Are you weary of having to care about where headline-seeking Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema land on important topics? Well, according to this week's guest on Sea Change Radio, relief may be in sight. This week we speak with grassroots organizer and Democratic insider RL Miller to dig deeper into the politics, logistics and the climate impact of the Inflation Reduction Act. The president and founder of Climate Hawks Vote, Miller believes Manchin is starting to see his star fade as he watches more progressive Democratic Senate hopefuls making inroads - she believes this is a key impetus for his and Sinema's connection to this bill, and perhaps a sign of things to come. We also get a harrowing glimpse into Miller's first-hand experience with the California wildfires.

00:01 Narrator - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

00:16 RL Miller - We are 100 days out from a midterm election on N8 and we are in pretty good shape to hold the Senate and adds to the Senate Majority. And if we elect Mandela Barnes and John Fetterman and Cheri Beasley and a couple of other people, Joe Manchin loses his role as kingmaker of the United States Senate.

00:40 Narrator - Are you weary of having to care about where headline-seeking Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema land on important topics? Well, according to this week's guest on Sea Change Radio, relief may be in sight. This week we speak with grassroots organizer and Democratic insider RL Miller to dig deeper into the politics, logistics and the climate impact of the Inflation Reduction Act. The president and founder of Climate Hawks Vote, Miller believes Manchin is starting to see his star fade as he watches more progressive Democratic Senate hopefuls making inroads - she believes this is a key impetus for his and Sinema's connection to this bill, and perhaps a sign of things to come. We also get a harrowing glimpse into Miller's first-hand experience with the California wildfires.

01:39 Alex Wise - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by RL Miller. She is the founder and president of Climate Hawks vote and she is an elected member of the DNC and she served as the Chair Person of the California Democratic Party's Environmental Caucus for eight years. RL, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

02:00 RL Miller - Thanks so much for having me on.

02:02 Alex Wise - Well, it's a pleasure and very timely because follow you on Twitter. You're a very keen observer and we are in the midst of seeing some legislation (fingers crossed) pass this week through the Senate. It was called the Build Back Better bill. That's a mouthful. And now the new mouthful is the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. But before we dive into that, I want to learn a little bit more about the mission of Climate Hawks Vote and how your organization has tried to tackle the connection between fossil fuels and the political class.

02:42 RL Miller - I founded Climate Hawks vote in 2014 because I was deeply frustrated with Democratic politicians and Republican politicians. Republican politicians being in total denial of course. “Oh no, there's no such thing as climate change.” While Democratic politicians would pay lip service to it. Say that yes, of course it's very important. Oh, we need to do something by 2050. OK, we'll do something somewhere down the road and they would just keep on kicking the can down the road. Meanwhile, immigration demands attention. Right now, healthcare demands attention. Right now, gun violence right now, et cetera, et cetera. And so so many other priorities competing for democratic politicians attention. Nobody was doing anything about climate change now, and so I founded Climate Hawks vote with the idea of getting politicians to pa...