UW students share hopeful feelings toward President Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate change but doubt whether his vision can be implemented long term.
Less than one month after his inauguration, Biden has begun working toward his comprehensive plans for protecting the environment. The new president has signed several executive orders thus far, many of which reverse actions taken by former president Donald Trump during his term.
On Jan. 27, Biden signed the Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, a three-part order aimed at reducing the impact of climate change in the U.S. and working with other countries to reduce their effects as well. The order is progressive in nature but stands to be overturned by Biden’s successor, much like Trump did with president Barack Obama’s executive orders on climate change.
“I am worried that in the next four years or even less than that, I think that there's a lot of possibility that climate change progress will be stalled if not effectively reversed,” ASM Sustainability Committee member Gabriel King said.
In order to make a sustainable difference, Biden needs to turn his plan into policy. And, while students are hopeful for policy change, they remain doubtful about its feasibility.
“I think his intentions are really fantastic,” said Jessie Steckling, a member of Helios — a UW-Madison student organization that looks to organize and administer renewable energy projects. “He's definitely got an understanding that we're in a complete climate crisis and that if we don't act immediately we're going to have very harsh effects in the future. The goals he's put in place are fantastic, implementation is going to be a lot harder.”
Students have taken note of Biden’s intentions to address environmental racism with the variety of plans he has has put in place.
“I'm super excited about how the focus is partially on environmental racism,” Environmental Studies major Gigi Diekelman said. “It’s important to help these people who maybe don't have a voice and that are discriminated against in all aspects of life, even with the environment.”
Biden also promises new jobs will be created by shifting to renewable energy, a major component of his plans.
“I have hopes for the new administration with climate action,” Natalie Tinsen — Chair of ASM’s Sustainability Committee — said. “I am particularly excited for Biden’s plan on putting clean energy jobs at the forefront as that pertains to the 3 aspects of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.”
Though Biden’s progressive plans will be difficult to implement, students encourage their peers to get involved and make a difference on a local level.
“Some of these things are so daunting,” President of Social and Environmental Business Advocates Trevor Holtz said. “These are huge, massive problems that our generation is faced with now, and all these societal problems are just growing and seeming to get worse. I think that's a really scary thing, but I think students have to realize that there are things that you can do and there are organizations that you can get involved in that you can make small differences on.”
Biden’s plans include carbon neutrality by 2050, which students believe will be difficult to achieve from a political standpoint.
“We would have to move really fast in order to even be kept on that goal,” King said. “Nobody knows what's going to be four years down the road, so there's a lot of questions and a lot of uncertainties, especially because a lot of his plan is still not really well defined. He's got broad initiatives and broad goals but he doesn't exactly have ways to get there.”
