It’s not that few have heard about it, per se.
It’s more that there’s an intense disinformation and misinformation campaign about it. Run largely by people who should be celebrating the victories that have been made, but who instead just handwave away all progress as insufficient. Because they really, really, really hate Biden, and so accepting that he’s good on an issue (which he just plain is on climate) is not compatible with their worldviews.
You’ll see it in this thread just as assuredly as anywhere.
Where yo WON’T hear it is among policy wonks. The IRA is celebrated in serious climate circles. Just listen to, say, David Roberts (http://volts.wtf), for example, and you can barely get through any segment without talking about how much it has unlocked renewable spending/expansion.
And it’s not the endgame, it’s just the first step along a new path. It’s even built into the law that it will make further efforts politically and financially easier.
Meanwhile, people who claim they care deeply about climate don’t even know what the IRA is. I’m not one to gatekeep, but it really does show how shallow climate reporting in the greater media landscape is.
The irony is, refusing to see how much progress has been made on climate under Biden may condemn us to lose it all when Trump gets reelected as a result and follows through on his promises to reverse courses on green energy in all its forms and vastly scale up drilling and LNG. Because Trump would potentially be able to cripple the act and the institutions it created even without control of congress.
From one Admiral to another: well said.
If he were doing enough we definitely would have heard about it because it would have an obvious impact on the built environment and our day-to-day lives. As long as his policies are effectively invisible, they’re undoubtedly insufficient.
Nobody knows when you replace a heating system or a hot water heater.
Nobody realizes that a big chunk of their electricity is now from renewables.
Nobody pays attention to whether tailpipes are sticking out of other peoples’ cars.
Nobody sees investments that have yet to pay fruit.
Everyone notices when transportation systems change.
Everyone notices when more multi-family and other forms of dense, efficient housing are built.
Everyone notices serious efforts to create 15-minute cities.
Everyone notices when wildlife habitats are created/protected.
Everyone notices when food prices/availability changes.
Everyone notices when solar panels start popping up everywhere.
Everyone notices when water restrictions change.
The kind of substantial changes (not mild, incremental shifts) needed to avert climate change (and the multitude of other environmental catastrophes currently ongoing) would ABSOLUTELY get noticed. We are way, way past the point that a gradual shift to more efficient water heaters, electric vehicles, and a cleaner grid is going to do anything but slightly postpone what’s coming.
Policy takes years to implement and typically isn’t that visible in the short term. Considering the overwhelming opposition he has had from the Republican house, a conservative supreme court, and a billionaire lobbying and foundation network with vast political power, he’s done a surprising amount. So many people think presidents have unilateral powers that they just don’t in our system of government. These are the same checks that kept Trump from enacting some of his wilder flights of insanity in office. You can’t measure government change the way you stated because government just moves more gradually. Sure, so much more needs to be done, but expecting one president to course correct it as drastically in less than 4 years as would take to be blatant to your daily life is unrealistic. Trump gutted the EPA and other regulatory agencies in his presidency as much as he could get away with. Budget cuts and weakened power can’t just be reversed overnight. So Biden had to undo the damage then attempt to broaden their powers while the supreme court ruled on limiting them in his presidency. It’s not as black and white as you state. Biden isn’t perfect on a lot if issues, but he’s done way more for the environment than I thought he could with the head winds he’s facing. I will say this, they need to better job getting the things that have done out to people. With a news media who is owned by the same companies fighting change and the fractured state of information delivery in general, that will be a challenge.
Okay but my original point still stands: he’s not doing enough (whether it’s because he doesn’t care to or because he literally can’t).
I agree more needs done. I just don’t like when it’s portrayed as from a lack of trying or caring. There is just a lot of psychotic billionaires out there pushing against change who don’t care what happens as long as their power is intact. We are becoming so close to an oligarchy due to all the dark money pushing against change. I’ve seen the entire way issues are discussed shift drastically extreme right in my life time and if you read books like “Dark Money” by Jane Mayer, you know that came from billionaire foundations. Biden has done more than Obama or Clinton for many progressive causes and it’s so overlooked. No one person in our government can do it with our system but if we tear down the few trying because they couldn’t just make it happen immediately in a complex power structure we are only shooting ourselves in the foot in my opinion.
Where in my original comment am I “tearing down” Biden or anyone else? I was addressing the premise of the article, which is “few have heard about Biden’s climate policies, even those who care most about issue.” My point is that if enough were being done to address the climate crisis, everyone would have heard about it because it would be impactful and revolutionary enough to be impossible to not know about. There is no subtle or incremental way to divert us from our current trajectory toward disaster.
Ya it doesn’t seem like he does care
He’s actually done a lot — the Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest piece of climate policy the US has done.
It’s not sufficient on its own, but it’s a good beginning.
It’s likely the biggest piece of climate policy the world has ever seen. Estimated to be close to $1.3 trillion in total investment, nearly entirely in renewables and their halo.
It’s completely changing the entire market. The wonks who really get deep in policy are ecstatic about it. An amazing bill that does so much to make immediate changes, but is also structured to build longterm constituency in climate tech – it will certainly make it way easier to pass even more aggressive climate policy in the future, at least provided Trump doesn’t get back in and just gut it next year. Like many good pieces of policy, the longer it continues to exist the harder it will be to repeal.
It’s a rare time to hope. Biden’s legacy, if it doesn’t get completely destroyed by his heinous approach to Gaza, should be as the climate president.
Progressives and lefty types don’t want to hear it though. They are at full “bitch eating crackers” hate of Biden and are uninterested to challenge those prejudices.
Based on all of the reading you’ve done about it?
