So it looks like it may finally be over, apart from the court cases!
I’m talking about the election taking place for the President of the USA of course and even if you aren’t a political geek like me, you won’t have been able to avoid it as it’s literally been all over the news.
I’ve been watching this play out night after night and I’ve been amazed at how colleagues, friends and family who do not normally engage in politics, have all been paying attention.
And this does matter because we are talking about one of the most powerful countries on the planet and the direction of America will have an impact on everything.
The poll is a step in the right direction because we have serious issues to solve for our planet
Russell Jones Content and communications manager
Green is good after all
But I’m not here to talk about the merits of one side of the argument over the other, although I do hope that our ‘cousins’ over the pond find a way to heal the divisions that have emerged.
What I would like to focus on is the massive numbers of people that did indeed turn up and take part in the 2020 US elections, along with what I found to be a surprising but uplifting poll I caught on the night of the election itself.
Although I watched most of the election night unfold on CNN, I kept flicking from channel to channel and caught Fox News when they released details of several polls on the night, including one that showed that 70% of Americans actually wanted their Government to promote green energy.
This was both surprising and heartening to me as listening to coverage prior to the election, you would have thought that the environment and anything ‘green’ was a toxic subject, especially as America has just pulled out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
So I find it really uplifting that people were able to look beyond the short-term rhetoric of an election and see the bigger picture and the massive priority affecting everyone on the planet.
The power of the individual
The other thing the cheered me was simply the number of people engaging in the election and the overall reaction to the idea that some votes shouldn’t be counted.
Seeing the pictures of people in a second line because they needed to verify their vote for some reason, showed how much they realised that their own, individual voice had to be heard.
And this is a theme I’ve touched on previously as it is easy to sometimes feel alone in the battle to save the planet.
But one person does indeed make a difference and we should all take heart that your actions as an individual will help.
Collectively, our American cousins have spoken in larger numbers than ever before and it did make a difference. Let’s hope this translates into greener policies too.
What’s the reason behind all this?
Is it anything to do with the visit of Greta Thunberg to the UN?
Who knows?
But it is a positive step in the right direction because we have serious issues to solve for our planet and little time to do so, so I hope you are as uplifted by this as I am.
Of course we need Governments and businesses to play their part, but we also need individuals all over the world raising their voice to make a difference.
Russell Jones is content and communications manager
