- cross-posted to:
- climate@slrpnk.net
- cross-posted to:
- climate@slrpnk.net
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/10900954
A good government is a boring government. I don’t want SLAMS in a congressional meeting. I want boring questions about tiny little details on spreadsheets nobody reads except for interns and wonks.
People are scared of saying good things about Biden because it makes them a target for tankies and republicans.
You don’t see any irony in re-using Nixon’s “silent majority” like trump did in 2016?
For that to be true, you have to disregard all polling, which is sadly something I’ve seen people doing.
Because you don’t just have to explain his lack of support on social media and real life, you have to explain away his lack.of support in anonymous polling and why “he’s not trump” is consistently the most popular reason for voting Biden.
He just doesn’t have support, people just want to stop trump.
The Biden aquarians live in a constant state of denialism about Biden, and it is what cost us this election.
I see you’re new - welcome to Lemmy! If you see any tankies or republiQans you don’t want to see, block them. It’s pretty easy.
All that does is make them more powerful because there are fewer voices pushing back against them.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, what sound does anyone hear?
I mean, if you want to “enjoy” pointless quarreling, go for it. The new recruits who still have a tiny bit of curiosity still left may benefit. But for me it’s like arguing with a blender going full throttle. Fuck that.
The problem is that it kneecaps the experience for people who newly join, because they get faced with an unopposed blender of fascist propaganda, and may be immediately turned off the whole platform.
Would they not see all the posts though? Intelligent conversational threads interposed with little eddies of tankie spew?
I genuinely feel like the climate is just a no win situation from a political perspective. Any real solution has pretty serious tradeoffs so either you take small low impact steps which are panned as being too little too late, or you take bold steps that hurt some significant group economically.
If the group you hurt is millionaire oil executives, I wouldn’t be too concerned.
I mean same, but inevitably it will also hurt everyone who buys oil which is pretty much everyone in America. Still it has to happen
They can get onboard with renewables themselves. Anyone who bemoans change instead of adapting doesn’t deserve our sympathy.
Not everyone can afford that.
I may sound unsympathetic, but the survival of humanity is a lot more important
Then build more trains and bike paths!
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YEt so far, climate efforts in Biden years has been all give, to everyone. While there’s been some efficiency standards increased, that always takes years to phase in and even that is a push to new technologies, which is a great opportunity should someone take it.
Consider efforts in intercity rail. This is fantastic to finally see this investment after all these years,but is only the beginning. It needs sustained investment over a couple decades. Even if it didn’t, it needs a couple decades to build out. That’s great for investment in business, great for our jobs now to build our future, and will be an excellent Biden legacy, but we’re not going to see real benefits during Biden’s term. This is all give, all investment, all jobs, but there is not yet the corresponding”take”, to encourage Americans to step out of their cars (maybe if congestion pricing takes off but the President should get neither credit nor blame for that)
Because the Democratic tent is filled with lazy cynics who actively sabotage outreach efforts, because mindlessly parroting propaganda is way easier than actual civic engagement.
Oh right. Ok then.
You’re either really new to online interaction, or possibly some version of a libertarian-don’t-call-me-a-tankie,-tankie, or a troll who just likes to fight. Either way, good bye and good luck.
The Biden admin’s main selling point on climate is bragging about how much funding they’ve gotten from Congress. That’s a legislative achievement, but the execution part – which is the point of their branch of government – has been incredibly rocky. You got $7.5B in funding for EV charging yielding 8 EV chargers nationwide. And Biden has slapped big tariffs on Chinese solar panels and EVs, so that renewables will get more expensive and American carmakers who are skeptical about the EV transition will get to drag their feet even more.
My next car purchase will at the very least be a PHEV, if not a full EV. But my current gas car is fine, so I have no immediate need to purchase one. I don’t consider that as dragging my feet. I’ll buy it when I need it.
I’m with you. A car is an expensive purchase, so it’s difficult to justify rushing into a new one. But I’ll definitely be going either PHEV or EV on my next vehicle.
