On Sunday, October 9, undecided voters filled Washington University’s Athletic Complex for the second presidential debate. The debate was formatted as a town hall meeting, meaning audience members, instead of debate moderators, asked the candidates questions. That night, undecided voter Ken Bone asked Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton how their energy policies would meet the country’s energy needs while remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss for fossil fuel power plant workers.

Out of the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, Bone posed the only question to the candidates that was related to climate change.

It is extremely concerning that moderators overlooked climate change in the presidential debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates, or the CPD, says the debate moderators’ responsibility is to “facilitate in-depth discussion of the leading issues facing the nation.” Climate change is a major issue that impacts not only our country but the entire world–yet it did not earn a single question from moderators.

2015 was the hottest year on record due to the increasing production of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. The heat is causing glaciers and ice sheets to melt, which contributes to rising sea levels that threaten many small Pacific island nations and even Hawaii. Climate change also intensifies natural disasters, extreme weather events including hurricanes and droughts, like the one California is facing right now.

Still, the only moments during the debates where climate change was specifically acknowledged occurred in the first debate when Clinton briefly spoke about the issue, calling out Trump for saying it’s a “Chinese Hoax,” and in the town-hall style debate where undecided voter Ken Bone asked candidates to discuss how their policies would strive to meet U.S. energy demands while simultaneously protecting the environment and preventing job loss in the fossil fuel industry.

This was not the first year climate change was disregarded in presidential debates. In 2012, none of the debate moderators asked Barack Obama or Mitt Romney about their perspectives on climate change.

Since the debate moderators failed to ask Clinton and Trump about their positions on climate change, many viewers likely decided whom to vote for without considering the candidates’ perspectives on the environment. This is especially problematic because the candidates had very different opinions on climate change. While Trump said asserts global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive, Clinton has made “environmental justice and climate justice central priorities.”

Throughout this election season, there was controversy over Trump’s comments about women and minorities, and about Clinton’s private email server. Consequently, debate moderators asked many questions centered on the candidates’ personal behavior.  This emphasis stole a large portion of the debates from discussion of the candidates’ policies, including those on climate change.

While it is important to discuss more about the candidates than just their policies, the media must do a better job of balancing coverage of candidates’ personal actions with their stances on significant issues.

As current students, we must see that  the topic of climate change is very important because the condition of our planet will impact us for the rest of our lives. The media failed to give climate change the prominence it deserved during the presidential campaigns even though the new president of the United States will play a critical role in determining the future of our environment. Hopefully, by the next Presidential election, the media will provide more balanced perspective so that important issues are not overlooked in national debates.