Why Biden may be the last president to choose climate as a priority
Plus, the data center crunch in Ireland and Virginia is becoming a political issue.
In today’s edition:
— Biden may be the last president to choose to make climate a priority
— The rapid growth of tech data centers for AI is now a political issue in Ireland, Virginia
— Climate change action a deal breaker for young voters in this election, poll finds
— UK’s Octopus Energy to give excess wind and solar energy away for free
— Wildfires torched 1.5 million square miles of land last year
It’s worth noting that President Joe Biden, who gave his swan-song speech in Chicago last night, came to Washington as a young senator in 1972, just four years after the Democratic Party ripped itself apart the last time a Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago.
If the Chicago riots that week in 1968 were a low point for Democrats, clearing the way for Richard Nixon to become president, then last night’s love fest for Biden was a show of unity that the party has long needed. Among Biden’s many legacies will be that through his courage (to run against then-President Donald Trump in 2020) and sacrifice (to step down for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024), he may have saved American Democracy for another generation.
Biden’s climate legacy is different. He chose to make it a priority even as the world screamed for more oil and gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pushing through the politically named Inflation Reduction Act by a nose to help re-establish manufacturing and infrastructure in the U.S. after decades of decline. More than 330 renewable energy projects have been announced since the IRA became law in 2022, creating more than 100,000 jobs and $126 billion in potential private investment, according to E&E News. The S&P 500 is up more than 25% in that timeframe.
That choice, which Biden saw as a way to protect America while also distributing fair jobs and opportunities, will likely be the last time any president will have that luxury. The advance of global warming is now coming so fast in the form of extreme heat, wildfires and unprecedented storms, that climate scientists admit they have little clue how bad it will get or how quickly.
Future presidents, this next term and beyond, will not have the choice. It will be thrust upon them in the form of relentless disasters that will require decisions that sacrifice lives, land, and likely some forms of liberty. The growth of renewable energy will help mitigate it, but the hard decisions of stopping oil and gas, and yes, fracking, to save the planet will be someone else’s to make, and they won’t be by choice.
Much will be written this week and in coming years about Biden’s standing among the nation’s greatest presidents. A lot will depend on whether he can finish the job, help get Harris elected in November, and defeat Trumpism once and for all. But as dealing with climate change moves from a political inconvenience to a global emergency, Biden’s prescience — at the end of a 50 -year career of service — will be remembered as a turning point in history.
Don’t forget to contact me directly if you have suggestions or ideas dcallaway@callawayclimateinsights.com.
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Data center energy crunch becomes political issue in Ireland, Virginia
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