Grateful for Biden and Cooper’s climate change leadership

It’s still January, and the first spring flowers are already popping up in my garden. 2023 was recently declared the warmest year on record. The last 10 years have been the 10 hottest years on record. Each of the last several decades has been warmer than the one before it. Climate change is here, dramatically impacting our planet and millions (or billions) of lives. This is not a matter of debate, nor is it surprising.

As early as 1954, oil and gas companies were aware that the CO2 released by their products could impact global climate. For instance, Exxon (another major oil company) scientists accurately predicted in the 1970s just how much temperatures would increase through the burning of coal and oil. These companies knew that climate change was real and human caused. Of course, big oil has also spent decades funding disinformation and misinformation campaigns to deny and delay action preventing climate change (just follow the money). But all that disinformation goes up in smoke when you look out at the changing world with your own eyes and reflect on your own experiences. Climate change is here, already impacting us, and is projected to get worse, much worse.

Thank God for President Biden and Gov. Roy Cooper who are leading the fight against climate change. President Biden has led the most aggressive administration for combating climate change in American history. He has firmly balanced aggressive action for reducing climate-wrecking carbon emissions while also increasing energy security by approving some oil and gas drilling, such as the Willow Project by ConocoPhillips in the National Petroleum Reserve. It is imperative that we elect Josh Stein for governor and re-elect President Biden to continue to lead us towards a safer, more secure country and world.

— Andrew Jacobson,
Salisbury