“Today is the first day of voting,” Benson said. “We really want to make sure you leave today with a real understanding of everything these professionals are doing on the local level to meet people where they are and ensure that every voice is heard, and every vote is counted.”

Jacqueline Beaudry, the city clerk of Ann Arbor, said the 2022 election generated long lines and this year she is really focusing on getting the word out about early voting. In November 2022, Michigan voters approved proposition two, a constitutional amendment that allows in-person early voting at polling locations. The presidential primary this year was the first time early voting was available, according to the Michigan Department of State. 

“The message we are really trying to convey moving forward is: we want you to vote,” Beaudry said. “We’re here now, so come register and vote early.” 

Immediately after the 2022 election, there was a legislative push to make an easier process for same day voter registration and that alone should help shorten the lines, Beaudry said. Absentee voting is also easier now with the passing of proposition two because voters only have to apply for an absentee ballot once to be on a permanent mailing list instead of re-applying each year. 

Benson said it’s important for everybody to know that signatures on the ballots are all checked thoroughly by clerks and their staff around Michigan. 

"Every single signature is checked against either the Michigan drivers file, the same signature that’s on your driver's license," Beaudry said. "If it is somebody that doesn’t have a Michigan’s driver's license, then we actually have that signature captured at the point of registration." 

Melanie Ryska, the city clerk of Sterling Heights, said if the signature doesn’t really match, they reach out to the voter, and if the ballot is accurate then they update their signature in the system. 

"We actually follow up with voters to give them that extra sense of confidence and we tell them their ballot has been checked and it’s actually been sent to the absent voter counting board," Ryska said. 

Benson finished the panel by thanking the audience for being climate and democracy advocates. 

"The foundation to being able to ensure a healthy environment is rooted in ensuring we have a healthy democracy," Benson said. 

Dr. Denise Keele, the executive director of MiCAN, said the theme "climate civics" was chosen because civic engagement is very important to the organization. They chose Benson to be the keynote speaker because both climate advocacy groups and democracy groups are affected by disinformation.

“We both suffer from the same myths and disinformation campaigns that are trying to convince the public that it ain’t real or there’s something wrong and we wanted to dissuade that immediately,” Keele said. “We are in a very urgent situation with climate change and we have until 2030 to start making really drastic cuts and that’s only about five years away. We’re not going to get there if we don’t have the people leading this democracy and demanding those changes.”

Keele said MiCAN considers now as the most critical time to be a climate activist so the future will be livable for everybody.  

The summit continued with the theme of climate civics, including stacked panels of regional and local level climate activists working in agencies across Michigan. 

One panel, named "Money on the Table: What the Inflation Reduction Act Can Do for You (and the Climate)," hosted prominent names in environmental agencies, including Michigan’s Department of Great Lakes and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Bentley Johnson from Michigan’s League of Conservation Voters opened the panel as a moderator with some important anniversaries. The summit took place one year after a major climate rally in Lansing on the capitol lawn and two years after the Inflation Reduction Act that invested big money into clean energy and climate action. 

"These laws and policies at all levels are providing solutions," Johnson said. "They are not being passed on accident. It’s only because the climate movement is building power because leaders in public service are willing to take on the tough fights in government and beyond."

Johnson said Michigan’s greenhouse gas emissions are projected to be reduced by 65% in the private sector by 2030 and 88% by 2040. 

Dan Utech, the chief of staff of the EPA, said the Biden administration “ran on the most ambitious climate agenda in history” and that his policies have had a huge impact on the country. 

Between the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Law, the EPA was entrusted with over $100 billion to make some serious changes and Utech listed some of the programs using this money. 

"50 billion of this funding is to ensure safe drinking water and to protect our nation’s precious water resources," Utech said. "That's the biggest investment in water quality in our nation's history and that’s going to support the removal of lead service lines, removal of PFAS from drinking water, and much more."

The EPA received $5 billion for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program to enable local governments in designing and implementing programs to reduce emissions. From this program, Michigan received millions to accelerate renewable energy transitions. The EPA received $7 billion for the program Solar for All, specifically to aid low income and disadvantaged communities in solar deployment. The EPA is also funding the Midwest Tribal Energy Association to deploy solar energy for 35 tribes in the midwest.

Utech named several more programs benefited by the investments the Biden administration has made into the EPA. 

Kara Cook, the chief climate and energy strategist at EGLE, said Michigan has received over $1.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act and that Governor Whitmer acted early to prepare for the money coming in. 

Cook said Whitmer created the Michigan Infrastructure Office to help organize what programs and implementations were going to be prioritized. Whitmer also created sub-cabinet work groups, like one for climate energy, so that one person from every department in state government had a say in where the money would go. 

"We’ve done a really good job so far bringing these dollars home," Cook said. "There’s still a lot more programs to do. There’s a ton of opportunities coming."

Even more locally, cities like Ann Arbor felt the difference in investment. 

"We went from a desert of funding for climate to what feels like a deluge," Missy Stults, the sustainability director for Ann Arbor, said.

Decarbonizing housing sites and moving away from single use plastics are some of the goals Ann Arbor is focusing on now. 

"I'll say this over and over again, please vote," Stults said. "It's not a guarantee that we’ll have this if we don’t vote."

There were several panels happening throughout the day concurrently. These panels were all on topics which highlight the intersection of democracy and climate.

The 2024 Michigan Climate Summit’s panelists were from regional and local areas in Michigan. Keele said it’s very important for the summit to always include local communities who are taking action when it comes to climate change.