Background
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act proposed by President Barack Obama invested $787 billion to create “green jobs” for Americans and a $90 billion focused on clean energy. Yet, the act had many repercussions: many of the businesses funded through this program, Fisker and Solyndra for example, went bankrupt which upset American taxpayers. Some also doubt the actual climate benefits the act implemented; therefore, Biden’s climate recovery plan has not been so heavily welcomed. However, although some of the programs in Obama’s proposal failed, many argue that the overall benefits were net-positive and the failures helped reconstruct and improve future plans. Wind power has tripled in the last decade and solar power is growing to generate larger percentages of the nation’s electricity.
Biden’s Plan
The larger, newer plan proposed by Biden creates economic incentives to “spark renewable power, energy efficiency, and electric car product.” Democrats are pushing for bigger, longer plans that can constitute more change than Obama’s. Some of these changes include creating “permanent tax credits that electric utilities could receive for generating zero-carbon electricity” and “a stimulus targeted at reducing the cost of [electric vehicle] batteries.” With Telsa Motors becoming more widespread and successful, there has been a new focus on advancing electric vehicles – Biden’s plan calls for half a million dollars to charging stations, advancing battery technology, and overall funding for more electric vehicles. Another aspect of Biden’s Plan, not seen in Obama’s, is the fortifying of infrastructure to the changing climate by building roads and bridges that are resistant to stronger storms, larger floods, and severe heat and drought.
Conclusion
Climate change and environmental issues are becoming a growing concern globally. Past leaders have pushed for reforms, and consequently, there have been major setbacks. The Green New Deal is a recent program pushed to tackle big two issues: climate change and inequality. Find more info here.
So what do you think? How should leaders reform efforts to solve the growing climate crisis? Are there better ways to approach it?
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