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The Mother Jones Podcast

Biden Won. Now He Needs to Save the Planet.

The Mother Jones Podcast

Mother Jones

News, Scoops, Journalism, Politics, Investigations, Elections

4.51.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2020

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a drawn-out vote count, Joe Biden has clinched the presidency. Now he needs to save the planet. As Biden’s supporters celebrate, many are hoping beyond hope for a quick reversal of President Trump’s most harmful policies come January 20, 2021. And perhaps no part of Trump’s agenda posed a bigger existential threat than his denial of climate change. From crippling the EPA and rolling back environmental regulations, to pulling out of the landmark Paris Agreement, Trump did everything he could to roll back the progress of President Obama’s ambitious second-term climate agenda. This year, carbon dioxide levels reached the highest recorded levels in human history.

On today’s show, Jamilah King is joined by Mother Jones’ climate and environment reporter Rebecca Leber to discuss what we can expect from an incoming Biden administration that has claimed climate action as central to its governing mandate. How much of Trump’s damage can Biden reverse? What could a Republican-controlled Senate mean for the Green New Deal? How will Kamala Harris’ barrier-breaking role in the White House influence Biden’s commitment to environmental justice? Biden made big promises for climate action on the campaign trail. His first 100 Days as president are expected to unleash a flurry of executive orders on climate change. Now the questions are when, and how, he’ll deliver. If the number of times Biden said “science” in his victory speech is any indication, this administration will reverse Trump’s denialism. But will it be enough to stop runaway global warming? On today's show: Biden's last-chance climate fixes.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

So we just did a little experiment here at the Mother Jones podcast.

0:06.0

We looked at all the episode titles of our podcast since we started back in 2018.

0:11.0

And there's one particular word

0:14.6

that's in a lot of titles.

0:17.5

In fact, it's in 45 of them.

0:20.8

That word?

0:22.3

Trump. Trump.

0:26.0

Titles like, torn apart by Trump's travel ban.

0:30.0

Trump is rigging the census.

0:32.0

Trump after the war. Trump is a great-American. And now how many candidates so clear.

0:35.7

Trump, great American how the Trump addicted media and another election.

0:41.8

And now, how Biden banished Trump.

0:50.0

For the last few years, Mother Jones has focused on the Trump administration as the unique and

0:55.4

ever-present danger it is.

0:58.2

And as Trump's first and seemingly only term winds down, let's focus on what's ahead of us.

1:05.0

Last Saturday, the streets in New York City sounded like this.

1:15.0

On an unseasonably warm morning, four days after the election,

1:21.0

every major news network projected Joe Biden and

1:25.0

Kamala Harris as the winners.

1:27.0

Similar scenes played out in Philadelphia, Detroit, Oakland, Chicago.

1:39.0

There was even honest to goodness dancing in the streets.

1:43.6

But Trump's not going quietly.

...

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