President Biden’s Earth Day Climate Summit
Earth Day 2021 and the day following will be celebrated at the White House by hosting a virtual climate summit. In the months since appointed, special Climate Envoy, John Kerry, has traveled to many countries making sure that they know that the United States has rejoined the world in working for the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. More than forty countries have promised to attend this virtual event. China has acknowledged our return to the Paris Accord, but may or may not attend. This 2021 Climate Summit is following on the heels of President Biden’s 2 trillion American Job’s Plan he has proposed to address the countries infrastructure issues and promote the creation of new green jobs. If passed, this plan will help the US reduce green-house gas emissions and, in turn, to meet the original goals of the Paris Accord. There are at least six goals for this Earth Day Summit. The United States wishes to gain back the world’s trust in our leadership to meet the climate crisis and to offer concrete evidence we are committed to the goal of keeping global warming below I.5 degree Celsius. This summit will bring together private and public fundraisers in order to discuss how to finance the many steps toward the overall goals. New transformational technologies will be shared to help all nations meet their individual countries goals. The summit gives the United States an opportunity to showcase countries that continued and even exceeded their countries goals to address climate change issues. Peer pressure is often a great “carrot” in reaching overall success. The summit also gives the US and others an opportunity to discuss openly the huge problems we all have in dealing with costly damage from climate disasters, building mitigation strategies to deal with future disasters all while transitioning to green economies and practices that will reduce emissions that cause global warming. Finally, the Earth Day Summit will give the Biden Administration a chance to announce that the US will endeavor to cut our emissions by 50% below the 2005 emissions level over the next ten years. This is a serious commitment, but reachable if the US gains better control of methane emissions (86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide for the first 20 years), move to green energy sources, promote green regulation for vehicles, and follow the American Job’s Plan for new infrastructure and green jobs. Environmentalist all around the world are optimistic at the agenda put forward by this 2021 Earth Day Summit.
EARTH STEWARD ACTION: Celebrate Earth Day with two actions—have a family meeting to plan your own goals to lower your carbon footprint for the spring and summer months. Then, join in the Earth Day service on Trinity’s lawn at 4:30 PM Thursday, April 22, 2021.
SOURCES: https://.www.grist.com/articles/bidens-earth-day-climate-summit
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-climate-summit