Local weather Change Killed A Swiftie — How Will Taylor Swift Reply?

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Yesterday, we discovered that Ana Clara Benevides died on account of excessive warmth whereas attending a Taylor Swift live performance in Rio De Janeiro final month. The incident occurred November 18, and the investigation by the coroner concluded yesterday that the reason for demise was the insane warmth that blanketed a lot of Brazil that week. And once I say insane warmth, I imply a warmth index of ~60 levels C, ~139 F. (Warmth index is a blended measure of temperature and humidity – principally the way it impacts the human physique.)

Benevides was discovered to haven’t any pre-existing circumstances that contributed to her demise, in keeping with Rio’s Forensic Medical Institute.

The live performance venue didn’t assist the state of affairs, doing a poor job of warmth administration. They may/ought to have constructed extra shade constructions, offered water refill stations, and allowed individuals to deliver their water bottles. However these are “regular” live performance venue administration practices nowadays. What’s not regular is a warmth index of 60 C / 139 F.

And now, I ponder how will Taylor Swift reply to this announcement? Swift has one thing particular – a charisma that few others have. She has a legendary following. I actually needed to google it to seek out out why she is so standard (hey, I’m a center aged man with out youngsters…Swift would possibly as properly be some historical Russian writer with out an English translation – I’d know related quantities about each of them…the one cause she’s even on my radar is that she’s relationship Travis Kelce, one among professional soccer’s finest gamers). Among the many issues I discovered in my curiosity journey was an NPR podcast the place one of many co-hosts defined, oftentimes by way of tears, Swift’s lyrics, the historical past, and Swift’s private journey. The TLDR model is that Swift is an unimaginable songwriter who has managed to seize each essence of the expertise of being feminine within the trendy age.

My thought, although, is that Swift has an influence that few others have. Will she use that energy to assist us resolve local weather change?

Swift connects with millenials like few others do. She’s bought over half a billion followers on quite a lot of socials, and certain most of them are below 40 and feminine. This represents a variety of political, client, and echo chamber energy. She will be able to encourage her followers to dive into local weather change because the existential menace of our time, to study every thing they will, and to do what they will do, whether or not it’s biking, gardening, or shopping for an EV. I hope that she finds true and correct sources of data to unfold, as everyone knows there’s a variety of purposeful misinformation on the market that advantages massive oil and different massive polluters who profit by the unfold of concern, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about local weather options. (Madam Swift, please simply go speak to Invoice McKibben…he’ll information you in the precise course, simply as he did to immediate Joe Biden to make a push for warmth pumps to remove monetary energy from petrostate Russia, and simply as he’s doing now to cease large pure fuel disasters within the making).

I’d then hope Swift will use her platform to advertise native meals, natural farms, photo voltaic, EVs, vitality effectivity, wind, and all of the issues we all know we have to do to resolve the local weather disaster. Pushing customers to vote with their {dollars} can be essentially the most highly effective factor she will be able to do.

She will be able to additionally assist politically by aligning her followers with many nice teams – 350.org, and the like. The yr finish wrap on Planet Cash advised that the US Presidential election subsequent yr might very properly be decided not by the economic system, however by how individuals “really feel” in regards to the economic system. And lots of in Swift’s fanbase demographic are feeling down in regards to the economic system regardless of economists nearly universally describing the present economic system as doing very well within the US. All indicators present that it seems to be like we managed to drag off a “comfortable touchdown” after COVID. However that’s not how younger individuals really feel – primarily due to misinformation unfold on TikTok? And lots of in that very same demographic solely know one factor about Joe Biden’s dealing with of local weather – and that’s the approval of the Willow oil drilling mission in Alaska, a mission that was cleared of all authorized hurdles by the earlier administration and would have simply wasted tax {dollars} to battle. In the meantime, Biden has arguably been the very best local weather President we’ve ever seen (politicians simply comply with political winds – and proper now, local weather is within the public consciousness like by no means earlier than, so I’m not going as far as to say Biden was a pacesetter on this, however I’d argue he has stepped as much as the problem of the day admirably). I’ve many 20 and 30 somethings in my life, and have been asking them what they consider the best piece of local weather laws ever signed within the US – the Inflation Discount Act…and guess what, none of them to date have even heard of it. Biden will want youthful voters to beat a local weather denialist in 2024, and Swift holds large sway in that group.

And final, I’d love for Swift to return on CleanTech Discuss, CleanTechnica’s podcast, to speak about her local weather motion plan. Madam Swift, have your individuals speak to my individuals – we’ll make it occur.

Featured picture: Taylor Swift on her Eras tour. Picture by Paolo V, CC BY 2.0 license by way of Wikimedia Commons