President Joe Biden has made a clear indication of his intentions to make the climate crisis a top priority in terms of his responsibilities as president. On his first day in office, Biden has already rejoined the Paris Climate Accord in an effort to join the global fight against climate change. He has also hinted at supporting more long term climate efforts like the Green New Deal.
The ultimate goal of the Paris Climate Accord is to keep the global climate under control by agreeing to keep the warming temperature below two degrees Celsius at all times. By rejoining this agreement, Biden is reiterating to other countries that climate change is still a top priority for the United States.
Biden’s long term climate goal is for the United States to be 100 percent carbon-free electrical emissions by 2035, and to produce zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. These are ambitious dates that the Biden administration has put in place, but recent action is supporting his goals.
Biden is also targeting communities that have been affected by pollution, which has caused illness and poor living conditions for communities around the country.
“Lifting up these communities makes us all stronger as a nation and increases the health of everybody,” Biden said.
One of the more controversial proposals that are circling around Capitol Hill is the Green New Deal. This assertive climate proposition calls for immediate climate action and removing all carbon-based emissions immediately. This radical change in how the nation is powered is debated among congressmen because of the risks associated with cutting all carbon-based emissions out of the country immediately. (Check out a simplified version of the Green New Deal here.)
On Biden’s website, he claims to support the initiative of the Green New Deal and its goals. Whether or not he can achieve them is a separate question. Often, the climate initiative in Congress has been set aside as more “pressing” issues have arisen in the past 20 years. The Green New Deal simply recognizes that the country can no longer wait and slowly transition to clean energy, but rather that action must be taken now to control worldwide pollution.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez takes a strong stance on climate action: “We don’t have time to sit on our hands as our planet burns. For young people, climate change is bigger than election or reelection. It’s life or death.”
One popular concern with the Green New Deal is that it only controls the United States’ emissions, and does not address the worldwide problem behind pollution. If the United States takes such a radical stance on climate change, will that really change the pollution if no other countries take action? However, people in favor of the Green New Deal insist that the United States doing cold-turkey on carbon emissions will be an example to the rest of the world on the possibilities when climate change is put on the front lines of political action.
“Climate change is the existential threat to humanity,” Biden said. “Unchecked, it is going to actually bake this planet. This is not hyperbole. It’s real. And we have a moral obligation.”