My father’s family once ran wool mills in New England. Those factories are gone across America, along with 63,000 factories that have closed since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed three decades ago.
As a result, millions of American families of all races have been trapped for too long in a downward spiral of economic mobility, fueled by the greed of multinational corporations and facilitated for decades by government policies like NAFTA.
Partly because of the pandemic, and partly because of the small cushion that remains before our climate becomes beyond repair, we’re at a point where we can change that. Over the past three years, we as a nation have committed to an unprecedented private and public investment in clean energy and infrastructure that promises to reverse this dream-killing trajectory.
We are in a moment where we can finally transition from an economy driven by consumption to one driven by working people who are once again making and using things they can be proud of, from electric school buses to solar panels.
One would think that this opportunity would be welcomed by all. But the self-serving like the big oil and gas companies raking in billions in historic profits and the politicians they support are doing all they can to scale back commitments made since 2021. They even kicked off the recent debate about the US defaulting on its loans to spur their opposition.
This is an odd political piece. A CBS News poll last month found that more than half of Americans want the climate crisis tackled now, and more than two-thirds want it tackled within a few years.
Among them are 44 percent Republicans. Given that all Republicans in Congress voted against the clean energy package last year, this great plurality is significant. It’s also a sign that many GOP leaders in Washington are increasingly at odds with their own constituents and districts.
When the Climate Power group examined the nearly 200 clean energy projects launched since the federal spending package was approved by Congress and the President last summer, nearly six out of 10 were in counties represented by opposed Republicans the package was correct. These projects mean at least 77,000 new jobs for electricians, mechanics, technicians, support staff and others.
While we’ve disagreed on more than one occasion, President Biden has actually championed the largest investment in rebuilding America’s industry that most Americans have seen in their lifetime, as part of his quest to ensure America can fight the Climate change plays a pioneering role.
We haven’t seen this type of national investment since the days of FDR. Back then, building American industry was vital to winning a war against genocide across Europe. Today, our investment in moving our economy away from destruction and towards good jobs in a cleaner economy that sustains our planet is a fight to protect all of humanity.
Put simply, President Biden was the bravest leader we’ve ever had when it came to tackling climate change while rebuilding American industry. That’s why the group I lead and our environmental allies have supported his re-election.
Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, the country’s oldest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.
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