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Image: ROBERT HOOD / FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
Yesterday 80 scientists signed onto an open letter endorsing Joe Biden for president. According to the Biden campaign’s press release, the letter includes some of the most prominent scientists and public health experts in the country, including:
Five Nobel Laureates or National Medal of Science winners;
Several MacArthur Genius Grant Award Winners;
More than 20 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine;
Six current or former deans of leading science or public health schools;
Former government science advisors, including a former Senior Advisor the President for Science and Technology, and a former Director of the National Institutes of Health;
A former president of the National Academy of Sciences; and
Five former U.S. State Department Science Envoys.
The group highlighted Biden’s longstanding commitment to funding scientific research, acknowledgment of climate change, and willingness to listen to scientists in crafting public policy as reasons for the endorsement.
Why This Matters: This helps buck criticism that Joe Biden isn’t willing to go far enough on climate action. If the very people who understand the climate crisis best are willing to lend their names to Biden’s list of supporters, it makes it more difficult for progressive activists to make the claim that Biden is only marginally better than Trump on the issue. This could also be an indication of how Biden would prioritize scientists serving in his cabinet and agencies.
With the Trump administration rolling back environmental protections and exacerbating environmental inequalities, the burden had landed on states to take up measures to protect minority and poor communities.
Why This Matters: Environmental Justice (EJ) was still not well known in 2019 when Senators Cory Booker, Tammy Duckworth, and Tom Carper created the first EJ Caucus in the Senate in 2019. And as with climate, state governments are leading the way.
The Trump Administration wreaked havoc on the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum that brings together eight nations and six Arctic Indigenous organizations to discuss issues impacting the melting top of the globe.
Why this Matters: With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe, it’s especially imperative to have international collaboration on how to navigate the changing realities.
We have no time to waste when it comes to getting this virus under control and building our economy back better. Tune in as I announce my American Rescue Plan. https://t.co/4YAg0nhJMn — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 15, 2021 Yesterday, President-elect Joe Biden announced his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan which he described as “a two-step […]
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