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On the heels of a major new climate report warning the world that "delay means death," President Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address tonight. Bloomberg reports that the president will use the address to push for major climate legislation, making the case that a package of increased tax credits and climate spending will save families money and keep rising energy prices in check.
Conservation groups have been pressing Biden to make climate change a major focus of his address. Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president for Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization at the National Wildlife Federation, points out that dependence on fossil fuels links the climate crisis and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"It is up to the U.S. to show the world the way out of the climate crisis," Santiago Ali writes. "If Congress cannot rally around this important cause, the changing climate will only strengthen Putin’s hand in establishing Russian hegemony in eastern Europe and beyond."
Writing at Columbia Journalism Review, journalist Andrew McCormick calls on reporters to explicitly make that same connection, and challenge President Biden should he paint an overly rosy view of America's climate future. "Science is unequivocal that humanity is on the brink of climate breakdown," he says. "The press should expect leaders to articulate both the threat and its solutions."
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I hope [Biden] explains that he’s looking at the big picture and not just this myopic attempt by the fossil fuel industry to exploit this moment into decades of additional dependence on fossil fuel.”
