Biden's first weeks in office: A summary of his plans for the environment

Elizabeth Meade takes a look at what we can expect from the new President's environmental policies

Elizabeth Meade
26th February 2021
Image Credit: Aaron Burden on Unsplash
US President Joe Biden has been in office for only a few weeks, but has already taken major political action on a number of positions.

This has included a number of attempts to help the environment, namely by decreasing the use of fossil fuels. Biden has chosen former Secretary of State John Kerry to help him develop his climate-related plans, which holds significance given Kerry's former involvement with climate action.

The President's actions will undoubtedly encourage more people to get involved with environmental causes

Thus far, Biden has re-joined the Paris climate agreement, pulled the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and told the Pentagon to make the climate crisis an issue of national security. He and Kerry have plans to seal off leaking gas and oil wells, build energy-efficient homes and electric-vehicle charging stations, increase the use of wind power and end oil and gas leases on federal land, among other things. These actions will undoubtedly encourage more people to get involved with environmental causes.

Despite his improvements over the Trump administration, Biden must still be held accountable

However, the US still has a long way to go environmentally, and there are many things that still need to be done, such as prioritizing environmental topics in education, supporting the Indigenous people who have cared for the land for millennia and making environmentally-friendly choices more accessible and affordable. Biden is also not without flaws - he has not fully banned fracking, he has supported the Iraq War and drone strikes in other countries and he has and continues to strongly support the police. Despite his improvements over the Trump administration, he must still be held accountable and we must continue to scrutinize his actions.

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Meade
(she/her) 4th year Chem student. Former Head of Current Affairs and Former Science Sub-Editor. Avid reader. Chaos theorist. Amateur batrachologist and historian. Rock fan. Likes cybersecurity and cooking. Wrote the first article for Puzzles. Probably the first Courier writer to have work featured in one of Justin Whang's videos.

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