The ‘Climate Choice’ for President: an Interview with Dr. Shahir Masri
With the 2020 Presidential election just a day away and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identifying this decade as the most serious time to limit the catastrophic effects of global warming (extreme heat waves, droughts, frequent flooding, sea level rise, climate refugees, and more), voters across the country are wondering how they are voting for the climate. Last week, the Journal of Interdisciplinary Public Policy sat down with Dr. Shahir Masri, air pollution scientist at the University of California, Irvine, adjunct faculty member at Chapman University and National University, and co-founder of On the Road for Climate Action, to discuss these concerns. He says the ‘climate choice’ for president is clear: Joe Biden.
What is the difference between Joe Biden and President Trump on climate policy?
You’re looking at, basically, the difference of policy versus essentially no policy, or actually counter-policy. Joe Biden's policy was not as ambitious as then-candidate Bernie Sanders’ policy or within the Democratic party, but when you're now looking between Joe Biden and Donald Trump there's just a canyon between the two candidates on this issue. In one case, with President Trump you have an incumbent who essentially has consistently rejected the notion of climate change, calling it a Chinese hoax at one point. Now [Trump is] starting to acknowledge that there may be a role that humans are playing in warming the climate, but if there is, it's insignificant, and therefore we don’t have to do anything -- and that's essentially Trump's stance, and much of the Republican Party's stance. Now, Joe Biden has goals to wean us off of fossil fuels by 2050.
As you said, Biden’s plan is robust: $2 trillion in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, promote energy efficiency and a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035, invest in low-income communities and communities of color, and incentivize climate policy across the globe. However, he has faced some criticism from climate scientists and activists. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
He's still backing fracking and natural gas, which is something that I think that he needs to take a second look at. We've been talking about natural gas as a sort of bridge fuel for 10 years now, and the question is if it's truly a bridge fuel, then when are we going to get to the other side of the bridge? It seems like we're kind of building a permanent structure, and I think that we need to think seriously about more rapidly getting off of fossil fuel entirely. So Joe Biden is basically outlining a 30 year period of time to do this, but I think that we need to move a little faster. But again, if we're talking about the current election and we care about climate change, there is just no basis for thinking that Trump is going to be the candidate that's going to be moving us in the right direction.
People will be voting not just for President, but for several local races as well. What kinds of things should people be prioritizing in their ballots?
I don't ever say “Hey go vote for Republicans” or “go vote for Democrats”, I really do try to stick to underscoring the importance of taking a look at the climate policies that any elected official is considering, or the lack thereof. There's of course, a huge partisan divide when it comes to the environment and climate change, but I really just focus on telling people to look at whether or not an elected official cares about climate change -- even accepts climate change as an issue and acknowledges the science. If [the candidate does not, then] they don't have frankly any business being in Washington or elected to office, because if you don't care about climate change, then essentially you don't really care about the constituents. Because at the end of the day, climate change is going to affect us all and partly is starting to.
What else can people concerned with the climate do in politics?
There's a document called the Indivisible Document (which you may or may not have heard of), it was basically about a 14-page how-to guide that was written by congressional staffers about four years ago. It really explained what kinds of things Congresspeople pay attention to and care about, whether it's phone calls or writing, protest, what have you, and that document I think is a good go-to because these are the people who actually work one-on-one with these Congresspeople, and in that document they express the importance of actually writing letters and having relationships with your congressperson. So that's what I advocated for on the road and continue to do.
To sum it up, Dr. Masri says “it’s not sufficient to check a box in a national poll that says [you’re] concerned about climate change. If you want to actually see change, you need to check a box at the voting booth.” Vote this Election Day, on Tuesday, November 3. For more information on voting, refer here. For more information on climate change and environmental policy, read Dr. Masri’s simple guides here and stay tuned with upcoming Journal of Interdisciplinary Public Policy here.
Dr. Shahir Masri is an air pollution scientist at the University of California, Irvine and a member of the adjunct faculty at Chapman University and National University. Dr. Masri is passionate about climate change communication; he is the author of Beyond Debate: Answers to 50 Misconceptions on Climate Change, has published numerous articles in popular media sources, co-founded the 2018 project On the Road for Climate Action where he held events in 42 US states, and maintains his website www.shahirmasri.com and Instagram account with over 15,000 followers.
