Within hours of his inauguration, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to bring the United States of America back into the Paris Climate Agreement. I’m feeling optimistic.
In 30 days, we will once again be a part of the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change.
I know the Paris Agreement is the bare minimum. Its goal of keeping our planet from warming to 34.7F above pre-industrial levels would not be enough to avoid serious climate catastrophes around the world. I know it’s likely to happen despite our efforts. I know our country is not on track to meet its goals of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. Yet, I feel comforted knowing we have made this bare minimum commitment. We’re moving in the right direction again. Science is back, baby.
Of course, we have to back up this commitment to climate action. Biden has already started by putting the final nail in the coffin for the Keystone XL pipeline project that would have cut through hundreds of miles of Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Canceling the pipeline reflects a turn in the tide for the North American fossil fuel industry.
This was also apparent in the failed sale of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. Major banks and oil companies refused to purchase leases to drill the priceless sanctuary for polar bears, caribou, wolves, and more.
Through public policy and private corporate action, we are on our way to disinvesting from fossil fuels and committing to meeting our climate goals.
On the other hand, climate change is far from the only environmental issue to rear its head over the past four years. We have seen harmful changes to the framework of some of our fundamental environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Our public lands were abused and neglected by the previous administration. An Executive Order in 2017 led to two Utah national monuments being slashed in size. Closer to home, Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument was also under review for downsizing. It narrowly escaped the process unscathed.
More than 70% of Idaho land is public and 22 species are protected as threatened or endangered. The games the last administration played with environmental laws had a disproportionate impact on the Western states—we felt the change personally when those laws were degraded.
It will take time to restore these laws in the court system and more time to watch them take effect. Unlike a Diet Coke button or an insurrectionist Twitter account, much of the damage from the last administration cannot be undone overnight. Healing and rebuilding will take time and action.
The President of the United States of America has set things in motion to restore Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah to their previous size. He has put a stop to one ruthless land-grab by oil companies. He has recommitted us to joining nations across the globe in working to slow climate change.
For today, we have the Paris Agreement. Tomorrow, we get to work on the rest.
Beth Hoots can be reached at [email protected]