Not long ago, a colleague suggested that everyone on the planet is, one way or another, responsible for climate change. My response: yes, but. Everyone may litter. We all fail to recycle or dispose of waste improperly. But, only one person—Donald Trump—had(s) the power to irreparably harm the world by removing the United States from participation in the international agreement to reduce global warming.

In the United States, officials at all levels of government are usually the ones making impactful decisions on climate change.  Collectively, we are able to pressure lawmakers but, in the end, it is the respective decision-maker that accrues responsibility for what they do. In those countries in which there is authoritarian control and/or scant popular involvement in making decisions, the responsibility is usually even more centered and obvious.

Scientists of various countries warn us that we have about 11-15 years left beyond which the ravages to our climate can be stabilized. That is not much time. It is most of an 8 year American Presidential cycle. In the U.S., horrendous fires out west, an increase in the number of tornados, serious floods throughout the country, species extinction, and predictions of more evidence of nature’s wrath, should leave us all concerned and fearful. Yet, during this early stage of the 2020 election cycle, only one Democratic Party candidate for President (who just dropped out of the race), Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State, had focused their campaign on the real, existential threat of global warming.

In the last few weeks, Democratic Party candidates for President held two debates. They were a sad spectacle. Those on that stage, maybe with the exception of Joe Biden, failed to focus on what’s important to most of the American people: economic and physical security, i.e. quality of life issues. Instead, the candidates were in an attack mode, even focusing on the “failures” of President Obama. Two weeks later, back-to-back mass shootings tragically brought attention to what really matters: the need to restore sanity and humanity to people’s lives. That will only come about with the defeat of Donald Trump and his Congressional enablers in 2020.

Climate change, along with the passage of rational gun policies, economic inequality, racism, and a foreign policy that is global in orientation, are the issues people care about. A failure to provide clear and rational alternatives on these matters is a failure of collective responsibility by candidates for office. In turn, we, the American people, must demand that they do so.