By my calculations, my car will have paid for itself in savings from not buying gas alone, after about 10 years, and I’ve had it for 6. And it’s a PHEV with a range of only 40 miles on battery. I might have already broke even on a Leaf.
That’s comparing to a gas car with 35mpg efficiency. My old car that I drove into the ground got about 17mpg so by that metric it’s already paid for itself.
And I’m not taking about the difference in price between a PHEV and a pure gasoline car, I’m taking about the total price of the car. I will have saved that much money by using electric instead of gas.
If you drive a lot, especially if you drive for work, electric is a no brainer. Assuming you have somewhere to charge it.
If you have your own home with off-street parking, installing a level 2 charger is similar cost to a new stove circuit. Charging at home is so much easier and nicer than going to gas stations all the time
While I do agree lack of charging infrastructure is a big issue we need to address asap, the reality is I rarely need it. Charging at home just works, cheaply, reliably, and I don’t need to go anywhere. While road trips need trip charging, it’s been everywhere I looked so far, and a small percentage of my time
You don’t even necessarily need a level 2 charger. I rent and I charge overnight from a regular old 120v outlet (level one charging).
Similarly, I’m electrifying my home (especially if rebates and incentives continue), but I’m not going to replace functional major appliances. I’ll buy it when I need it and don’t consider that dragging my feet.
On the one hand it will take years, because I can’t afford otherwise, but on the other hand everything is coming up on replacement time, so not that many years.
So far, the EV is working great, as is induction stove
The sooner you buy an electric car, the sooner it’ll pay for itself in petrol savings
Hell just a hybrid saves me a ton. Charging stations are uncommon here and I don’t own any property to install a charger so I just got a hybrid and I only spend like $20 a month on gas. Of course my commute is only like 20 mins each way and I dont go out much because everything is so fucking expensive, but still it just sips gas lol
I’ve personally driven my personal car a grand total of 5200 miles in the last 3 years. Seriously doubt the savings I’d be getting with an EV would make sense at this moment in time.
From the individual consumer’s point of view, it totally makes sense to keep guzzling gasoline. US gas prices are far cheaper than elsewhere in the developed world, even after inflation. US carmakers have priced EVs at premium price points, and the charging infrastructure is mediocre. Add to this Biden’s lock-out of EV imports and efforts to keep gas prices down ahead of the elections.
Anyway, it’s a difficult set of problems, but I would not characterize Biden administration’s climate record as being “full of wins”. They’re like a startup that brags about receiving lots of VC funding (big wins!), but flailing about when it comes to delivering an actual product.
Okay so in a trump administration, what would the environmental record be? Because that was the option for right now as well as the option for the next four years. Would it be full of “big wins”?
Well, while in office he agreed to lay waste to huge areas of Alaskan wilderness for oil, damaged public land and national parks, encouraged using more asbestos, and rolled back over 100 environmental protections.
Rolled back. Backwards. So I think what you’re saying is Biden environment good, not great, but if you don’t think these things are Big Wins compared to going backwards, i just disagree. They are Big and we’ll get more if we can vote the idiot grifters out. They’re taking environmental issues seriously whereas republiQans will immediately damage it much further than they already have. So it’s Big AF to me.
I’d say because Dems have been spending so much time telling everyone how horrible Trump is, that they forgot to mention why anyone might also consider Biden good
Because, like a lot of Biden policies, they are wins on paper but have little to no impact on voters daily lives.
Example:
“The Biden administration is the first to embrace the goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury in order to stabilize global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.* That means that the Biden administration’s interim target—cutting U.S. carbon pollution to half of peak levels by 2030—requires reducing annual carbon pollution nearly four times faster than the Obama administration’s interim target did.** Ambitious policy goals drive ambitious policy change.”
Sounds great, right? But all he did was set a goal. Are we making progress to that goal? 🤷♂️ Is that goal even achievable? 🤷♂️ 2030 is only 6 years away, how are we doing right now? 🤷♂️
It’s meaningless babble to claim this as an achievement if you can’t point to a tangible change in the numbers.
