In light of the (semi) recent election, the ways that bipartisan politics in the United States affect climate issues have become embarrassingly clear.
The year that former President Trump was elected, he announced that he intended to leave the Paris Climate Agreement. Despite rigorous safeguards implemented by President Barack Obama when the climate accords were first signed in 2015, Trump successfully left the accords in November of 2020.
Only a couple of months later, President Biden began the process of rejoining the Paris Climate Accords on his first day in office.
This political back-and-forth between two presidential regimes from two different parties reveals the detriments of bipartisanship on the environment.
Because climate change has become an issue of politics rather than what it should be—an urgent global issue that demands immediate action—the United States has continued to be the second-highest emitter of carbon in the world. True, the Paris Climate Agreement sets lofty goals, but better to have high goals than to have none at all.
the government is really the one with the power to make the necessary changes towards slowing the progress of climate change.
While people have been conditioned to think that they as the individual are responsible for increasing global sustainability, the government is really the one with the power to make the necessary changes towards slowing the progress of climate change.
Implementing policies to limit the amount of emissions that individual corporations can have, kickstarting programs to increase forestland throughout the US, and taxing the usage of oil and gas are just a few actions that the government could easily do that would have positive and lasting impacts on the environment. However, the uncertainty that is attached to the divisiveness of American politics presents a large obstacle in making these essential changes because they could just as easily be reversed as soon as a new administration begins.
Hopefully, as the situation becomes more clear to even the most skeptical of climate issues, our political parties will unify around the problem. It does, however, seem unlikely in the near future.
Sara is a sophomore International Relations major at Pomona from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is especially interested in environmental policy, the effects of climate change, and food sustainability.