The Magical Joy of Ignoring Polls

“Wanna hear the latest poll?” I asked my husband Bryan the other day.

“Not really,” he said, and I realized that I didn’t either. Not really. This, despite having just spent twenty minutes comparing election polls in various states and wondering what the mythical undecided voter in Pennsylvania or Arizona might be thinking.

My resolve to stop reading about the election was bolstered by Ezra Klein’s piece Ignore the Polls in the New York Times on Sunday. He wrote:

“If you’re not a professional pollster, do you really need to be spending the fleeting minutes you have on this earth thinking about weighting on recalled votes? Call people you care about and tell them you love them. Take 10 deep breaths and watch where your mind wanders. Do literally anything else.”

So here’s some of what I did instead:

• Solved Connections

• Took out the compost

• Planted ramps—four bare roots

• Played the board game Savernake Forest

• Watched Princess Diaries 2 for family movie night

• Finished writing 100 Get Out the Vote postcards for Moms Rising

• Texted a couple young people in my life about their voter registration status

• Walked the dogs

• Admired the bees on the goldenrod and aster

Avoiding polls isn’t the same as apathy. This U.S. election matters for many reasons, including the health of our planet. When encouraging folks to stay environmentally hopeful, climate scientist Michael Mann said:

It’s not too late for us to take the actions to keep warming below 1.5 Celsius. The obstacles at this point aren’t physical, they are not technological, they are entirely political. And political obstacles can be overcome.

Donald Trump—who calls climate change a hoax and promises environmental chaos—is the political obstacle to overcome right now. The climate is on the ballot.

Personal Action: If you live in the United States, for goodness sake, please vote for the candidates who recognize that climate change is real and needs to be acted on.

Specifically, vote for Kamala Harris for president. “Kamala Harris has been a driving force in delivering the strongest climate action in history. She’s ready to build on those gains from day one as president,” said Manish Bapna, president of the NRDC Action Fund, which is why Harris is endorsed by all major environmental organizations. She will set the table for climate action, and while not perfect on the environment, she’s good.

Side note: To vote third party, no matter how well meaning, is to vote for Trump and all he stands for. Read how third party voters could usher in a Trump presidency.

Change the Systems: Volunteer to get out the vote.

You can:

• Write postcards to voters

• Write letters to voters

• Knock on doors

• Phone bank

• Call all your loved ones and make sure they’re registered and voting

• Drive folks to the polls

To sum up
Reading obsessively about the election is out.
Voting and volunteering for the election is in.

A book I read recently and keep thinking about: Intimacies by Katie Kitamura. The protagonist is a translator at the Hague and the novel observes moments of intimacy, both personal and terrible.

What I’ve published lately: An interview in EcoTheo with the very funny and very wonderful Eve O Schaub about her memoir The Year of No Garbage.

For environmental writers: EcoTheo is seeking submissions on the topic of Wholeness. The submission window is Oct 15-30.