No matter who wins in 2024, they aren’t going to be President in 2030. If Trump wins in '24, or another Republican wins in '28, this goal is out the window.
Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement, revoked the Keystone Pipeline permit, created a 13 million acre federal petroleum reserve for Alaskan wildlife, greatly increased oil site lease cost, signed $7B in solar subsidies, enacted the Inflation Reduction act to support clean energy…
Yes, but you see, if you ignore all of that… Then Biden hasn’t done anything and it’s all just “meaningless babble!”
Exactly. How dare he set goals and then take incremental steps to achieve them? The nerve!
I demand that Biden solve the climate crisis by personally eating ten babies every day.
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Increased efficiency standards on cars, home appliances, industry. Created new permitting rules to streamline new transmission lines. Huge investment in rail
Great points. Thank you! I’ll add them to my list.
And how much of that matters to the average voter, sitting around with no air conditioning, reading reports about the “hottest year on record” 4 years in a row?
None of that means anything to the average voter.
It depends on the person. I want my daughter to die of old age, not starvation from widespread famine.
Why hasn’t Joe Biden built a gigantic air conditioner in the sky? FAILED PRESIDENCY!
The average voter has no air conditioning…?
That’s how these efforts work - they start as a goal. It gets announced after enough support signs on, and they get the policies and money together, then they start spinning up the agencies and addressing the problems and . . . it’s how big things work.
If you want to declare something and have it immediately be so, you have to do it in a videogame.
If you’re worried that we won’t get far before idiot christofascist qultists fuck it up, well. Welcome to the party pal.jpg. Don’t boo - vote!
What I’m saying is, if you want the voters to notice, you have to actually do something. Setting a goal is nothing. Then they go “look at what we did!” yeah, you haven’t done ANYTHING yet.
Another example, all the EV chargers…
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/05/congress-ev-chargers-billions-00129996
It’s great to have a goal to build charging stations. It’s not a WIN until you can point to tangible progress.
How many built? Last I checked it was around 9? How many are in permitting? 🤷♂️ How many are actively being constructed? 🤷♂️
Don’t tout all the things you’ve “done” when you haven’t actually done anything yet.
“Look at me! I set a goal to lose 175 pounds by August!”
“Can you actually lose 5 pounds a day every day for 36 days?”
“🤷♂️ But hey! I set the goal! That’s just as good!”
The impact of the IRA on climate change can be studied by the same models that predict future climate change.
In other words, claims that the IRA doesn’t affect climate change are as scientifically baseless as claims that global warming is harmless.
Either you believe scientific models or you don’t.
Yet, investing in that gym membership and researching better nutrition habits are significant progress, even before you start losing weigh
Sounds great, right? But all he did was set a goal. Are we making progress to that goal? 🤷♂️ Is that goal even achievable? 🤷♂️ 2030 is only 6 years away, how are we doing right now? 🤷♂️
These are all questions that have quantifiable answers yet you chose not to find those answers. Perfectly encapsulating the point of OP.
I’ll tell you the answers: “No. No. Not so great.”
refuses to elaborate
https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/carbon/
“Mild weather decreased emissions from the residential and commercial sectors” - Not policy related.
“Industrial CO2 emissions remained unchanged in 2023 as industrial production growth slowed” - Growth slowed, but emissions are unchanged, meaning we would have had more industrial emissions if growth had not slowed.
“Transportation sector emissions remained unchanged between 2022 and 2023, as increased consumption of some petroleum products offset decreases in others”
Six years to go! Answers are the same, no, no, and not so good.
It should be because, like a lot of Biden policies, the on paper win is actually shoveling tons of taxpayer money to the individuals and institutions who have caused the underlying problem he claims to be solving (see also; basically everything Biden has done with police accountability), money fossil fuel companies are going to plow right into lobbying and PR work to further ensure nobody can have a rational conversation about what our country is doing, but, yeah, you’re probably right that for the vast majority of voters it’s just that they don’t see it in their daily lives at all
Because, like a lot of Biden policies, they are wins on paper but have little to no impact on voters daily lives.
