Arguments
2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #45
Posted on 8 November 2020 by John Hartz
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review...
Story of the Week...
Joe Biden will be president, but there will be no Green New Deal
Without Congress, he’ll be limited to executive action, just like Obama.
As polling almost unanimously (over)predicted, Joe Biden has amassed the electoral votes necessary to become the 46th president of the United States. The outlook for global warming has consequently been upgraded from hopeless to merely very desperate.
Without the Senate, which will likely remain in Republican hands (though control could come down to two runoffs in Georgia), Biden’s power to effect the kind of radical change called for by the Green New Deal will be substantially curtailed. But he will not be powerless — there are expansive parts of his climate agenda that he can drive through executive power alone.
Biden ran on an ambitious climate agenda
As part of the most progressive policy agenda of any Democrat in recent history, Biden ran on an ambitious plan to address climate change and its effects. It promises a suite of standards and incentives to decarbonize electricity, transportation, industry, and other polluting sectors; $2 trillion in investments in clean energy, infrastructure, and community development; and a series of measures to ensure that vulnerable communities — vulnerable to the effects of pollution and climate change, or vulnerable to the transition away from fossil fuels — are protected.
Biden’s three-part focus on standards, investments, and justice (SIJ) reflects a broad alignment in the Democratic Party, from environmental justice and climate groups on the left to moderates in Congress. Climate change has consistently polled as a top concern among Democratic voters this year, not only young and committed Democrats but among wavering Trump voters. It has been a prominent part of the Biden campaign and served as his final pitch in many swing states.
Much of the sweeping climate agenda in the plan requires legislation, which is not going to be possible with Mitch McConnell in charge of the Senate. There is some slim chance Democrats in the House and Republicans in the Senate can work together to pass more stimulus, or do something on infrastructure (which could include plenty of climate-friendly stuff), but the most likely result is that McConnell continues his strategy of scorched-earth partisan warfare and nothing but essential budget bills pass.
Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on the Vox website.
Joe Biden will be president, but there will be no Green New Deal by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Nov 6, 2020/p>
Editorial of the Week...
SkS Highlights...
El Niño/La Niña Update...
Toon of the Week...
Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.
Quote of the Week...
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SkS in the News...
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SkS Spotlights...
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Reports of Note...
Coming Soon on SkS...
- On climate clock, it's parts per million, not minutes, that matter most (Bud Ward)
- Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA (Carbon Brief)
- SkS New Research for Week #45 (Doug Bostrom)
- State of the climate: 2020 on course to be warmest year on record (Zeke Hausfather)
- Gas-powered cars: Beginning of the end in California? (Bruce Lieberman)
- 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup (John Hartz)
- 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest (John Hartz)
Poster of the Week...
SkS Week in Review...
- Sun: 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #44 by John Hartz (SkS Original)
- Mon: How you can help to keep Climate misinformation on Twitter in check Guest Post by Yann Gager
- Tue: CSLDF: Model Language for Scientific Integrity Policies Guest Post by Lauren Kurtz (Climate Science Legal Defense Fund)
- Wed: Skeptical Science New Research for Week #44, 2020 by Doug Bostrom (SkS Original)
- Thu: COVID-19 put U.S. back on track with reneged Paris targets by Dana Nuccitelli (Yale Climate Connections Repost)
- Sat: 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #45 by John Hartz (SkS Original)
Given the topic this week, I do not think that this is off topic, though it is kind of political:
Not quite like I thought but really close.
3.5M so Not over 4M popular vote margin
Here if Forbes betting on electoral vote result
Total electoral votes for Joe Biden
Over 310.5: -150
Under 310.5: +110
And indeed most predictions were well over 310. So when Pennsylvania comes in and Biden wins at 290 then my (well the great spirits really -— I am but a conduit via my aspergers pattern recognition) prediction of over 300 will turn out to be one of the most accurate of the night :-) I am, of course not unique, -— here is a site with a list of predictions. Note that if you split the tossups, almost all Biden predictions are well over 310 :-)
https://www.ajc.com/politics/election-projections-with-14-days-left-trump-gets-a-little-bump/B6GTZN3F7FC2VI4DAIOTJHXHZA/
The great spirit who moves through all things knows all, sees all. :-)
On 11/2/20 11:50 AM, Doug Nusbaum wrote:
>
> "The Great Spirit Who Move Through All Things" (TGS) Wishes to advise you of the following:
>
> Stupid is inconvenient, TERMINAL Stupid kills!!!
>
> You have been acting in a manner that is terminally stupid, absolutely refusing to learn from new things that NATURE (As in "Nature can not be fooled" -— R Feynman) shows you like a changing climate. Nature decided to present you with what she calls symptoms of what this could lead to. Hence Donald Trump, who better than almost anyone on the planet, is an avatar of stupid.
>
> Then rather than simply remove him with, say a terminal stroke (caused by "the deep state"), she then gave you COVID-19 so that the evidence of his and your terminal stupidity would be clear and unavoidable, and you would act appropriately. And she will make sure that the message that you send is unassailable by giving to Biden a margin Victory of over 300 votes in the electoral college, as well as a popular vote margin of over 4M votes.
>
> Douglas Nusbaum
>
> A conduit :-)
[DB] Too far off-topic and too-political.