FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

We Applaud President’s Biden Multiple Executive Orders Help Pave a Path Toward a Clean and Just Recovery but We Call On Him 

to Declare a National Climate Emergency

MEDIA CONTACT:

Aria McKenna

aria@cleoinstitute.org

718-288-0472

The CLEO Institute welcomes President Biden’s whole government approach that puts climate at the center of our policies around jobs, justice, infrastructure, science, technology, national security, public health, energy, and environmental protection. 

These orders focus on protecting the integrity of scientific research, while also putting scientists, engineers, and tech experts at the center of policy-building. Additionally, they take a holistic approach toward climate action through the expansion of union jobs, while addressing income inequality, cleaning up our environment, and modernizing our infrastructure. This approach puts American workers and businesses at the center of the clean energy revolution without leaving anyone behind, focusing on the jobs of tomorrow. 

We also applaud the newly-formed National Climate Task Force that will assist the government in addressing the climate crisis while helping to coordinate matters of climate justice and national security among federal agencies. This will ensure our most vulnerable communities, especially those impacted by COVID19 and the climate crisis, will have a voice in planning & building an equitable & livable future. 

We know the detrimental impacts that raging fires and extreme heat have on public health and Americans’ lives. We know that respiratory problems caused by pollution are a compounding factor in COVID-19 cases. It is about time that the health impacts of the climate crisis that have been thrust on everyday Americans are adequately addressed. Creating the new Office of Climate Change at the Department of Health and Human Services is another great effort that will help address the major health impacts of the climate crisis. 

Biden’s ambitious goals would have us create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. This will have positive benefits on our health and our economy through the creation of a new clean energy infrastructure.

The climate emergency we have been facing has created havoc in our environment, in our economy, and in our lives. We need solutions as big as the challenges we face.  Creating a Civilian Conservation Corps, putting an oil and gas moratorium on federal lands, protecting at least 30% of the ocean (and land) by 2030, and creating a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 are the intersectional solutions for hard-working Americans. The solutions will rebuild our economy while also promoting climate resilience, through the conservation and restoration of our public lands, private lands, and wildlife habitats.”- said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, Executive Director of The CLEO Institute

While all these great executive orders are steps in the right direction that help catalyze climate action in the U.S. after the inertia we have experienced, science tells us we still need much more to deal with the cataclysmic extreme weather events we have been experiencing. Declaring a national climate emergency would not only help send a clear message to the world, but it would also help empower our government to carry out the necessary steps to help turn this around. Thus, The CLEO institute calls on the Biden-Harris administration now to declare a national climate emergency – because it is past time to act! 

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