EarthPlex - Climate Platform for Teens

From Max Deatrick, age 18 Joe Biden 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, DC 20500 RE: New Recycling Dear Mr. President,  I write to you not on my behalf but on behalf of the world. NASA scientists published in 2021 an article describing how their studies have shown that objects entering the earth’s atmosphere from space cause the objects to incinerate but the interesting fact is that there are little to no carbon emissions released when doing so. The article further explains how scientists in Virginia have created a device called a PEM, or Plasma Enhanced Melter, that heats up waste and regulates the amount of emissions it produces making for a much more eco-efficient way of “Recycling”. As you and I both know, trash buildups in coastal isles such as Tuvalu and the Maldives are being consumed by waste coming in from the ocean currents. Another thing we both know is that our US military has a working PEM aboard one or more of our aircraft carriers at sea currently. The PEM b...

  The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative By Anna Goldstone, 17 What is it? The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. RGGI is an agreement between states in order to reduce 30% of carbon emissions, from 2020 through 2030. This program is implemented in the following states: NY, NJ, ME, MA, CT, NH, DE, MD, RI, VT, and VA. Pennsylvania is in the process of trying to get the initiative across the state, and Gov. Tom Wolf is using his executive powers to implement RGGI by the start of 2022. In January 2021, Wolf signed an executive order setting climate goals to reduce carbon emissions by 26% by 2025, 80% by 2050. The initiative’s goals are planned to be achieved by capping the amount of CO2 emissions from the states’ electric power plants. Since the regional cap is the most important, individual states are selling or auctioning off their CO2 emissions allowances. The majority of CO2 emissions are auctioned and the money is used...

  Exxon Lobbyist Admits to Fighting Against Climate Science Recently, two ExxonMobil lobbyists were duped into revealing unsettling information about the company's tactics to prevent climate change legislation, fight climate science, and make the company seem "green." Greenpeace orchestrated the interviews with these lobbyists. When asked about ExxonMobil's support of a carbon tax, one lobbyist commented that it gives Exxon Mobil a "talking point" to say that they're for a carbon tax. The lobbyist also admitted that a carbon tax will never happen. REVEALED: How Exxon held back climate action for decades, and is still doing it today. We went undercover with Exxon’s lobbyists to expose the truth. Watch and share. pic.twitter.com/yICeai1Sop — Unearthed (@UE) June 30, 2021 The Exxon lobbyists also described their relationships with political figures in order to prevent climate policies from passing Congress. Watch the interviews to learn more about Exxon...

Was Joe Biden Right to Rejoin the Paris Agreement? Joe Biden became the President of the United States on January 20. One of his first accomplishments was re-entering the Paris Climate Accord to lower emissions and curb the effects of climate change. Was this a wise decision, and what even is the Paris Agreement? Related: Why American Youth Depends on the Paris Agreement What is the Paris Agreement The Paris Climate Accord (a.k.a. the Paris Agreement) is an agreement between almost every country on Earth to lower carbon emissions. Countries voluntarily decide how they will keep Earth's temperatures from rising too much. Why we left In 2017, Donald Trump announced that he would pull out of the Paris Agreement because it disadvantaged the United States. He said that countries like China could pollute while the USA had to work to lower its emissions. Is Biden Right? Soon after he was sworn into office, President Joe Biden entered the Paris Agreement once again. This was a controversia...

Climate Change: Economic or Social Issue? ⏱Read time: 2 minutes Climate change is one of the most important issues amongst Americans, especially to young citizens. The environment is one of the many key issues that people care about; other issues include welfare, racism, and healthcare. Most issues fall under one of two categories: social or economic. We will define economic issues as the issues that affect our economy and the wealth of a society. Economic issues include taxes and wealth inequality. Social issues are harder to explain. We will define them as issues that affect people in a civilization, such as racism and gender equality. Is climate change an economic issue? Climate change is an economic issue if it affects the economy, and it does. One way that the effects of climate change could devastate economies is through natural disasters. While climate change doesn't necessarily cause an increase in the number of natural disasters, it exacerbates them. Wildfires  and hurrica...

Keystone XL Pipeline - The Basics  ⏱ Read time: 1 minute Joe Biden's announcement to halt the development of the Keystone XL pipeline was highly controversial. One side of the political aisle claims that this decision will destroy economic development, while the other side says that the pipeline will worsen the effects of climate change . So, what is the Keystone XL pipeline, and should its construction be stopped? What is Keystone XL? The Keystone XL Pipeline would span from Texas to Canada and transport tons of fossil fuels between the countries. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) states that it was proposed by TransCanada in 2008.  Political disputes The same NRDC article says that Barack Obama vetoed the pipeline's development in 2015, but President Trump reversed Obama's policy immediately after taking office. Joe Biden halted the construction on his inauguration day, following in the footsteps of President Obama.  I highly recommend reading the NRDC ...

