Hurricanes. Pollution. Drought. Extreme heat.

Georgians already know the devastating effects of these and other climate challenges. In fact, 72% of Georgia residents believe in climate change, and 3 in 5 believe the President and Congress should do more about it.

But Donald Trump — and his allies like David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — have ignored the threat entirely. The result? Unless we act, things will get worse before they get better.

QUICK FACT

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THE CRISIS

Georgia is witnessing the climate crisis in real-time. Hurricanes are getting stronger. Droughts are becoming more frequent. Floods are affecting more people. And Donald Trump’s climate denial is becoming more costly by the day.

In the last 10 years alone, hurricanes like Dorian, Florence, and Matthew have taken 300 lives and cost $123 billion in damages.

Droughts have stressed the water supplies.

And across the state, communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of polluting power plants, unhealthy air, and toxic waterways.

Unless we chart a new course, things will only get worse. Natural disasters will grow deadlier and more frequent, environmental injustice will deepen, and Georgians will pay the consequences.

We must act now.

BOLD CLIMATE ACTION

Americans delivered a clear mandate with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We need bold climate action. And Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock are ready to fight for it.

Clean air, clean water, and a clean energy economy are all on the line. Georgians know firsthand how urgently we need to act on climate.

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THE COSTS

2020 is no time for Donald Trump’s science denial.

Yet the president, and his allies like David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, continue to bury their heads in the sand — and Georgians are paying the price. Without bold climate action, the cost of their inaction will continue to rise:

• Georgia is hot, but it could get hotter. Today, the state averages about 20 annual days of extreme heat. By 2050, that number is expected to rise to 90 — or about three full months’ worth of dangerous heat every single year.

• Under Donald Trump, Georgia polluters have impunity. A 2017 report showed that Georgia’s drinking water was among the least safe in the nation. But Trump blocked action that would have made polluters pay for cleaning up these toxic chemicals — which have been found in water supplies across the state, and which have been linked to high blood pressure, cancer, and other diseases.

• Georgia is a leader in the South for clean energy jobs. In fact, the clean energy sector employs 83,806 workers in 2019. But Trump is holding us back. One analysis shows that his war on clean energy has cost Georgians almost 27,000 good-paying clean energy jobs.

• Communities of color across Georgia, and particularly in metro Atlanta, have long been at the forefront of the environmental justice movement. Yet today, these same communities still face a devastating environmental burden — from toxic wastewater from nuclear power plants to dirty air that isn’t getting cleaner. In fact, in 2019, metro Atlanta was ranked 23rd in the nation for annual particle pollution — a state of affairs that has been directly linked to high levels of asthma and other lung diseases.

FROM OUR RESEARCH TEAM

• Climate Change In The Georgia U.S. Senate Runoffs
• Climate Disasters in Georgia
• What Do Trump’s Attacks On Science Mean For Georgia?
• Talking About Climate Change In The Georgia U.S. Senate Races
• State of Play: Georgia