It’s not new either.
Biden makes big promises, fails miserably, makes a token gesture, and then people claim he’s the best ever…
At a Glasgow climate summit in 2021, the Biden administration offered a commitment to the world: The United States would stop the public financing of oil and gas projects. There would be no more American tax dollars for new natural gas pipelines or wells, the White House said
The pledge drew praise from climate change activists. But there was one big problem—it was an empty promise.
In the years since Glasgow, the US has continued to finance fossil fuel projects around the world. The latest example came Thursday, when the US Export-Import Bank finalized a plan to guarantee part of the financing for a $4.2 billion revitalization of natural gas production in the nation of Bahrain. The move—which comes just weeks after the Biden administration triumphantly announced a freeze on the domestic development of new projects designed to export liquified natural gas—will include the construction of dozens of gas wells and 450 new oil wells. It will bring online as much as 5.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or about five years of additional gas production at Bahrain’s current levels.
To quote Kendrick:
The audience not dumb
Shape the stories how you want, hey, Drake, they’re not slow
Biden, his campaign, and his supporters don’t realize people can just fact check this shit from their phones in two seconds. Voters aren’t as stupid as they keep acting we are.
If we were, we’d probably be voting Republican…
It’s crazy how you start recognizing usernames. Every time I see some anti Biden baseless bullshit, it’s one of a handful of idiots vomiting it out.
US Trade Bank Defies Biden to Expand Oil Drilling in Bahrain
You think Biden personally financed this fucking deal? He’s not a king. He doesn’t like it. He’s opposing it. So are Democrats. But he’s not a goddamn king, and you know that, and more importantly you know that poorly informed voters don’t know that, so you talk your bullshit to try to sway them.
This is the answer to the article’s question. Why don’t people know about Biden’s wins? Because people like you are intentionally misleading them.
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That’s probably why they don’t seem interested in advertising Biden’s “accomplishments”… Instead just beating that Trump bad drum all day everyday
we were, we’d probably be voting Republican…
Its clear from how Biden has managed his 2024 campaign he’d rather Republicans as supporters, so that tracks.
They brag about massive oil production, and we hear them.
Because reading any news headlines is like drinking from a firehose of liquid shit.
Reading climate change news is like drinking from a firehose of liquid misery and hopelessness.
High odds people skip all that to go play games or read a book. Or even to go outside and enjoy it while it lasts.
Edit: Not endorsing it as cool, just stating basic human behavior.
Uh huh.
Don’t look up.
Exactly.
How much climate damage is being caused by the 2 US proxy wars, an ever expanding military which is the world’s largest individual polluter?
Weak bait.
Liberals need to decide if they are in support of measures to mitigate climate change or the US military because you sure as fuck cant have both
Because more-left voters have marketed themselves as unreliable
Its always the voters fault.
Thats the point, Biden and Co are very much right wing. People that are on the actual left do not vote for right wing politicians
They’re centrist. They’re only right wing compared to you, for whom 99% of the world is “right wing”.
They’re right-wing according to the rest of the world. Bernie fucking Sanders was a centrist according to the rest of the world. It’s only US voters that think their party is on the left
Bernie fucking Sanders was a centrist according to the rest of the world.
Just utterly and completely wrong, Bernie would be firmly within the populist/socialist left of Europe, and probably the rest of the world too.
The socialist left of Europe wants a UBI, forced dismantlement of megacorps in favour of cooperatives, harsh wealth taxes on net worth, separation of investment and commercial banking and so on. In comparison, Bernie wants a functional public healthcare system, and US oligarchs to pay at least some taxes.
You think Bernie Sanders doesn’t want all of that, too? You should read his latest book.
He was just being pragmatic when he mostly only talked about the most easily achievable and popular of his possible reforms.