For more than seven decades, the United States has cycled through moments of climate awareness and legislative inertia—but the outcome has been a steady accumulation of atmospheric carbon that now threatens to upend life for generations to come. In a stark new analysis, former Energy Department official William S. Becker argues that the nation's ongoing failure to control global warming represents the single greatest betrayal any generation has inflicted on its children.
Climate science first entered the political arena in the 1950s, and by the 1970s it enjoyed bipartisan support. That consensus shattered in the 1990s when major oil companies aligned with Republican lawmakers, turning the issue into a partisan wedge. Congress took no significant action until 2022, when it passed the largest clean-energy investment package in American history. But over the past 18 months, President Trump has blocked those investments, dismantled clean energy programs, and pushed for a massive expansion of fossil fuel production.
Democrats, meanwhile, have largely gone silent. A new term—'climate shushing'—has emerged to describe their reluctance to talk about the issue, fearing it's a nonstarter in a Republican-controlled Congress and a country focused on inflation and the cost of living. That silence, Becker argues, only serves the fossil fuel industry, which still supplies more than 80 percent of America's energy.
The political dynamic is reinforced by a campaign finance system that gives oil and gas companies outsized influence. A 2014 study found that economic elites and business interests dominate U.S. policy, while average citizens have little independent impact. Polls show that Americans themselves recognize the problem: Gallup reports that the public's top concern is not immigration or the economy, but the quality of government and political leadership. Only 10 percent approve of Congress.
Trump's administration has been a boon for Big Oil. He pulled the U.S. out of international climate treaties, defunded federal climate science, eliminated pollution controls, and helped American oil companies secure access to foreign reserves. Wall Street has cooperated: despite nearly 140 countries pledging net-zero emissions by mid-century, 65 of the world's largest banks poured more than $900 billion into coal, oil, and gas last year. JPMorgan Chase, the biggest lender, defended the practice by arguing it supports 'reliability, affordability, security, and long-term resilience'—even as the current energy crisis shows oil and gas can guarantee none of those things.
Becker points to Gus Speth, former dean of the Yale School of the Environment, who sums up the dilemma: 'We are in the late stages of a struggle to prevent a ruined planet. Why this does not motivate us sufficiently is a question we must ponder.'
Yet voters do care. A recent Yale/George Mason University poll found that 64 percent of registered voters say global warming is raising their utility bills, grocery costs, vehicle ownership expenses, and home insurance premiums. And Americans are thinking long-term: a study from Arizona State University last month found that the average person believes lawmakers should consider the impacts of their decisions on the next 17 generations—roughly 425 years. The researchers also noted that 'Americans often underestimate how much support already exists for major mitigation measures.'
The disconnect between public opinion and policy, Becker argues, proves that current laws and principles are insufficient to protect future generations from carbon emissions that linger in the atmosphere for centuries. His proposed solution: a constitutional amendment that extends fundamental rights to future generations, including the right to a healthy natural world. The amendment would codify the Public Trust Doctrine, requiring the government to protect the atmosphere, oceans, forests, and soils for both present and future generations.
'No generation anywhere should have the right to burden its children with unpayable debt,' Becker writes. For a deeper look at how federal overreach has eroded state authority, see our analysis of the Tenth Amendment's lingering neglect. And for context on how the current administration is reshaping energy policy, read about the Hageman bill to block retroactive climate lawsuits.
Becker, who served as special assistant to the assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, now leads the Presidential Climate Action Project, a nonpartisan initiative that develops climate and energy policy recommendations for the White House and Congress.
