American Voter: Kathy Byrnes

US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling for the presidency in a sharply divided United States. Trump has been focusing on “law and order”, Biden has been trying to strike a conciliatory note. The Black Lives Matter movement, and whether Trump will release his taxes are among the many issues Americans will consider when choosing their president. As the hotly contested election approaches, Al Jazeera has been speaking to voters across the US asking nine questions to understand who they are supporting and why. American Voter: Kathy Byrnes [Al Jazeera]Age: 58 Occupation: Urban Farmer Residence: Polk County, Iowa Voted in 2016: Hillary Clinton Will vote in 2020: Joe Biden Top election issue: Climate Change Will you vote? Why or why not? “Yes, voting is our most sacred duty in a democracy. I first voted on November 4th, 1980 for Jimmy Carter. He lost to Ronald Reagan, but I’ve voted every year since then.” What is your number one issue? “Well, there’s a lot to be concerned about. To me, Climate is the most important issue that we need to face. It’s a crisis. And if we don’t get it right, there’s not a lot else that we can get right. So I mentioned that I voted for Jimmy Carter and I grew up in the late 1970s during the energy crisis. I learned  from my Republican dad and my Democrat mom to conserve energy and love nature. It was just really a good upbringing to understand that we have this Earth, one Earth. It’s our home, and we need to protect it. “So now, as an older adult, I see the Earth is on fire, flooded, drought-stricken, more so than any other time that people have seen for hundreds of years. And it’s not cyclical, it’s progressive. Humans are doing that to the Earth. I’ve got three kids and three grandkids. Their future is everything to me, and it’s not just because it’s my kids and my grandkids – it’s other human beings. And it’s not just to save the United States, it’s for the world. It’s not a tree-hugger thing at all. When we implement policies that tackle the climate crisis, we will also create new and better jobs. We will create new and better ways to get from one place to the other. We’ll have a chance at some better healthcare. We’ll have some overall peace and justice accomplishments. And that’s the number one issue. “I also had a very personal issue that drove me to care a lot more about the Earth. I lived on an acre of land that was threatened by the Dakota Access Pipeline. First I studied what it was and what pipelines were about because I really didn’t know much about our energy infrastructure. And the more I learned, the worse it sounded. And I stood up to that. I took an arrest for that – standing to protect some waterways in Iowa. I met a lot of good people, worked with a lot of great allies and landowners like myself, Indigenous communities, and people of every age, race, ethnicity. We didn’t defeat that pipeline, but we delayed it, which was great. And now we’re working to try to prevent them from doubling the flow of oil in that pipeline.” Who will you vote for? “I’m voting for Joe Biden.”   style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">