US President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned of a “code red” moment on climate change referring to parts of the country affected by extreme weather in recent days; from New York, New Jersey and Louisiana that were devastated by Hurricane Ida to California which is dealing with raging wildfires.
Joe Biden toured New Jersey and New York areas hit recently by Hurricane Ida. Last week, he surveyed affected areas of Louisiana, which bore the brunt of the hurricane and he is scheduled to visit California next week.
“We got to listen to the scientists and the economists and the national security experts. They all tell us this is code red; the nation and the world are in peril,” Joe Biden said in Queens, New York, where 8 people had died because of flooding in their basement residences.
“They’ve been warning us the extreme weather would get more extreme over the decade, and we’re living it in real time now,” Joe Biden added.
As Joe Biden went to point out American communities with 100 million people have been struck by extreme weather conditions – that is one in every three Americans.
“I mean, every part of the country – every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather,” he said at a briefing in New Jersey. “And we’re now living in real time what the country is going to look like. And if we don’t do something – we can’t turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse.”
Hurricane Ida, which struck the US a week ago, has killed at least 60 people in New York, New Jersey and Louisiana and left more than half a million people without electricity in Louisiana. And, over 2 million acres have burnt in California wildfires so far, with more fires in the forecast.
“Folks, the evidence is clear: Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, to our economy, and the threat is here. It’s not going to get any better,” Joe Biden said. “The question – can it get worse? We can stop it from getting worse.”
The Biden administration has proposed several measures to combat warming in the $2.5 trillion rebuilding plan working it ways through US congress, as part of his “Build Back Better” agenda. His Build Back Better plan, with key investments into fighting climate change and cutting emissions will make “things more resilient”, he said.
The US president spoke also of the upcoming UN conference on climate change being held in Glasgow, Scotland in October-November, which he is scheduled to attend as is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The goal is to accelerate action towards achieving targets determined in the Paris Agreement.