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Added on the 14/09/2021 06:16:39 - Copyright : AFP EN
While President Donald Trump sends his lawyers hither-and-yon to try to overturn the election, President-elect Joe Biden has been busy filling Cabinet slots. HuffPost reports Biden named John Kerry on Monday as his special envoy on climate. He's tasked the former secretary of state with steering a 180-degree turn in US diplomacy on the issue. Kerry will also be advising the incoming Biden administration on the security challenges a warming planet poses. America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is. Kerry will represent the US at a moment that scholars increasingly see as a period of American imperial decline amid unprecedented planetary changes.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to start transforming America's stance on the global stage with a series of day-one executive actions. CNN reports Biden's transition team is beginning to turn his campaign-trail promises into plans he can implement early in his presidency. Sources say Biden's first focus is likely to be the worsening coronavirus pandemic. He is set to name a 12-person coronavirus task force on Monday. Biden intends to rejoin the Paris climate accord, a landmark international deal to combat climate change that Trump exited in 2017. The president-elect has also said he would rejoin the World Health Organization, which President Donald Trump moved to withdraw from this year.
Republican electoral victories Tuesday cast doubt over whether the US would enact any significant measures to curb planet-heating emissions in the near-term. States were still tallying results on Wednesday as the Trump administration officially withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. According to HuffPost, that makes the US the only country to exit the nonbinding global pact to cut climate-changing carbon emissions. In Montana and Texas, climate-change-denying candidates cruised to victory. While many Senate and House races remain undecided, two sunny spots for climate advocates and environmentalists were in Arizona and in Colorado. Democrat Mark Kelly handily beat Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally. Kelly made tackling climate change a key part of his platform. And in Colorado, former governor and 2020 presidential contender John Hickenlooper ousted Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. Claiming to be a 'national leader' on climate, Gardner consistently peddles the conspiracy theory that environmentalists are plotting to control the economy.
President Joe Biden opens an international climate summit saying that the United States "isn't waiting" to address climate change. "The cost of inaction keeps mounting... we are resolving to take action," he adds in his opening remarks. SOUNDBITE
As climate change drives drought, and the rising global population drives food demand, the world's food security is ever more precarious. But struggling farmers may find relief from the soaring temperatures from the sun itself--and the technology that harnesses its power. HuffPost reports students at the University of Arizona noticed that vegetables grown under the cover of solar panels flourished during the hottest summer on record. The observation provided food for thought for Prof. Greg Barron-Gafford’s research in 'agrivoltaics': growing food and generating solar energy on the same land. The concept could fulfill the need for land on which to build new solar installations while also helping farmers stay afloat. It’s a case where one plus one could equal more than two. Greg Barron-Gafford Associate Professor, University of Arizona’s School of Geography, Development and Environment
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