Florida

New research from WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative and Carleton University shows that the U.S. would see an estimated $1.6 billion in health and climate benefits every year by using electric school buses. The benefits are most pronounced in counties with older diesel buses and larger populations.

This report shares findings from a joint study of community benefit plans (CBPs) made by utilities and developers. RMI and the University of Minnesota (UMN) Center for Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (CSTEP) collaborated on the research and analysis.

Even before recent hurricanes, Floridians said that they were more likely to vote for candidates who fight climate change. Nearly nine in ten Floridians (88%) say that climate change is happening, including 58% who say that it’s caused largely by human activity. Around two-thirds of Floridians agree that both the state government (68%) and federal government (67%) should do more to address the impacts of climate change. Additionally, just over half of Floridians (52%) say that a candidate’s political record reducing the impacts of climate change would make them more likely to vote for that candidate. Less than one in five (18%) say that they are less likely to vote for a candidate with a record of addressing climate change.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new findings about Americans’ water pollution concerns and new polling in political battlegrounds, including Florida and competitive U.S. House districts in California.