On April 22nd and 23rd President Biden will observe the first Earth Day of his new administration by hosting a virtual conference on climate change with over 80 global leaders. He is expected to commit the U.S. to halving it greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, based on the 2005 level. During the conference Biden may also agree to resume U.S financial contribution of the U.S.; committed under the Paris Accord, to address climate change in underdeveloped nations. The original commitment was for $3 billion, but President Trump issued an Executive Order halting the payments with $2 billion still owed.
During his first three months in office President Biden has made climate change and the environment hallmarks of his administration and a focus of each of his department leaders, a vast change from the previous administration. Indeed, initial efforts to overturn environmental actions of the Trump administration began on the day President Biden was inaugurated when he signed the order to rejoin the Paris Accord. Thus the official theme for this Earth Day of “Restore Our Earth” seems most appropriate.
President Biden will face a number of challenges in implementing his environmental and climate change programs. Not the least of these being the understandable loss of global creditably. The Kyoto Treaty, widely hailed as the most significant environmental treaty, was negotiated under the Clinton administration, but rejected by President G.W. Bush. The Paris Accord, essentially an extension of Kyoto, was negotiated and ratified under the Obama administration with President Obama assuring the over 200 signatory nations that actions taken by his administration would be binding on succeeding administrations. Never-the-less, President Trump officially withdrew from the Paris Accord, the only nation to have done so.
Secondly, the U.S. is far from united in terms of environmental and climate change regulation. The current cornerstone Biden’s environmental and climate change actions is his infrastructure proposal, which Senate Republican Leader McConnell has vowed to oppose. With Senate majority of only one, all Democrats, including those from fossil fuel producing states must vote for the finished bill, which current seems highly doubtful. Also, a group of House Republicans recently introduced legislation requiring renegotiation of the entire Paris Accord and denouncing plans for global involvement by the U.S. History tells us that control of at least one chamber of Congress is likely to change hands as a result of the 2022 mid-term elections. If the Republicans gain control of either the House or Senate, the odds for passing any environmental or climate change legislation during the last two years of the Biden administration would be nil.
There is also an internal conflict between Biden’s infrastructure plan, and his climate and environmental proposals. If his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan is implemented, it’s broad scope will require a substantial increase in the production of steel, concrete and other materials, resulting in an increased consumption of fossil fuels. You cannot rebuild a power grid, extend broadband, install wind and solar generation and build an electrical vehicle infrastructure without consuming vast amounts of materials and energy, which currently means relying on fossil fuels. Yes, in the long run such a program should vastly reduce U.S. greenhouse emissions, but during construction and transition to green power it would seem enviable that emissions would increase. A temporary spike in emissions should not be used as justification to delay, but with a program of such wide scale the ability of the U.S. to concurrently cut it’s emissions in half from the 2005 base appears questionable.
On Earth Day we are encouraged perform some action, such as picking up trash, planting a tree, or education. While worthwhile, the the most signification action would be to make an Earth Day commitment to becoming politically involved, especially in the U.S. If you support a clean environment, pollution-free water and air, and stable ecosystems; and are concerned about a changing climate, your greatest impact will be political, supporting Democratic governance at local, state and national levels. Regrettably, the U.S. no longer has two strong political parties, but rather has one party and one personality cult which has shown no interest or ability in actually governing and is committed to opposing science. Hopefully this situation is temporary, and we will once again have a viable two-party system, but in the meantime the only choice is to govern or obstruct. A changing climate and the environment require governance.
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The introductory graphic: courtesy of earthday.org.
