President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality chief Michael Regan as the next Environmental Protection Agency, according to multiple reports.
The phrase “He’s got his work cut out for him” will come to be his own Background Noise. Here is what I would suggest in terms of messaging on climate and climate policy:
Focus on what has been accomplished in addition to what has to be done. It makes people of good will feel that we have a chance and it invigorates people for the job we have to do.
My wife and I, traveling in various locations in this country, have been struck by the prevalence of solar and wind energy use.
The un-asked question (and one I believe that should be constantly asked) is this:
“What would have taken place had we done nothing on climate over the past 25 years?”
Regan, 44, won over fierce competition for the nomination, beating out environmental regulators and experts with decades more experience, in an apparent effort by Biden to focus on building from fresh talent among a younger generation of political leaders.
Don’t know anything about him, but I definitely like the fact that he is only 44 and seems to have an impressive record.
We need leaders to speak for the next generation, especially on the environment. The reason the oldsters running the country can’t be bothered to deal with climate change is because they figure they’ll be gone before the crisis really hits.
This is arguably the most important position in the administration in the really big picture. Not one to use for building a bridge imho. Rather, one for which to find the absolute best person for the job.
Or just someone who is black. I just worry that Biden is so focused on people who look diverse, that some of them are not actually just more of the same. Or not qualified, like Pete B.
Well, maybe he is. If he’s done a similar job in a state that seems to teeter on the edge of lunacy at times, and has also seen some real climate disruption “events” in the past few years, he could turn out to be exactly what’s needed. Fer Chrissakes, at least he’s not a former fossil fuel industry lobbyist.