pandemic hasn’t stalled climate unrest, either, shows a study conducted by Stanford professor Jon Krosnick on behalf of a group of environmental experts. The proportion of people who believe that more must be done against climate change has increased slightly since last year.

… but is it important enough?

Yet another Pew Research study shows that the climate doesn’t rise to the top when people have to prioritize what is “very important” to them in a presidential election. Of the 12 issues, where the economy reigns, the weather is just ahead of abortion in last place.

– War on coal

Although climate policy has so far not taken up much space, the issue sometimes appears in some flashes of the election campaign. Last week, Donald Trump held an election rally in Pennsylvania, an important tip state. He then said, among other things, that Obama and Biden had waged “eight years of pure war” on state coal.

The Trump administration has also recently opened up to more oil exploration and production in national parks and Arctic regions.

Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, while Biden says he will re-engage the United States under the agreement.

When Biden delivered his closing speech to the Democratic National Assembly, he highlighted climate change as one of four historic crises that threaten America along with pandemic, economic collapse and racism.