Joe Biden’s Missing Speech

I genuinely believe Joe Biden is a nice man. My politics don’t really match his, but I deeply respect him as a person. That said, he’s failing in the one area where failure is unforgivable: climate catastrophe. Nature and physics and chemistry don’t compromise. Either we do absolutely everything necessary or we, as a species, commit mass murder and mass suicide. Here’s what Joe Biden needs to say.

Good evening, folks.

Man, we are in big trouble. Did you see those temperatures in the Pacific Northwest? More than 110 degrees! In June! What’s next? Now it’s July. Will it get to 130?

It’s often said that politics is the art of the possible. As you know, I’ve tried to reach across the aisle and I’ve compromised to get some things done. I haven’t gotten all that I wanted. That’s just politics.

But compromise doesn’t work with physics or chemistry. Climate catastrophe is here right now. We can see it. Some people close their eyes real tight so they won’t see it. But that won’t make it go away.

Folks, it’s time for us to make a choice. Use compromise and moderation to slowly and eventually switch away from fossil fuels to stop the heating of our planet. Or stop posturing and stop fooling ourselves and deal directly and honestly with the existential crisis we are facing right now.

When you cut through the nonsense, the lobbyists, the politicians and the ideologues, it’s really a simple choice. Life or death?

Tonight I’m here to tell you my decision — I’ve chosen life. I’ve chosen your life and the lives of our children and our grandchildren and the lives of all future generations. I’ve rejected — categorically — any compromise, any rationalization, any excuse for delay. Because those aren’t real options.

So, as of this moment, I’m on strike. I have been working with climate scientists to craft a bill suitable to the scope and urgency of the crisis itself. It’s called the Species Survival Act. It provides all the resources and funding and expertise needed to fight climate change completely and immediately. I am offering this bill for an up and down vote — no amendments. When and if it’s passed, I will sign it and we can finally begin doing what we must; apply all the science and engineering know-how available to stop cooking our planet.

Let me make this clear — there will be no discussion and no compromise. These are the recommendations of people who know best — scientists and engineers. We kept revising this bill until the scientists and engineers said “Yes, this provides for everything we need and everything we can do. This is our best chance.” I am listening to the scientists.

I will not be listening to lobbyists, oil executives or ideologues. We have no time for nonsense.

So, c’mon. Let’s get this done. Right now. I’m asking all of you to do your part. Call your elected officials. Or show up on their doorsteps. Don’t ask for anything. Demand survival. Act like your own children’s lives are at stake. Because they are.

If your relatives are fossil fuel executives, or lobbyists or influential ideologues who don’t believe in climate catastrophe, tell them they are fools and you don’t respect them and that they must change their ways right now.

Act like this is an immediate existential crisis. Because it is.

Until this is done, I will sign no bills that come to my desk and I will veto any that are passed. I’m on strike. America is on strike. The world is on strike. Until we have come to grips with the climate catastrophe that we are living in — and until we are fighting it full strength.

I am also calling on leaders in every country to join me and to do their parts. Brazil, India, China, Russia. Everyone. Your previous actions, your ideologies, they don’t matter now. We must put everything aside if we want to live. Nobody “wins” if we fail to save the planet.

Let’s do this now. Together. All of us.

Good evening and may God protect our troops.