John,
It's incredible to think how far we've come in the past 10 years — from climate justice being treated as a niche issue in politics to millions of people marching worldwide in the global Climate Strikes. In the years ahead, we need an ally in the White House who works at the scale of the crisis — someone who is willing to fight for the end of the fossil fuel industry.
Presidential candidates are making history with bold climate agendas. Warren and Sanders have released robust climate justice plans that take into account the need to address environmental racism head-on. But of the candidate leading national polls, Joe Biden is lagging behind the pack with potentially dire consequences.
In the last decade, Biden supported regressive Obama-era energy policies like promoting fracking, nuclear expansion and oil leases on public lands. And so far in this election, there’s little indication that he’s meaningfully evolved on climate justice issues.
Biden’s policies don’t reflect a sense of urgency around solving the climate crisis or an understanding of how environmental racism affects frontline communities. On the campaign trail, he’s rubbed shoulders with fossil fuel lobbyists and attended fundraisers hosted by fossil fuel company founders. So it’s no surprise that Biden hasn’t made a public commitment to hold fossil fuel industry executives accountable for the climate crisis.
We deserve better. We need to see Biden commit to end fracking, oppose new fossil fuel infrastructure, hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the crisis, and advance a robust plan for climate justice.
Until we win,
Clarissa
