In a column published in June 2021, I stated that next year will be a “hinge in history” for America’s participation in the global effort to address the climate crisis. Having won the White House and control of the House and Senate, Democrats have opened up a rare political opportunity – their first. since 2010 to pass major federal legislation to reduce our carbon footprint.
But the window isn’t very big, and it won’t stay open for long. President Biden proposed set a goal for the United States by 2030 to cut carbon emissions to half of 2005 levels. He outlined hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in clean energy, transit, infrastructure. electric vehicles, extreme weather and climate-related research and development. Now, in the face of the united Republican opposition and with midterm politics fast approaching, can Democrats seize what I call a “good political opportunity?” the country’s last resort” to tackle climate change and pass Biden’s plan?
Well, a year has passed, and the answer is: No.
When Senator Joe Manchin withdrew his support last week for a dramatically scaled-down version of Biden’s climate plan, the big American opportunity closed. Manchin’s decision came as no surprise – he was hosted his party for over a year – but for me it still packs a wall.
Am I caught in a spiral of despair over the inability of our political system to address pressing problems? Do I feel hopeless about the world’s efforts to avoid worst-case scenarios by climate scientists? I have wondered more than once what is the opinion of the Democrats running the program if they cannot secure the plan? Well, maybe just a little.
It’s hard to overstate this case for a major federal effort on climate change. It’s popular – most Americans think Congress needs to address the causes and effects of climate change. And because new disasters from a warming planet seem to happen every week, the problem will only become more pressing. (About 100 million Americans are sweating due to the intense heat this week.)
Biden’s plan also makes economic sense: Regardless of whether the US gets involved, A global transition to renewable fuels is underway. China leads the US (and the rest of the world) growing in renewable generation capacity and in solar panel make; Because The Chinese government is investing heavily while we do not have renewable energy, we risk falling further behind in the industries that will dominate in the future.
It’s also rarely more obvious that our reliance on fossil fuels is keeping us from receiving any national security benefits. Biden was in Saudi Arabia last week when he accept defeat on the climate bill. He was there ask one brutal petromonarch gives more oil because another brutal petromonarch is use its fossil fuel profits to finance an invasion by a sovereign neighbor. But despite an embarrassing clash with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, whose country Biden once aimed to encroach on the global side.”pariah“, the President still doesn’t have any guarantees to get more oil. That could change at an upcoming meeting of the OPEC + oil cartel – but we shouldn’t strive for a future where we won’t have to bow to such characters because they happen to sitting on many dead plants and animals?
It is precisely the strength of the federal climate action case that has left me feeling so frustrated. Democrats appear to be heading towards losing their congressional majority midterm, and Biden’s approval rating is very low. It is hard to imagine that the party will soon have another push at taking on major climate actions. How will climate change become a political issue if Democrats stay out of the political wilderness? Do we have to endure another decade of inaction?
Climate experts tell me not to give up all hope. Alex Trembath, deputy director of the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental research group, problem last year with my characterization of Biden’s plan as a do or die moment for America’s climate movement.
“There is no term of 12 years or a year,” Trembath told me this week. He argues that such a reliance on deadlines is bound to incite nihilism, and that a better way to talk about climate change is a long-term problem that we will have to continue to deal with. until alive.
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Trembath also points out that some of America’s most effective environmental regulations have been passed.quietly”—meaning they are small, seemingly boring rule changes and tax credits hidden in larger laws. Instead of pushing for a far-reaching climate bill, perhaps Democrats can now work toward passing more such small measures in future legislation.
There is also executive action. On Wednesday, Biden announced Some of the steps his administration will take on climate – for example, he will direct the Interior Department to authorize the installation of offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico.
I don’t want to put these efforts out of hand. “With climate change, everything we do matters,” said Leah Stokes, a political scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara who studies environmental politics. “Every ton of carbon pollution that we can cut is a good thing.”
But even though Stokes is pushing for aggressive executive action, she’s careful to note the limits of this strategy. By pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into renewable fuels and infrastructure, Biden’s legislative plan will advance the creation of a clean energy economy in the United States. Regulation, on the other hand, can limit the worst of the fossil fuel economy, but it won’t do much when it comes to building something new. “We shouldn’t fool ourselves,” Stokes said. “It’s not as robust as investments in Congress.”
Stokes is also skeptical that a “quiet” climate policy will continue to provide benefits. “The way we got climate policies in the past was purely through quiet politics,” she told me. “You stick something on an invoice, people don’t really notice it, and boom, years later, it becomes really important and it builds an industry.” But the fossil fuel industry got smart with this game. “That ship has set sail,” said Stokes. “The fossil fuel industry is not stupid. They know what we’re doing. And they will fight every little thing that we try to put anywhere.”
So where are we with US climate policy? Not every place is good. Joe Manchin squandered his team’s best opportunity to mitigate disaster, and Joe Biden had little choice for what to do next. I hate to sound like a dissident, but I don’t see an alternative. If you’re not worried about the climate, you’re not paying attention.
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