The words “climate change” (ranked 6th on the agenda) were finally said during the 45th minute of the 1st presidential debate, if you were able to make it that far.......
Now, I will readily admit that our nation is facing a host of other urgent challenges, and to some extent I should be grateful that the environment was even mentioned at all — that wasn’t expected. But given that coverage of this part of the debate has largely been drowned out by everything else, I wanted to examine it a bit closer and share some thoughts.
Does anyone else remember what anyone said last week about climate change? Here are a few things that stood out to me:
“I want crystal clean water and air” — President Donald J. Trump
It remains to be seen how the President plans to address this given his recent moves. So far, President Trump has “officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back” 23 environmental regulations that were aimed to reduce pollution in our air and water, and another 15 rollbacks are in progress within those areas.
“We have now the lowest carbon” — President Donald J. Trump
To be fair, I’m not sure what the President is referring to here. He may be alluding to the fact that so far in 2020, the U.S. has the lowest energy-related emissions since 1973, a statistic no doubt related to the lockdown from coronavirus.
However “carbon footprint” is distinct from “direct” emissions. Carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product. By that measure, the U.S. does not, in fact, have ‘the lowest carbon’. The carbon footprint for a person in the United States, according to Nature, is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average is closer to four tons.
“...during our administration, in the Recovery Act, I was able to bring down the cost of renewable energy to cheaper than or as cheap as coal and gas and oil” — VP Joe Biden
There are a number of variables that go into comparatively measuring energy costs, and while renewable energy continues to get cheaper, it’s difficult to say how much of that Joe Biden was responsible for. The Obama administration’s 2009 economic stimulus bill included over $50 billion in spending to promote renewable energy, which helped bring down the cost for wind and solar installations — however, not all pockets of the country have wind and solar facilities.
“The Green New Deal is not my plan” — VP Joe Biden
This is true, although “traces of [the Green New Deal] are all over the place” in the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force’s broad plan. The task force, which included appointees from both Biden and Bernie Sanders, recommended goals including eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035, achieving net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, and making energy-saving upgrades to as many as 4 million buildings and 2 million households within five years.
What’s missing in the conversation about climate change?
I don’t want to simply recap and fact-check what has been said about climate policy. It’s also important to look at what has not been said. Not only was there (unsurprisingly) no mention of the circular economy at the debate, there has been almost no mention from either campaign. The above-mentioned task force at least alludes to it, but it is not a point of emphasis. We certainly have nothing like the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, which clearly articulates a plan for closing loops as well as waste reduction plans for plastics, electronics, etc.
To that end, we need to call on our leaders — no matter who they are or what party they belong to — to commit to tangible, measurable steps toward climate goals. I’m currently working with my teammates at Rheaply to put together a public “pledge” for politicians to sign, putting the focus on specific reuse initiatives. For example, asking our officials to enact policy change to enable swapping of certain unwanted assets (i.e. capital equipment) across county lines, which is currently a huge roadblock in creating circularity within our economy.
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