Is Joe Biden Gonna Save the Planet?
By Anya Stajner
In 2020, I spent a lot of time thinking about the election. From the primaries all the way to the general election, my stomach was in knots as I constantly refreshed my browser for updates from NPR and the Associated Press. On November 7th, when the election was called (for the first time), I finally shed a tear that didn’t stem from sadness. I felt a huge wave of relief rush over me, but even that couldn’t cleanse me of all the anxiety that had built up over the last four years.
While there were many reasons the election kept me up at night, as an early-career marine scientist, I am particularly concerned about how the 2020-2024 administration will address today’s climate emergency. From the moment I was introduced to the Keeling Curve my freshman year of college -- a graph that shows CO2 (a known greenhouse gas) concentration over time -- I’ve felt that action must be imminent if we want to preserve our Earth as we know it.
Now that Joe and Kamala have been elected, I’ve begun wondering if their
administration will do enough to save us. To understand that, I’ve had to look into what exactly Joe is promising to our nation and compare that with what the best available science is telling us. Essentially, the Biden Administration outlines three plans under climate and energy on their official website. They are plans to: tackle the climate emergency, secure environmental justice, and ensure a clean energy future. I looked specifically into Biden’s plan to tackle the climate emergency, since, of his three plans, it is the most comprehensive. After many read-throughs, I’ve come back with the highlights, and perhaps even some hope.
Official White House Photo by David Lienemann
The Biden Plan to Tackle the Climate Emergency
I found Biden’s plan to be lengthy and repetitive. It even struck me as “all talk” at first glance; however, as I read deeper and deeper into the plan, his proposed courses of action became more concrete -- turns out ole’ Joe makes a few promising promises to Americans. For the sake of succinctness, I’ll be taking what is a very (VERY) long plan, whittling it down to it’s five core pillars, and evaluating its comprehensiveness and quality so you don’t have to.
In the first section of his plan, Joe sets the lofty (but achievable and necessary) goal to ensure that the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy* and net-zero emissions by 2050. This starts with a federal investment of $1.7 trillion over the next ten years to support clean energy and environmental justice (3). Biden will pay for it by reversing Trump’s excesses of tax cuts for corporations, closing tax code loopholes, and ending subsidies for fossil fuels (3). This is a solid move as it incentivises and enables our country to shift our reliance from dirty fuel to sustainable fuel. Moreover, the proposed federal support will be integral in helping American towns that rely on coal power as a source of tax revenue make the transition to clean energy as a source of jobs and tax revenue for their communities. In addition to the $1.7 trillion dollar investment, Biden’s team will also implement aggressive methane pollution limits for oil operations, preserve the Clean Air Act, build the first plants for biofuels, permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as spark the transition to low-carbon infrastructure including energy-efficient buildings and public transport (3). Furthermore, the Biden administration will establish enforcement mechanisms that include milestone targets for 2025 or sooner (3). By this point I’m feeling, dare I say, hopeful. For context, NASA states that, “if warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius, more than 70 percent of Earth’s coastlines will see sea-level rise greater than 0.66 feet (0.2 meters), resulting in increased coastal flooding, beach erosion, salinization of water supplies and other impacts on humans and ecological systems” (2). Thus, by making sure America has a 100% clean energy economy and produces net-zero emissions by 2050, Biden is actively working to slow the rate at which the Earth warms which aligns with actions that for decades climate scientists and activists have been calling for (4). For this reason, this aspect of Biden’s plan is crucial to saving our planet and it seems concrete and implementable.
*A 100% clean energy economy produces no more climate pollution than they can remove.
In the second component of his plan, Joe says he will build a stronger, more resilient nation. Meeting this goal involves working with innovators and engineers to set a climate adaptation agenda that defines common-sense guidelines for building and rebuilding in the faces of natural disasters. This will naturally require labor, so Biden also plans to establish a new class of well-paying jobs related to the climate resilience industry. Moreover, he plans to keep this effort inclusive with job-trainings as well. Perhaps most importantly, Biden also claims he will spark our second railroad revolution. This includes shrinking travel time from D.C. to New York in half and making progress on the California High Speed Rail project (3). Unlike the first pillar of his plan, this pillar struck me as somewhat vague. While many of the promises made here directly tie into delivering on Joe’s first promise by reducing emissions, I felt that there weren’t as many concrete milestones set. Saying that you want to build strength and resilience in our country is nice and all, but it’s not worth much unless you can provide the how, which I felt was not totally developed in this chunk of the plan. So while I can get behind this part of the plan in theory, I don’t think it is as strong of a plan as Americans (and the world) deserve.
