To what extent will US politics influence

To what extent will US politics influence Climate Change?

Kellen

In November 2020, the USA saw one of the biggest Presidential elections in its history – the voter turnout was the highest it has been for a number of years with around 160 million (69% of those eligible to vote) Americans voting in the election. The results were decided, and Democrat candidate Joe Biden reigned victorious over his infamous Republican opponent Donald Trump. Whilst there have been a number of key issues which split the two candidates, arguably one the key determining factors was their opposing views on climate change.

Biden is very much aware of the climate change issue, promising to make America Carbon free by 2035 and make America a net zero emitter by 2050. Biden proposes to achieve his ambitious goals by immediately reinstating the USA back into the Paris climate change agreement as well as promoting the use of electric vehicles and trains, reducing US carbon emissions for years to come. However, his opponent Trump dismissed the threat of climate change, and his term as presidency has led to the US becoming one of the biggest exporters in oil at one point, largely due to the growth of the fracking industry under Trump’s presidency in an attempt to create more jobs.

Firstly, it is important to recognise the affect that US politics will have on Climate Change within the country itself. One of the biggest issues the US will face on Climate Change is the effect of rising sea levels – the US is dominated by coastlines with nearly 40% of its population living near the sea as of 2014 (NOAA 2020). The sea level is rising fastest along the eastern and Gulf coasts partially because the eastern seaboard is sinking because of human groundwater extraction which causes the rock underneath the ground to fall back on itself as well as there being significant post-glacial isostatic rebound on the east coast; this is essentially where previously during ice ages, ice-sheets would cover the continent causing the coastal regions to be slightly more elevated than continental areas, but as we move further away from the last ice age the previously elevated coastal areas have started to sink.

These rising sea levels mentioned earlier are largely caused by global warming – an increase in temperatures causes more melting of ice caps and glaciers, as well as the thermal expansion of seawater as it heats up.

On a local level, the effects of these sea rising levels combined with the sinking eastern seaboard can be seen in Charleston, South Carolina where there has been an increase in sea levels and flooding in the local area; in Charleston harbour the sea level is rising 2.5cm every two years compared to previously when it rose this amount every decade. (McGrath M 2020).

Clearly, in coastal areas such as Charleston, US politics will have

a big impact on Climate Change because the large volumes of carbon emissions that US factories and power plants produce, will certainly enhance the greenhouse effect and contribute to the rise of global temperatures and sea levels, which is a very pressing political and social issue to the people in places such as South Carolina.

Furthermore, in Georgia, which was a key state which Joe Biden managed to overturn, climate change is a key issue in the region because the rising temperatures not only have an impact on sea levels (there were 152 floods in the area and 88% were human induced), but also the amount of dangerous heat that the people are exposed to; Georgia currently experiences 20 dangerous heat days a year and this figure is expected to rise to 90 days in 2050 (States at Risk 2015). Dangerous heat days are when the heat index is greater than 105 – heat index is the apparent temperature which combines the air temperature and humidity levels.

Thus, in these areas, US politics will have a big influence on climate change because voters were less likely to vote Trump, whose policies exacerbate the climate change, whereas Biden at least seeks to address the issue and has put forward possible solutions to the problem. Americans in these areas want there to be a healthy environment in their state for future generations to come, and because the two opponents have such contrasting views on climate change, Biden coming into power could directly impact their local environment for future generations to come if he can successfully implement his climate change policies.

Looking at the impact of US politics on a more global scale, the first and most obvious thing that is on Biden’s climate change agenda is to reinstate the US into the Paris Climate Change agreement. Recently, Climate Action Tracker released new analysis following Biden’s victory which showed that if the president-elect’s plans come to fruition the result could “reduce global heating by about 0.1C, bringing the goals of the Paris Agreement “within striking distance” (Gabbatiss 2020). This clearly demonstrates the influence the US has over global climate change, especially as the worlds largest economy as well as having the third largest population in the world, because a significant reduction in US carbon emissions, could also have a significant impact on global carbon emissions which will subsequently determine how significant the enhanced greenhouse effect will prove to be in the future.

In conclusion, the result of the recent Presidential election will have a great influence on Climate Change on both a local level in the US but also, perhaps more importantly, on a global scale. This is because the US is such a large contributor to global carbon emissions, so if Biden is able to successfully implement his environmental policies, then it could also have a significant positive impact on the global scale in terms of climate change and limiting the damage of the enhanced greenhouse effect.

References

NOAA. What percentage of the American population live near the coast? (2020) National Ocean service site. Available at: https:// oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ population.html#:~:text=As%20 of%202014%2C%20nearly%20 40,people%20live%20in%20 coastal%20counties (Accessed: 10 November 2020)

States at risk, Georgia. (2015) Available at: https://statesatrisk.org/ georgia/all (Accessed: 6 November 2020)

McGrath, M. (2020) US election 2020: What the results will mean for climate change. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scienceenvironment-54395534 (Accessed: 29 November 2020)

Gabbatiss, J. (2020) Media reaction: What Joe Biden’s US election victory means for climate change. Available at: https://www.carbonbrief.org/mediareaction-what-joe-bidens-us-election-