Open Letter to President Biden | Opinion

Dear Mr. President, 

stock image depicting America's choice between President Biden and Former President Trump

stoAs I am certain you are aware, we are currently facing an existential threat to America and America’s future. The Climate Crisis threatens each and every American’s future and America’s future prosperity. That’s one of the many reasons that I’m writing to you, asking for you to ensure the expansion of renewable energies and the slow easing off polluting industries. In order to implement these necessary changes we must allow for a transition that leaves areas that are historically dependent on fossil fuels with new, higher paying, and more stable jobs in the renewable energies sector. 

First, if anyone has any doubts about the gravity of the Climate Crisis, we should review the progress of Global Warming as it stands today. According to a Reuters report published on November 2nd, the world is set to pass the 1.5 degree warming limit within this decade. This would mean that the catastrophic effects of global warming would become irreversible for the foreseeable future. Meaning that we as a world would have condemned future generations to a world with rising sea levels and worse storms. In fact, researchers at Columbia University are so certain of this breach of the 1.5 degree limit that they called the limit “deader than a doornail”. With these foreboding warnings from the world’s top scientific minds we must not make the mistake of underestimating the grave threat that the world's climate crisis threatens all of us. 

Image source: National Aeronautics and Space Agency, A Degree of Concern: Why Global Temperatures Matter by Alan Buis

Now that the clear and present danger that the climate crisis poses has been clearly established, it’s time to talk about how we shift the economies of already deprived parts of the country from fossil fuels such as coal and towards renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind. It is clear that in order for the economies of states such as West Virginia and Wyoming to survive the absolutely necessary shift from fossil fuels to green energy we must provide government support for green energy. As the Pulitzer Center describes in their article ‘How To Sell Solar in Coal Country’ coal was once so vital in areas in the Appalachians that they created their own forms of their currency and built whole new towns from where there was once nothing. This type of dependence is something that in order for the world to remain safe, we must eradicate and replace it with a strong reliance on safe and stable jobs in the renewable energies sector.

To surmise, there is an existential threat against our nation, and in fact, all nations. In order to successfully fight that threat to our nation, we must destroy our nation's reliance on fossil fuels and replace it with a burgeoning green energy industry, this must be done with financial incentives from the government and disincentives for the production of harmful nonrenewable energies. To conclude this letter, I implore you, Mr President, to use the powers that you have to invest more in green energy, and put an end to the climate crisis. 

Sincerely, 

John Michael Valat de Cordova and the rest of the Radical Times Team