While scientists studying the climate have become polarizing figures as the battle over fossil fuel dominance grows ever more heated, medical professionals remain some of the most trusted voices in a community, research shows.Knowing this, Arizona medical doctors and nurses joined together to share a message about the importance of supporting climate action at the polls this year for the well-being of residents exposed to some of the nation’s highest temperatures, worst air pollution and most dire drought conditions.At a recent symposium, members of the group Arizona Heath Professionals for Climate Action dispensed nonpartisan information about which candidates and initiatives on the 2024 state ballot — all the way down the ballot —are most likely to deliver policies aligned with the health directives these doctors prescribe.”We work with local, federal and state senators and legislators as well as policy and decision-makers and local organizations,” said Brian Drummond, an emergency physician based in Tucson and co-founder of the AZHPCA group. “They’re doing the hard work, but we can help be that trusted voice and speak to the health aspects.”For voters hoping to elect a presidential candidate likely to enact policies that will slow climate impacts destructive to human health and the economy, the choice between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is clear, advocates have said.As vice president, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, historic climate legislation that has infused Arizona’s solar, battery storage and electric vehicle industries with nearly $12 billion in investments and more than 18,000 jobs geared toward building cleaner energy use and cutting climate-warming emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.Trump, on the other hand, has called climate change a “hoax,” echoed the oil industry rally cry of “drill baby drill” at campaign rallies, including in Glendale in August, and is under investigation by U.S. Senate committees for promising to roll back environmental regulations in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions from oil executives. Increasing domestic drilling would offer limited benefits for Arizona, which does not have any local oil or gas reserves.The presidential race:Climate was barely mentioned in the debate, but Harris and Trump showed wide differencesStatewide races for Arizona’s federal offices offer less stark but still notable differences on climate issues.As a Democrat, Senate candidate Ruben Gallego is more likely to support climate action (though he did not mention it as a priority in response to an Arizona Republic questionnaire) than his Republican opponent Kari Lake, who has aligned herself with Trump’s policies and was recently named as one of the top 12 federal candidates nationwide to “consistently side against the environment” by the LCV Victory Fund.Abe Hamadeh, a Republican candidate for a House seat representing central Arizona’s District 8, is also a Trump cheerleader and has nothing on the issues page of his website about energy, water or the environment.In District 2, which covers much of the northeast part of the state, including the Navajo Nation, voters will decide whether to replace Republican incumbent Eli Crane, who has opposed government incentives for renewable energy projects and supported increasing domestic oil production, with Democrat Johnathan Nez, who is the former President of the Navajo Nation.Nez has spoken about Native land stewardship values and recently expressed support for expediting solar energy development to The Arizona Republic, though he has also opposed government overreach in the name of climate change. He noted how progress on water and energy issues for Indigenous communities regressed under the last Trump administration, which he hopes to instead expand and extend to all Arizonans.”During the Obama administration, there was a lot of support for getting the needs of tribal communities met,” Nez said at a recent event in Flagstaff. “Then four years later, that went away (under Trump). The Biden-Harris administration had to r …
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