In recent times we have acknowledged that the most complex set of issues humanity has faced for decades are getting worse: rampant inequality, poverty and homelessness, corruption, and an extreme climate crisis. These are just the tip of the iceberg of issues we must face as a society, and a lot of the most important work falls on our government and our newly elected president Joe Biden. During his campaign, he made various ambitious promises to help heal the United States in all these areas, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic. For this article, however, we are going to focus on Biden’s plans to deal with the climate crisis, as well as the obstacles that stand in the way.

Long story short, Biden’s overarching plan is to implement at least 2 trillion dollars in resources in his first term, with 40% of those funds going directly to marginalized and historically disadvantaged communities. He wants to promote a complete shift from fossil fuels to net-zero carbon emissions and renewable energy nationwide over the next 30 years (2050). He plans to set in motion laws that would require zero-emission standards for all new buildings and businesses, require all US-made busses be carbon-free, and the creation of 250,000 jobs by mandating the plugging of abandoned natural gas and oil wells. This plan lines up with the statistics promoted by climate scientists across the globe, and is more progressive than any of Biden’s presidential predecessors, and most of his democractic colleagues. In fact, his climate plan, which is laid out on the Biden campaign website, adheres to some of the core ideas of the Green New Deal written by Rep. Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey. The Biden plan echoes the necessary scale for climate action and the severity of what needs to be done and when, as well as the interconnectedness of the economy and our environment. 

However, it’s worth mentioning that Biden’s plan is much more limited than the Green New Deal. Without criticism, his plan to tackle the climate crisis is not the most comprehensive, just, or progressive plan by a long shot. Tom Goldtooth, the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network and long time advocate for climate justice and indigenous rights criticized the plan’s semi-reliance on carbon pricing and carbon capture technologies, which he said was “a false solution,” saying these technologies are unproven and would continue to allow fossil fuel companies to operate as normal. Some point to the administration’s reluctance to ban fracking as another red flag, while others mention the lackluster entourage of energy advisors Biden has chosen to surround himself with. As The Intercept reports, many of his close personnel are ex-Obama officials who “embraced fossil-fuel development and technologies while publicly trumpeting clean energy commitments.” 

Biden has a long history, dating back before the Obama administration, of being a corporate democrat who compromises and embraces conservative policy; however, how we as a species treat the next 8-10 years could determine how the next hundred affects all life on earth, and right now, Joe Biden is the best presidential shot we have at avoiding a climate catastrophe. Varkini Prakash, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement and a member of the policy group that helped the Biden administration expand its ambitions to meet climate change, said, “Joe Biden’s plan isn’t everything, but it’s something…If he is able to make good on many of his campaign promises, that will present a seismic shift in climate policy at the federal level, more than anything we’ve seen in the last four years.”

Electing one leader of one country won’t determine the future of the earth. It will help, but for decades human rights and climate change activists have been tirelessly fighting to impose sustainable policy and dismantle our fossil-fuel addicted economy through protests, blockades, mutual aid groups, and much more. These influences don’t require a vote, and yet they change the course of climate change. Let me be clear, your vote does matter. It is important to elect climate conscious leaders in all positions of government, but that should be where your climate action starts, not stops. Voting is just one tool for change, and we need to use every single tool we have to combat this crisis, because there is no guarantee that Biden’s plan will come to completion.

 At the end of the day Biden still needs the support of congress to pass this legislation, which when it comes to climate change, has always been an uphill battle. Considering the scale of climate change, we in the United States, who are historically the largest emitters of carbon dioxide on earth, don’t have the luxury of taking a break after voting. Biden may have kept his promise about returning the US to the Paris Climate Accord but it’s up to us to not only keep our government and his administration in check, but for us to realize that the climate crisis is a very real and present danger that is heavily affecting people’s lives across the globe right now, and we need to be doing everything we can to stop it.