The first time Donald Trump became president, New York and other progressive states had a sacred task before the world: to show that strong measures to address climate change could move forward, even with a hostile federal government. We passed world-leading policy: New York State’s climate law set us on a path to 100% renewable energy, and New York City passed Local Law 97, the strongest clean buildings law of any major city in the world.
Now, entering the start of a new Trump administration, our political and economic realities have changed, and so has New York’s sacred task. This time, we can’t just demand more and deeper cuts in emissions. If we want our model to be durable, and to scale beyond New York’s borders, we have to win the Kitchen Debate over climate policy.
In Moscow in 1959, Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stood in a model American home for what became known as the “Kitchen Debate”: an exchange about which economic system would lead to comfort and prosperity. Nixon pointed to modern kitchen appliances to show what the American system could produce to make people’s lives better.
To be clear, their deeper debate was not really about stovetops. It was about competing visions and values: freedom, equality, dignity, and more. But the debate was also about stovetops — it was about who could speak better to people’s practical concerns and meet their needs as they perceived them.
At this time, many people believe that government action will make their lives worse. My organization, Spring Street Climate Fund, conducted a sobering series of focus groups last year with New Yorkers from across the state, who wanted climate action in theory but feared the practical effects on their lives. And most working-class people we surveyed said they were considering leaving New York because of the cost of living.
At the dawn of a second Trump administration, this is the challenge facing the climate movement, and the opportunity for New York to lead: not just by passing the most ambitious climate laws, but by passing laws that will win the Kitchen Debate on climate.
We need policy wins that address people’s day-to-day concerns and make their lives better in ways that are tangible, practical and popular. If we succeed, New Yorkers will not only do our share to fight climate change; we will also lead healthier, more prosperous lives, with more affordable heating and energy costs, and we will show that in a time of high prices and broadscale disenchantment, climate action is part of the solution, not the problem.
As a start, Gov. Hochul and the state Legislature should prioritize the NY HEAT Act, a climate and energy affordability bill that nearly passed last year. Yes, it is a climate priority, because it would start to wind down our expensive and dirty gas pipeline network.
The bill would also lower heating costs: utility customers save money by avoiding billions of dollars of spending on gas pipelines, and low-income customers save immediately with a cap that lowers utility bills to 6% of a household’s income. For the one in four families that currently pay more than 6% of their income on energy, that’s a significant $136 each month on average in savings.
This sacred task isn’t just for government. It’s also for the organizers and advocates in the climate movement who set an agenda and do the political work to make it possible, including myself. We need to choose priorities that address people’s foremost concerns, and then reach beyond our existing cohort to organize people who don’t think of themselves as environmentalists, but who will benefit from the policies we are trying to win.
Utility customers with spiraling bills, tenants with gas appliances that trigger asthma, homeowners who need financial support to upgrade their buildings: these are all folks who benefit from smart climate policies, and should be in the coalition that is working to win them.
The world has changed multiple times since New York passed the nation’s strongest climate law in 2019, and will change in January when the new administration takes office. Five years ago, New York led the world by showing that ambitious climate policy was still possible.
Today, our challenge is to win the Kitchen Debate of the modern age: to show that tackling climate change can satisfy the public’s wants. If we succeed, our model can scale — and we can win more elections along the way.
Raskin is president of Spring Street Climate Fund.