KALAMAZOO, MI —  Election signs are sprouting up in yards across Kalamazoo County like mushrooms after a long rain — signs that reflect local, state, and national candidates. One sign you may have seen in a few yards doesn't espouse a candidate or even a party. Instead, it just says Climate Voter. Or Vote for the Climate, or even Be a Climate Voter: Find out How.

While affordable housing, inflation, immigration, and reproductive rights have been dominating headlines and presidential debates, the climate, a matter of concern for most Michiganders, has taken a back seat. 

Meanwhile, hurricanes are pounding Florida and Louisiana, wildfires are raging in California, record heat levels have been reached throughout the nation, and in Michigan, there is low ice cover and rapidly changing water levels on the Great Lakes, flooding, algae blooms, and changes in growing season impacting fruit and other crops, to name just a few consequences.

With such rapid changes in our ecosystem taking place, what can a Michigander do?

What does it mean to be a climate voter? 

Second Wave spoke with Denise Keele, the Executive Director of the Michigan Climate Action Network (MCAN), to find out what it means to be a "climate voter" and what is meant by "climate civics."

"Civics is civic engagement and the easiest way to be a part of civic engagement is to cast that vote," says Keele, a former political science professor at Western Michigan University who lives in Kalamazoo. "It's also about volunteering in your community, leading these local groups, and pulling off these events," like the upcoming Michigan Climate Summit in Ann Arbor that is organized by Michigan Climate Action Network.

The fifth annual Michigan Climate Summit this year focuses on the theme of Climate Civics. The one-day event on Sept. 26 features prominent speakers, such as Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and international bestselling author Bill McKibben. The "summit promises to be one of the largest gatherings of climate and sustainability advocates in Michigan's history," according to a press release issued by MCAN. (More about the summit below.)

"This is the people's summit for advocates and advocacy and organizers and communicators. These are the people who need to know about each other, not only do the work but help each other sustain," says Keele.

"If we want this democracy, and we want this republic, it is difficult, but totally necessary and totally fulfilling to do it together," she adds. "We have to ask ourselves, what are we going to do in our community? And we should be leading. We can't wait for the politicians to do this work." 

One sign says it all

Michigan Climate Action Network is one among many local, statewide, and national organizations that offer Climate Voter signs. Many of the signs include logos or QR codes linking to local climate advocacy groups.

"Someone just bought a sign from us because, they said,  'One sign says it all,'" says Keele. "Here's what I think that means — and why we wanted to do Climate Voter: Folks who do climate work are doing justice work, economic work, they're doing it for health, and many other reasons, because they're all connected.

Denise Keele, Executive Director of Michigan Climate Action Network"Climate work is intersectional. Being a climate voter is not that it's a single issue. This is the intersectional issue of our lives. We do have all of these folks who can come together and make all of these things better."

Whether you trust the science or not, climate advocacy serves us all, says Keele.

"There's a cartoon that I appreciate and it says, 'What if we do all this stuff to fix climate change and it just ends up being a hoax, but we've made the world a better place?'"

Majority of Michiganders are concerned about climate

In statewide polls, 72 percent of Michiganders have indicated not only that they see climate as an issue, but they are concerned about it, says Keele.

"This is a non-partisan issue. I'm not putting a candidate in there, I'm just saying, you've got to be thinking of these things," she says. "The vast majority of Michangders not only believe in climate change, they are concerned about it. There's no way you get to 72 percent of Michiganders without crossing partisan lines."

Keele points out that there are many issues that people uniformly care about, such as gun control and affordable housing, that are not partisan at their core.

"It's not the people making this partisan, it's the money and the politics," Keele says. "We're not listening to the right people. We need to listen to folks on the ground who are doing the work."

Having an issue like climate as a majority concern, however, comes with inherent responsibilities and obligations, says Keele.

"When we have this majority, we better show it. We need to show it to elected officials. A vast amount of people want us to take this bold, equitable action and want the government to lead on it. And many leaders and politicians, they're afraid to do it actually.

"And that's what we want the Climate Voter signs to say. This is important. We need leaders."

Does a sign really matter?

The Climate Voter signs, Keele says, are getting noticed. Regions around the state have their own versions of the signs, such as the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition, and other groups in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Metro Detroit, and along our own "Gold Coast" in Van Buren County, she says.

"I have heard from representatives in every one of those districts. They're noticing these signs. Local folks know their communities," says Keele.

And politicians pay attention to yard signs, too, she adds.

"Candidates actually look for yard signs. They say, who has my name up, and who has my opponent up? (The Climate Voter sign) looks just like a campaign sign even though it's not so we've kind of caught their attention, which means it works well."

Yard signs might seem retro in this digital age, but physical presence still matters, says Keele. 

She shares the story of a young climate advocate in Grand Rapids who was very skeptical about the impact of yard signs but was then shocked by the amount of attention they brought to the organization.

"They could not believe the traffic that they've gotten to their website because (the sign) links right to it," says Keele. "People driving by see the sign, look it up online, and say what drew them there. It's kind of old school but it does matter to have a physician presence, a sign, a real person, it kind of has that zeitgeist to it."

And it's not too late to put up your own Climate Voter sign, says Keele. "There's another 50-plus days left before the election." 

Though she runs a statewide organization, Keele says, "I still live in Kalamazoo. I see (the climate signs) in places and think, I don't know that person. I live in Kalamazoo and thought I knew everyone around who does climate work.

"We are doing this because the majority of the people think and believe and want these things. This is not about electing politicians or partisanship. This is getting everyone to recognize that this has widespread public support and we are not acting on it.

"The vast majority of people have a commonsense approach and want things, but it is the politics and parties that distort that."

WMU's Kalamazoo Climate Voter Guide

A sign, a vote, involvement in climate work  —  "That is civics at its core," says Keele.

A responsible vote also means educating oneself about who and what supports your concerns. Western Michigan University has a Climate Change Working Group that has taken some of the work out of this for the Climate Voter, Keele shares.

For everyone running in the WMU district, the group has done a comparison of how the respective candidates have responded to climate issues. Check out their Voter Guide.

"Folks who are doing this work can often feel isolated or feel they need to hide," says Keele. "I say, 'You don't have to. You're in the majority.'

"This is no hiding in the shadows stuff. This is the truth. Move on."

Put a sign on it.

If you want to order your own Climate Voter sign, check out this MCAN link.



More on the Michigan Climate Summit

The fifth annual Michigan Climate Summit, hosted by the Michigan Climate Action Network, takes place at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. Over 1,000 organizers and 50 climate-based organizations from across the state will attend.

The 2024 sumit is "designed to inform, inspire, and uplift while exploring the intersections between civic engagement, social justice, and climate action, all under the broad theme of Climate Civcx," according to a press release.

Featured Speakers:

• Bill McKibben, author, educator, environmentalist
• Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson
• State Representative Abraham Aiyash (D-MI-9), Majority Floor Leader
• Regina Strong, Environmental Justice Public Advocate, EGLE
• Dan Utech, Chief of Staff of the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Registration is open until Friday, Sept. 20,, and Keele promises no one will be turned away, though the spots available to watch the Keynote Speakers may be filled.
To find out more, check out this LINK.