There is no middle path when it comes to the climate emergency.
First, a sigh of relief: We elected a president who actually believes in government. Who’s made John Kerry, a serious diplomat, his climate czar — and put him on the National Security Council, recognizing, as our military has for years, that an unstable climate is a matter of war and peace. We chose a moderate to replace a demagogue: in practical terms, we had to. But in the realm of climate change, as the young know — the young whose turnout was crucial to Joe Biden’s victory, whose motivation was in large part the urgency of the climate crisis and whose share of the electorate will only grow — moderation will be the kiss of death. In this life-support emergency, muddy, transactional compromise has failed us so far, over decades of destructive policy that propped up the good-ol’-boy bastion of fossil fuels. Which is still busily selling out the world from underneath our feet. And it will fail us with a radical finality if Mr. Biden’s version of climate action turns out to be baby steps. He has told us that he’s committed to curbing climate change — that, unlike his White House predecessor, he recognizes its importance. Hedging for swing-state voters, however, he’s also shrunk away from the Green New Deal and banning fracking. But the election is over. And now weak, milquetoast maneuvers will condemn the coming generations as surely as climate denial would. A miss is as good as a mile: Biden cannot succeed by accommodationist reforms aimed at pleasing the corporate establishment. He can succeed only through heroic measures. For our grandchildren and his, for all those who follow us on this Earth — along with the insects that pollinate our crops, the beasts that roam the melting Arctic, the coral reefs that are swiftly bleaching into oblivion — the next four years are crucial.
