Why the Climate Movement Must Embrace Joe Biden… For Now
For eight years, I have been a climate voter. Every presidential election, I head to the polls with one question on my mind: Who can I trust to defend my clean air and clean water? This year, America faces the choice between voting for a man who has used the powers of the presidency to systematically dismantle decades of environmental protections, or voting for Joe Biden, a man with a workable plan to combat climate change. With so much on the line, it’s clear that if we are to avert a climate catastrophe, young Americans everywhere need to support his run for president.
As an original member of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, most young people I know are eager to defend our future. Yet to an alarming degree, I have heard many of my fellow activists voice their conviction to never vote Joe. I can understand why: Our movement has built a name for ourselves by calling out middling centrists for believing in climate incrementalism and half-measure compromises. But to say that Joe Biden is evil on par with Donald Trump, who stands better positioned than ever to win a second term as we head into the final weeks of the election, is a fatal miscalculation of the situation. The cold fact is that electing Joe Biden is our only chance to make the 2020s the decade of the Green New Deal.
“When Donald Trump hears global warming, he thinks hoax. When I hear global warming, I think jobs.” Thus were the words uttered by Vice President Biden at a CNN town hall last month. In one simple quote, Biden made clear the stakes of the 2020 presidential election. And while he never committed to the platform by name, what his policies amount to is the foundation of a Green New Deal for America.
As demonstrated by the New York State primary in June, a strong and growing movement is underway to install Green New Deal advocates at every level of government. From the State Senate and Assembly to US Congress, progressives championing GND platforms have won over and over, in many cases by huge margins. One such candidate, middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, made national headlines when he scored a notable win over 31-year incumbent and Hillary Clinton-endorsed Rep. Elliot Engel, yet another sign that the old order of the Democratic machine is collapsing before our eyes.
This is no fluke; the process has been at work for some time. Like mushrooms after fresh rain, the climate movement has bloomed into a potent and visible force, our influence extending into every corner of the political sphere. The Green New Deal, with its focus on racial justice and economic opportunity, has become a lightning rod for progressives. And as our movement’s priorities capture the hearts of increasing numbers of voters, the Green New Deal platform will engulf the Democratic party like mycelium through a log, taking it apart and remaking it in its image. It will be a process of deconstruction and creation, death and rebirth, and we will witness a new political paradigm dominated by a unified left: the People’s Alignment.
But none of this will happen if Donald Trump wins in November.
It’s important to keep in mind that Biden is running on the most progressive platform of any Democrat to seek the presidency since Franklin Roosevelt. His policies, embryonic as they are in some cases, are nonetheless a reflection of the wave of grassroots movements rippling across the country to push the Democratic party back to the left — this is us, the people, making our voices heard.
Over the summer, the Biden campaign worked in tandem with a task force of supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders to reshape several of his core policies to appease progressive voters. “Particularly on climate, I think we actually made far more progress than I think I even anticipated,” said Sunrise Movement co-founder Varshini Prakash, who was hand-picked by Bernie Sanders to serve on the task force, in an interview with Vox.
While his platform still does not include essential pillars of the GND like a jobs guarantee or universal healthcare, nor does it speak to the need to curtail emissions in the agricultural sector, the evolution toward more robust climate policies — most of which are heavily favored by Americans of all ages — shows that the Biden campaign is making good on his promise to unite the country around policies that work for all of us, not just the wealthy corporate elite.
“I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils,” is a common complaint I hear. When people deploy that line, they act like the race between Biden and Trump is the only one on the ballot. But we each have many opportunities across many races to elect new leaders who won’t compromise on whether or not we have a liveable future. In fact, it’s the down-ballot races where the revolution will take place, where we can vote for the Jamaal Bowmans and Mike Siegels, both GND contenders who catapulted to victory after Sunrise volunteers made thousands of calls on their behalf.
The Green New Deal will be built in Congress, not the Oval Office, and it will require Democratic control of both chambers. The more Americans vote for Biden, the more likely they are to vote blue in every column, increasing the likelihood that Democrats will capture the Senate and win seats at every level. This would create a foundation of electoral power to rival what Republicans built generations ago that got us to where we are today.
All of this is to say that the Green New Deal is on the ballot this November, and whether we like it or not, the name at the top of the ticket is Joe Biden. If his opponent wins a second term, there will be no Green New Deal in 2021. There won’t even be a Green New Deal in 2022, or ’23 or ’24. There will be nothing for us but an even more grotesque, harrowing ordeal than the last four years, and it will stretch on for much longer. It will set us on a climate course that we’ll be unable to correct for centuries.
I understand there are people who will never feel comfortable voting for Joe Biden for one reason or another. But for those of us who are willing to do anything for a Green New Deal, this is the most important election in American history. Never before has our country faced the decision of committing to a lush, sustainable future, or slowly sweltering into oblivion under the lash of authoritarianism.
The path we choose hinges on our ability to elect a flawed but favorable alternative to the current occupant of the White House. That alternative is Joe Biden, and I’m voting for him on November 3rd. For the sake of my generation and all who come after us, I urge young people everywhere follow suit.
