Is It Sunrise in America, or Twilight?

We were having this glass half empty or half full discussion the other night in my living room. One dinner guest took the darker view (shared by Paul Krugman, among many others, in his recent column). Democracy in America is on the wane, she argued, the victim of a ruthless oligarchy and its Republican goons, a party increasingly divorced from basic reality. It’s true, the GOP is still dangerously enthralled by its extremist Trump base, argued my more optimistic friend — but this is a good thing. Republicans are a shrinking percentage of the American electorate, he asserted, and they will be decisively defeated in the midterm elections and the next presidential race. This will further embolden the surprisingly progressive Biden administration and allow it to push through its ambitious legislation.

I lean more toward the optimistic political scenario, but then I was raised in Hollywood and can’t help believing in happy endings. (My own life has had many of them.)

Speaking of dawns in America, the young climate activists known as the Sunrise Movement and other save-the-planet militants continue to have an impact. Here in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced he will double the state’s firefighting resources, from $1 to $2 billion, as a new particularly ominous wildfire season begins. Newsom is also vastly expanding the state’s investments in wind power and other sources of renewable energy. Meanwhile, an activist hedge fund known as Engine No. 1 is spearheading a campaign to replace four business-as-usual Exxon Mobil board members with climate experts at today’s shareholders meeting. Exxon is the odious energy giant that for decades covered up its own dire scientific predictions about global warming.

These moves — and the multiple climate action measures being undertaken by the Biden presidency — are welcome steps in the right direction. But the climate action movement must go further if this global crisis is truly to be mitigated. Climate havoc through continued fossil fuel extraction and burning must be criminalized. In France, there is a new bill that would do just this, levying criminal penalties on energy executives and other polluters for “ecocide.”

Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods should not just have to worry about a shareholders revolt. He should fret about having his ass thrown in prison.

The Sunrise Movement in the streets