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Working towards a language of Climate Security [1]

['Peter Olandt', 'Greg Dworkin', 'Dan K', 'Sabrina Haake']

Date: 2026-08-19  

Political discourse concerning climate change has been so far dictated by the oil companies. They’ve convinced part of the population that climate change is a hoax, and they’ve convinced a good chunk of the rest of the population that Climate is a losing political issue to the point where it has been baked into people’s “common sense” and never gets examined. This means that climate news frequently gets the absolute bear minimum of mention in the corporate media and on liberal sites gets resigned to insurmountable problem status. In response some climate activists at various points use doomsday scenarios which in order to grab people’s attention in the only way really available to them. To address this, I’d like to think about building up a language of “Climate Security.”

Fear drives politics for many voters. Their vote may be driven by national security, economic security, cultural security, or personal security (guns, both for and against). Our government is essentially there to provide a stable environment for us to live our lives. When people feel their daily lives are threatened (accurately or not), they get motivated to vote. Doomsday climate stories get headlines for a news cycle, but as people go about their lives mostly unconnected to the doomsday scenario they forget it or relegate it to lower priority. A security issue, however, suggests that their lives may not be secure in a way that may impact them. The security framing itself triggers a response in people often devoid of connection to their daily reality.

Look at immigration. The Republicans regularly use the threat of immigration as a threat to people’s lives even though the facts bear little resemblance to reality. Deportations have been consistently high whether it’s been a Democratic or Republican administration. Immigrants have a lower crime rate than natural born citizens. And so on… But politicians use phrases like “secure our border” to jack into people’s subconscious worries about immigration. They hear the word “secure” in some form, and their brain latches onto it as something to worry about.

So my proposal is to start treating Climate as a security issue. We encourage our politicians to talk about climate security at every opportunity. Unlike immigration, there actually are plenty of concerns for people to worry about and to ask their politicians about. It allows a Democratic politicians to in two words convey a host of meaning to a large number of people.

It feels weird to me to even suggest this. Like it’s somehow dishonest to use people’s predilection for security to drive motivation in the case of climate change. For immigration, or false rates of high crime, or the false connection of Republicans being good for economic security, the usage is dishonest. But it works so dishonest people use it. In the case of climate change, the threat is real and the activation of our society to address it is existential. There is nothing dishonest about using the terms Climate Security. Our long term survival is critical to solving the climate crisis. It is something people should be basing their votes.

In fact, it should be the number one decider of voting. It affects every single other issue. Worried about immigration? Climate change is going to drive significantly higher levels of migration. Worried about the economy? Not dealing with climate change gets progressively harder. And I could go on and most of you reading can list all the many ways everything ties back to our climate.

The words “Climate Security” should be on the tongue of every politician, every news site that cares, and in our day to day conversations. Next time you’re arguing with Uncle grouchy about economic security drop in the words climate security at some point. You won’t win the immediate argument. That’s not what this is for. The words “Climate Security” are there to worm into their brains at other times and make them worry about climate. It’s a longer way around to get people’s base instincts working in our direction for a change. Give it a try.

“Climate Security”

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/19/800086391/community/working-towards-a-language-of-climate-security/

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