The Climate Election: How climate change will impact your food and electric bills, the economy and more

Election Day is just days away and of all the critical issues at stake, there is one that has a fast-approaching deadline to get a handle on: climate change. If emissions aren’t drastically reduced by 2035, the U.N. warned last week, global climate disaster will be inevitable — but the impacts of climate change are already being felt in daily life in the U.S.

From maternal health and immigration to the cost of food, electricity and insurance, here’s how. 

The economy

The economy is top of mind for voters this year, and experts say that climate change has the potential for “significant economic harm.” According to NOAA, the impacts of extreme climate events, including hurricanes, wildfires and floods, are costing the nation an estimated $150 billion every year. The University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute finds that climate impacts cost just under 1% of the nation’s GDP for every 1 degree Fahrenheit in temperature change, on average. Even “modest amounts of warming” will hurt the U.S. economy, researchers found. 

If the world fails to prevent the rise in global temperatures, one study found that the impacts globally could cost $551 trillion — roughly 19 times the size of the U.S. economy. And while preventing rising temperatures is essential, so is adaptation, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce finding that just $1 in investment in resilience and disaster preparedness saves $13 in economic costs. 

Immigration

Immigration is again a key issue in the 2024 election, but little attention has been paid to what’s causing people to flee their homes. While many often think of crime and conflict as the primary drivers, the Migration Policy Institute has found that it’s actually natural disasters that lead to more displacements worldwide. A 2021 report from the institute found that 6% of migrant families in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras said that climate and environmental-related reasons were why they had to leave their home countries. 

It’s not just because of natural disasters destroying homes, but also livelihoods. In…