Posted on 5 September 2020 by John Hartz

Editor's Choice

Biden’s Early Climate Focus and Hard Years in Congress Forged His $2 Trillion Clean Energy Plan

The Democratic nominee has called the Green New Deal a 'crucial framework' for the nation’s future, but he does not support calls for a fracking ban.

Former vice-president Joe Biden accepts the Democratic Party nomination for president during the last day of the Democratic National Convention, being held virtually amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware on Aug. 20, 2020. Credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images 

Former Vice President Joe Biden's long political career spans the early days of hope for U.S. climate action, and the present days of alarm.

He sponsored one of the first pieces of climate legislation in Congress, a benign proposal to study the greenhouse effect that met enough resistance to signal the hard fight ahead.

More than 30 years later, as the Democratic nominee for president, Biden is seeking to seize what many see as the last opportunity for the U.S. to stave off catastrophe.

Biden's instinct, as embodied in the climate plan he unveiled early in this presidential run, is for moderation. He'd rather regulate than ban. He favors incentives, not force.

But as fire scorched the West and tropical storms doused the East in what science says is only a harbinger of things to come, amid passionate pleas of young activists who fear for their future, and in the face of President Donald Trump's abandonment of U.S. responsibility to act, Biden has jettisoned half-measures.

"We're not just going to tinker around the edges," Biden said in announcing his expanded $2 trillion clean energy transformation plan in July.

Click here to acces the entire article originally posted on the InsideClimate News website.  

Biden’s Early Climate Focus and Hard Years in Congress Forged His $2 Trillion Clean Energy Plan by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Aug 31, 2020

Articles Linked to on Facebook

Sun, Aug 30, 2020

• Power to the people: why clean energy must give more Australians a slice of the pie by Ketan Joshi, Enviornment, Guardian, Aug 29, 2020
• Climate Accountability Largely Missing from Senate Democrats’ New Climate Report by Dana Drugmand, DeSmog, Aug 28, 2020
• Solar Panels Are Starting to Die. What Will We Do With the Megatons of Toxic Trash? by Maddie Stone, Environment, Rolling Stone, Aug 27, 2020
• Tropical Storm Laura’s flooding and other impacts on the ground: What we know by Roge Karma, Energy & Environment, Vox, Aug 27, 2020

Mon, Aug 31, 2020

• What Climate Change Does to the Human Body by Neela Tummala, Climate, Scientific American, Aug 29, 2020
• Learning from the contentious history of ‘carbon removal’, Guest Post by Wim Carton & Jens Friis Lund. Carbon Brief, Aug 27, 2020
• “It just looks like a bomb went off”: Louisianians on recovering from Hurricane Laura by Jen Kirby, Vox, Aug 29, 2020
• A post-Laura heat wave has no name by Emily Atkin, Heated, Aug 31, 2020

Tue, Sep 1, 2020

• President Donald Trump’s Climate Change Record Has Been a Boon for Oil Companies, and a Threat to the Planet by Vernon Loeb, Marianne Lavelle & Stacy Feldman, InsideClimate News, Aug 31, 2020
• How to decarbonize America — and create 25 million jobs by Ezra Klein, Podcast, Vox, Aug 27. 2020
• Think You’re Making Good Climate Choices? Take This Mini-Quiz by Veronica Penney, Climate, New York Times, Aug 30, 2020
• Trump administration rule seeks to make drilling easier in national forests by Emily Holden, Environment, Guardian, Sep 1, 2020

Wed, Sep 2, 2020

• E.P.A. Relaxes Rules Limiting Toxic Waste From Coal Plants by Lisa Friedman, Climate & Environment, New York Times, Aug 31, 2020
• How climate change is turning glaciers into lakes, Guest Post by Stephan Harrison, Dan Shugar & Richard Betts, Carbon Brief, Aug 31, 2020
• The Story of Climate Consensus by John Cook, YouTube Video, Sep 2, 2020
• How SUVs conquered the world – at the expense of its climate by Oliver Milman, Climate Countdown, Guardian, Sep 1, 2020
• A dangerous heat wave is expected to hit the West Coast over Labor Day weekend by Allen Kim & Taylor Ward, CNN, Sep 2, 2020

Thu, Sep 3, 2020

• Hottest season on record: Merciless Phoenix heat blasts by all-time monthly, summer milestones by Ian Livingston, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Sep 1, 2020
• ‘That’s the Way It Is’: Trump’s Dismissal of Hurricane Laura and Climate Crisis Echoes Remarks on COVID-19 Deaths by Sharon Kelly, DeSmog, Sep 1, 2020
• New Zealand experiences warmest winter on record by Charles Anderson, World, Guardian, Sep 3, 2020
• ‘At the Forefront of Climate Change,’ Hoboken, New Jersey, Seeks Damages From ExxonMobil by David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, Sep 3, 2020

Fri, Sep 4, 2020

• The US South could save money by cleaning up its power grid by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Sep 3, 2020
• A Climate Change Skeptic, Mike Pence Brought to the Vice Presidency Deep Ties to the Koch Brothers by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Aug 31, 2020
• How Fast Is the Climate Changing?: It’s a New World, Each and Every Day by Bill McKibben, Annals of A Warming Planet, The New Yorker, Sep 3, 2020
• Trump will roll back more environmental regulations if reelected, says EPA chief by Emma Newburger, Environment, CNBC, Sep 3, 2020

Sat, Sep 5, 2020

• Massive mystery holes appear in Siberian tundra — and could be linked to climate change by Katie Hunt, CNN, Sep 4, 2020
• Portuguese children sue 33 countries over climate change at European court by Jonathan Watts, Guardian, Sep 3, 2020
• It's going to be a hot Labor Day weekend, with record-breaking highs in the West by Jennifer Gray, CNN, Sep 5, 2020
• Biden’s Early Climate Focus and Hard Years in Congress Forged His $2 Trillion Clean Energy Plan by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Aug 31, 2020