DURING HIS victory speech, US President-elect Joe Biden announced that climate change would be one of his top priorities, adding that Americans must “marshal the forces of science in the battle to save our planet”. He has vowed to rejoin the landmark the Paris Agreement as soon as he assumes office. In fact, in June last year, Biden had said that he had plans for a $1.7 trillion investment in a green recovery, which would reduce US emissions by about 75 gigatonnes over the next 30 years.
Biden has also said he would stop leasing any new oil and gas rights on federal land and water. He could also direct agencies to tighten emissions standards for the electricity sector, to push it toward his goal of net zero emissions. And he could raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to speed up a transition to electric vehicles (see ‘Biden will restore climate change and climate policy’, p27) .
But a 1800 turnaround on environment and climate change issues for the US will not be easy for Biden, post-Trump. First, any push for climate action will require Democrats take control of the US Senate. Second, in the four years he was president, Donald Trump relaxed more than 150 climate-friendly regulations—tailpipe emissions, endangered wildlife and rainforest protection among others—and this will take considerable time for Biden to undo the damage.
Third, fracking—hydraulic fracturing in the shale formation to release gas—is a contentious issue. It is opposed by climate advocates for the volume of water and toxic chemicals consumed by the process and the contamination threat to drinking water sources. But Biden has historically been known for his deep involvement in the shale oil boom during the Obama years. So we can expect little action from Biden on banning fracking.
Though Biden had earlier vowed to get other countries to make more ambitious targets to keep global warming to a maximum of 20C, in a post-Trump world, the bar for the US to participate as a climate leader in international negotiations has become very low. The country is set to miss its Paris commitment to lower carbon emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels through 2025.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Sting operation
One of India’s worst malaria-affected districts, Malkangiri in Odisha, is on its way to win the fight against this scourge
The great discontent
Farmers delivered the country’s historic harvest bucking the pandemic in 2020. But the year also broke all records of their protests as they demand fair price and access to markets
Fungal attack in apple orchards across the valley
WIDESPREAD FUNGAL infection is set to hit apple production in Kashmir this season.
SHRINKING WORLD OF CHANGPAS
The Changpas are trans-Himalayan nomads. For ages, they have roamed the Changthang region of southeastern Ladakh, cut off from the world. Some accounts say they travelled across the Himalayas to arrive here around the 8th century. Located at an altitude of 4,500 metres, life in this arid, vast and rugged plateau is hard. Winters are very long, summers short and vegetation scarce. As a result, the Changpas have led a pastoral life. They rear Changthangi goat, from whose under coat comes the famous pashmina wool. The goats graze on the mountainsides, feeding on seasonal grasses. The weather, however, has changed in the past few decades. The winters and summers are warmer, and there is a perceptive decline in precipitation and snowfall between November and March. This has drastically reduced the size of the grazing grounds and the Changpas now have to shift locations more frequently. RITAYAN MUKHERJEE captures the changing lifestyle of the Changpas
Collateral damage
India’s latest plan to save its vultures from dying due to drugs used on cattle offers little hope
PURE TRASH
THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW PROPOSAL ON EXTENDED PRODUCER’S RESPONSIBILITY ON PLASTIC WASTE IS A MOCKERY OF THE COVID-19 REALITY WE FACE TODAY
Gated farming societies
An agritech startup in Bengaluru is helping city dwellers own and manage farms for long-term wealth benefits
2020 Endless Fallouts
COVID-19 has turned the clock back in terms of global health and development indices. The recovery will be long and arduous for a world facing climate change on an unprecedented scale. Indicators are already there that the year ahead will be turbulent
Question Of Ecological Identity
ISHAN KUKRETI speaks to a legislator, an anthropologist and legal experts to make sense of this simmering debate
We need pure honey
It is time we outwitted the business of adulteration. This requires government to act decisively. It needs industry to be made responsible. It needs consumers to be made aware of the purity of the honey they consume. This demands change
AILERON/RUDDER MIXING EXPLAINED
Build good habits now and fly better tomorrow
CALLS TO REOPEN CLASSROOMS GROW AS TEACHERS GET VACCINATED
State leaders around the U.S. are increasingly pushing for schools to reopen this winter — pressuring them, even — as teachers begin to gain access to the vaccine against the raging pandemic.
US UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS JUMP TO 965,000 AS VIRUS TAKES TOLL
The number of people seeking unemployment aid soared last week to 965,000, the most since late August and a sign that the resurgent virus has likely escalated layoffs.
US SPACE COMMAND SITE TO BE LOCATED IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA
The U.S. Air Force announced that the new U.S. Space Command headquarters will be in Huntsville, Alabama, after the state was selected over five others competing for the project, including Colorado, where Space Command is provisionally located.
Test All of Minnesota? You Betcha
Minnesota is setting an example for other states and the federal government. If anyone is interested
Why the U.S. Senate Is Broken
Adam Jentleson argues that toxic partisanship rose when the filibuster became a cudgel
America's Missing Workers
Near-record levels of absenteeism could be hampering the recovery
Beyond Organic: Buy Regenerative!
Improving soil health is an overlooked key for nutrient-dense food and a healthier planet. We can support farming that has this focus through the products we purchase.
US HOLDS FIRST OIL LEASE SALE FOR ALASKA'S ARCTIC REFUGE
The U.S. government held its first-ever oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an event critics labeled as a bust with major oil companies staying on the sidelines and a state corporation emerging as the main bidder.
MICROSOFT SAYS HACKERS VIEWED SOURCE CODE, DIDN'T CHANGE IT
Microsoft said in a blog pos t that hackers tied to a massive intrusion of dozens of U.S. government agencies and private companies sneaked further into its systems than previously thought, although the intrusion doesn’t appear to have caused any additional harm.