Next up, in the third part of his plan to tackle the climate emergency, Joe vows to “rally the rest of the world to address the grave climate threat.” He goes on to remind us that America is responsible for only 15% of global emissions and that climate change is a global challenge. Well, despite the convenient exclusion for a source on that fact, it only took me one quick google search to confirm that yes America is responsible for only 15% of global climate emissions. But, I think the word “only” casts the wrong tone on this fact. In reality, by emitting “only” 15% of all global emissions America is still the second largest emitter in the world following China. Moreover, the thirds largest emitter -- India -- emits less than half of what America emits. I think the Biden Administration’s strategic placing of the word “only” in this phrase is a tactic meant to shift the blame off of America, which I don’t appreciate when they’re also trying to get the rest of the world to accept accountability for their role in the climate crisis. Anyways, I digress… In this section Joe also promises to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty to limit global warming (3). 194 countries have signed and 188 have ratified the agreement as of November 2020; Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, but Joe says he will rejoin on day 1 in office. The goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to, “limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels,” which goes back to what the science is telling us we need to do to save our planet (1, 2). Joe’s promise to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement is important in two ways. First, it will mean that America will have to start meeting goals set by the agreement such as cutting the country’s emissions. Second, it puts America in the position to once again use its economic leverage and power of example to push the agenda of the Paris Agreement even further. While I was disappointed in the way I felt the beginning of the plan tried to shift a lot of the blame off of America, I did appreciate this aspect of Biden’s plan by the time I read to the end. Similar to the first pillar in his plan, this third component spelled out concrete actions like naming and shaming global climate outlaws, refusing to finance dirty energy, and creating new green common standards for many of America’s industries. Because of its concrete actions and goals, this third component of Joe’s plan makes me hopeful that he will take an approach aggressive enough to tackle the crisis at hand.
Each country’s share of CO2 emissions. Source: Union of Concerned Scientists
The fourth section of Joe Biden’s plan hits on an important intersection of the climate crisis: social justice. Biden promises to stand up to the abuse of power by polluters who disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities. He goes on to acknowledge some sobering, supporting facts. African Americans are nearly 3 times more likely to die from asthma-related causes than white Americans; almost 1 in 2 Latinos living in America live in counties where the air doesn’t meet EPA public health standards for smog; 40% of indigenous tribes that live in Alaska are affected by rapid temperature rises and melting sea ice (3). The plan to address this problem first and foremost involves reinstating many of the federal protections the Trump Administration rolled back. But, because more must be done than just reimplementing old policies, Biden will take action to ensure all Americans have safe and clean water to drink and that all polluters be held accountable. While these promises seem like a really low bar -- and they are -- it’s actually crucial they be addressed. According to the US water alliance, roughly 2 million Americans live without access to safe drinking water* (5). It’s shocking to think this is happening in our own country, but since it is, it’s good that our next administration will begin to tackle this problem using science. Overall, instead of outlining preventative measures, this section discusses actions to mitigate the effects of climate change that many communities are already facing. If fulfilled as promised, this portion of the plan should help alleviate some of the burden that communities of color and low-income communities are already facing as a result of the climate emergency
*For example, read more about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, here.
In the fifth and final section of Joe’s plan to tackle the climate crisis, Joe states he will honor the workers and communities that led our industrial revolution and decades of economic growth. This portion of the plan is extremely short and is hardly a plan to tackle the climate crisis at all. It’s more of a promise to communities that are reliant on coal mines and power plants that they will not be forgotten as America transitions into a cleaner tomorrow. I think the tone of this promise will be instrumental in uniting Americans in protecting our planet.
After reading this plan, I walk away hopeful. The Biden Administration has a good understanding of what needs to be done to stop the worst effects of climate change. Their plan prioritizes keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees celsius and the urgency in which we need to transition to clean energy and infrastructure. These are things that science tells us we need to do. As a marine scientist, I wish, of course, that there was a more explicit plan regarding the health of our ocean, but for now this will have to do. And honestly, that’s just me being nit-picky. The plan to tackle the climate emergency that the Biden Administration’s website lays out is strong and well informed. I have faith that it will make a difference. With democrats recently gaining control of the Senate in addition to the House, I feel confident that Joe can accomplish so much of what his plans lay out before us. So… it looks like Joe Biden may actually have a fighting chance to save the planet.
Connect more with Anya on Twitter @ScienceStajner or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts by streaming her new podcast “Wet”.
Sources:
Unfccc.int, unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement.
“A Degree of Concern: Why Global Temperatures Matter – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” NASA, NASA, 12 Oct. 2020, climate.nasa.gov/news/2865/a-degree-of-concern-why-global-temperatures-matter/#:~:text=If%20warming%20reaches%202%20degrees,on%20humans%20and%20ecological%20systems.
“Plan for Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Joe Biden.” Joe Biden for President: Official Campaign Website, 29 Oct. 2020, joebiden.com/climate-plan/.
Kaplan, Sarah. “Thousands of Scientists Issue Bleak 'Second Notice' to Humanity.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/13/thousands-of-scientists-issue-bleak-second-notice-to-humanity/.
US Water Alliance. Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States. uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/publications/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf.