How Efforts to Restrict Democracy in Ohio Make It Harder to Fight Climate Change

Ohio’s adoption of gerrymandered voting district maps last week is the latest in a series of anti-democratic measures that thwart action to address climate change, critics say.

Data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication show a majority of Ohioans believe climate change is happening and worry about it. 

A majority also favor regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, imposing strict carbon dioxide limits on coal-fired power plants, and research and tax rebates for renewable energy, according to the Yale data. And nearly two-thirds would also require utilities to produce 20% of their electricity from renewable sources.

Over the last decade, however, Ohio lawmakers have subsidized noncompetitive coal plants and erected additional barriers to siting renewable energy.