Orange Sky Alert

Orange Sky Alert is an independent project that scores whether Core Democratic Officials name Republican Obstruction of Climate Action after climate-related disasters.

Climate change is making “natural” disasters more frequent and more severe. Americans are seeing wildfires, smoke, drought, floods, and hurricanes more often, but most don’t know that, for decades, Republicans have blocked actions to prevent climate change.

In brief, we reviewed statements of Core Democratic Officials over 24 disasters that met our inclusion rules since 2023. The Core officials include all Democratic senators plus Independents who caucus with Democrats (King, Sanders), House Democratic leadership, and the chair of the Democratic National Committee. The roster is 51–54 officials depending on who held office on the disaster’s start date. The research methods are explained fully on the Methods page.

The database currently includes 1,261 reviews (51–54 Core Democratic Officials per disaster × 24 disasters). So far, 49 of 1,261 reviews (3.9%) scored Disaster Mention; 15 of 1,261 (1.2%) scored Climate Connection; and 2 of 1,261 (0.2%) named Republican Obstruction of Climate Action. Each rate uses all reviews as the denominator; climate and obstruction yeses still require naming the disaster in the window (see Methods).

The project will grow as new disasters meet the inclusion rules.