And the president before him should have done something, and the president before him, and the one before him...
Sure, let's blame it all on Biden huh? As if this problem just started yesterday?
Also pretty easy to blame the president.
Presidents only get power if they win elections. And you only win elections by doing what the people want you to do.
I remember the 90s. James Hansen was saying, gotta build nuclear, get off the fossil fuels.
The Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists were saying, no nuclear is bad. The coal unions were saying, no don't destroy our jobs. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were in power for 8 years and these two lobby groups had a lot of influence on them.
But I also see no repentance or reform by these groups. It's always someone else's fault.
We don't need no president to tell us that we should stop driving so damn much and start walking and riding bicycles more often. One person can't fix what the entire population has caused. We have to be the change we want to see.
Individual actions can’t fix problems of a systemic nature. We need governmental policy and enforcement to lead us towards salvation.
Strangely, I both agree and disagree with your comment. It takes everyone to make the progress we need regarding climate change.
Yeah, ultimately that’s pretty much true. We all need to make the change together, but government needs to provide the structure for the transition, and the motivation for those who would rather pretend everything’s fine.
There are actually people out there willing to live totally off the grid, no electricity or nothing. I have respect for people that have the nerve and the skill to do such things, but in most areas you're legally required to have electricity.
Like WTF? Once upon a time, electricity basically didn't exist (well it did, but humans weren't generating it). Then it became a neat invention for the rich. Then it became a convenience. Then it became mandatory...
Seriously, how are we ever going to have options when energy is literally forced upon us?
Electricity is essential to decarbonization. Do you have any idea how destructive it would be for billions of humans to go live in the woods? Most people would starve or freeze to death, but if that didn't happen then the trees would be gone within a generation.
'Electricity is essential...'
No it's not, it never was. We've just become dependent upon it, unfortunately including myself.
Somehow humans lived for over 100,000 years without electricity just fine. Now within the past 200 years we done cranked the energy consumption up by an order or three of magnitude, and sit with our thumbs up our butts and wonder what's wrong.
We are what's wrong, humans (yes I'll include myself in this criticism) are a cancer on this planet. Even if we move to Mars, we'll still be a cancer. We're a nasty trashy species that has barely even set foot on the moon, but somehow we already got over 100 bags of human waste on the moon.
Electricity isn't the answer, it's the problem.
Space isn't the answer, it'll be our folly.
Our planet means more to us than $$$...
Now within the past 200 years we done cranked the energy consumption up by an order or three of magnitude
I agree that reducing the human population by a few orders of magnitude would make it possible to live off the land, use less energy, and protect the environment. Are you volunteering to be among the billions who die?
I'm too stubborn to die. I'll wait until the cancer kicks in.
Ok, I'm living in a solar powered RV, sold my car and travel around on an electric scooter. Now I just need to convince billions of other people to do the same..
True, but we also live in a society where we have to travel to work, keep the heat in our house, etc.
Voting for politicians that actually embrace solutions is also part of our responsibility.
France went from 10 tons per capita in 1973 to 6.5 in 1993 and that was not by massively taking the bicycle, but by massively building nuclear plants and high speed rail.
Sweden did the same between 1979 and 2000.
Still have a way to go down to zero, but the US is still at 15, and Germany still at 10 and Canada at 20.
We got motherfuckers older than Goro from Mortal Kombat running the country. They won't be around when shit gets even worse, what the hell do they care about the following generations. Selfish AF.
What Biden has done is to cut the issuance of drilling leases to the minimum required by law, pass the Inflation Reduction Act, enact a regulation to force vehicle electrification, and similarly force fossil fuels out of most power plants, as well as phase out warming-inducing refrigerants.
What Biden has not done: stop issuing drilling permits or impose export restrictions on fossil fuels. The former has some serious limits because of how the courts treat the right to drill as a property right once you hold a drilling lease, and the latter is simply untested.
Age here isn't the issue; it's that we the US government is designed to spread power across multiple people and parts of government, and having a President who is willing to do the right thing isn't enough.
@silence7 Did I mention Biden? Age is absolutely the issue here. All these geezers won't be here much longer, so they don't actually give a shit about the environment or climate change. What does inflation matter in 50 years when there's no drinking water or food?
There are people who work to be good ancestors. I'm happy if somebody who behaves like that holds lower, no matter their age
Congress should act. They’re the lawmakers. The president is just there to execute them. Expecting presidents to initiate laws amounts to calling for an emperor.
It’s sad and telling that Congress isn’t even expected to act anymore.
Congress did act when the Democrats had a majority in both houses. A larger majority would have avoided the need to get the votes of Manchin and Sinema, which would have made for more action. A 60-vote supermajority in the Senate would have enabled the passage of non-budget bills, and gotten even more. We didn't have those things, so we got what we could.
The Republicans currently hold a majority in the House of Representatives, which is why nobody is expecting the current Congress to act in any kind of meaningful way.
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.