What are the most powerful climate actions you can take? The expert view | Voting tops the list for the world’s leading climate scientists in a year when billions of voters go to the polls

Here's how it has worked in the US:

In the 1980s we could get a hearing in Congress, but not even a meaningful proposal for action.

Around 2010, we tried cap-and-trade. Passed the house. Would have gotten 36-38 votes in the Senate, so it didn't get a vote.

In 2021, we actually passed the Inflation Reduction Act. It's getting us an almost-all-carrots approach to building decarbonization infrastructure.

We're actually fairly close to the point where we might actually pass more, as we need to.

In the US voting took us from nowhere to getting a lot (but not yet enough) action.