Episode 31 of our series, “Democracy Optimist,” hosted by University of Kentucky election law and voting rights research professor Joshua A. Douglas.
Part One
Politics can play a major role in climate change. President Trump, for example, issued an Executive Order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, a major international treaty designed to coordinate global climate mitigation, arguing that it hurt the U.S. economy. Will that action motivate voters to show up in November? More broadly, how well does democracy work if people who care deeply about an existential issue don’t turn out to vote?
Our guest has spent the past decade working on this issue.
Nathaniel Stinnett is the founder and CEO of the Environmental Voter Project, which uses sophisticated data analytics and behavioral science to identify environmentalists who are registered to vote but do not regularly cast ballots—and then works to turn them into consistent voters.
Part Two
Literacy and democracy go hand in hand. Literacy affects almost every aspect of a person’s life. After all, civic participation depends on voters being literate enough to understand the law, their rights, and the news that shapes public debate.
But literacy development depends on many factors, including where you live, your household circumstances, and, perhaps most importantly, whether you have access to books. Many Americans are fortunate enough to own a personal collection or have a local library within traveling distance. Still, this is a luxury some don’t have in certain regions of the United States—and especially in developing areas of the world. Our guest is Rachel Ray, Executive Director of the Lexington-based International Book Project.