Greta Thunberg's Perfect Tweet Destroys Donald Trump ⏱ Read time: 1.5-2 minutes Joe Biden became the President of the United States on January 20. That was a crazy day, and not just because of Bernie Sanders's flashy outfit, but also due to a Tweet that Greta Thunberg shared getting complete revenge on President Trump. The Tweet said, "He seems like a very happy old man looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" He seems like a very happy old man looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see! pic.twitter.com/G8gObLhsz9 — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 20, 2021 In order to understand Thunberg's message, we need to look at the context. Donald Trump has a history of mocking Greta Thunberg on Twitter. In 2019, Donald Trump tweeted, "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" Greta Thunberg's recent Tweet uses Trump's words against him.  ...

How to Fight Climate Change: Understand the Opposition  ⏱Read time: 2.5-3 minutes I wrote this after watching Trump supporters storm the Capitol Building. Most people reading this post probably understand that this is unacceptable, but obviously, many disagree. The Americans that invaded The Capitol truly believe that the 2020 election was stolen despite any evidence of widespread voter fraud. Even though this argument can be proven with facts, many arguments cannot. By that, I mean that most problems don't have a correct answer.  For example, millions of Americans do not agree with the environmental policies of candidates in which we have endorsed , but that doesn't make them wrong. If we silence the opposition, we will not make good progress, and when they come into power, we are the ones who will be silenced. Abraham Lincoln said, “I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.” Lincoln's presidency took place during the greatest political division in America...

Dear President-Elect Joe Biden, Congratulations on winning this unusual election. 2020 has been a crazy year, and there is more chaos to come. When you get inaugurated, we ask that you keep your promises and fight for the change we so desperately need. With the effects of climate change becoming more and more apparent, America must lead the world by passing a bold plan. EarthPlex approves your climate change plan, and it was a big factor that led to us endorsing you . As we know, there wasn't a "blue wave" and the Senate will maintain its Republican majority. Even though that isn't ideal for passing climate legislation, you can work across the aisle and explain (or have professional scientists and economists explain) the dangers that species, our planet, and the economy will face without adequate plans. We are sure that you can work with Senate Republicans and prove that America is a nation with open-minded individuals. The political divide has reached a dangerous poi...

 EarthPlex Endorses Joe Biden for President Note: This post was written prior to the 2020 presidential election and remains unchanged. Election day is tomorrow, and even though there are four serious candidates, this is a two-person race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. I'm not a psychic, but I can predict that this will be a close race, so if you happen to be an undecided voter who is reading up on which candidate you should vote for, we'll make that decision a little easier for you. EarthPlex has endorsed Joe Biden before, but we don't have a post dedicated to our endorsement, though you can read our environmental analyses of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris . EarthPlex is a climate platform, so we analyze candidates strictly based on their environmental plans and records. Donald Trump has served for almost an entire term now, and climate change has worsened by a terrifying amount . Unfortunately, Donald Trump won't accept the science. ...

  “The Worst Debate Ever” Analyzing Round 1 of the Presidential Debate By Mahir Hossain, age 14 Note: This post was written prior to the 2020 presidential election and remains unchanged. Wednesday’s presidential debate marked probably one of the ugliest bickerings between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Tension had arisen over the past few months, and with the election closing in on 5 weeks, many undecided poll voters had either decided, hadn’t decided, or simply gave up on who would run America. With Trump unleashing furious malice at Biden over his own relations with his sons, a false accusation about Ukraine, and blaming “all the Democrat-run cities” for the downfall of his horrendous presidency, there was some valuable stuff that was seen in this so-called “Trump dominant debate”.  Much of the debate was to recall how the economy was holding up within the American government, in which Trump responded that they had been doing the best in a long time, refe...

 The Most Important Thing YOU Can Do to Stop Climate Change When it comes to  climate action , I've heard that i ndividual change can only go so far. I'll admit it: that's very true. The most consequential changes will be made by politicians and business leaders. But what if we could have a say in those consequential decisions? Well, at least in democracies, you can. It's by voting. Wait a minute! EarthPlex's posts are guided towards teens, and in most countries, the majority of teenagers cannot vote. I'm fourteen, and I can't. If you're below your country's voting age, it doesn't hurt to research the candidates, their values, economic policies, and as we'll discuss in this post, their environmental policies. If you live in the United States, we made this job easier for you by analyzing the environmental policies and past experiences of both major-ballot presidential candidates, the 2020 Green Party candidate, and Kamala Harris. You can read...

  How We Can Fight Climate Change in a Capitalist Society I've been looking into youth climate activist groups to see what young people like me think is the culprit of climate change . A few weeks ago, I found a group called Youth Climate Action Team (YCAT) . YCAT is "a youth-led movement building a coalition of the working class to fight for climate justice," they say on their webpage. Throughout their site, they lay out a clear enemy, the reason climate change exists: capitalism. Their About  page mentions the need for dismantling capitalism many times. In their explanation for fighting capitalism, they write, " Capitalism is unquestionably the source of our crisis. A capitalist system is set up to pull as many profits as it can from the environment and working class while benefiting the rich and wealthy." While I appreciate their intentions and the work that they're doing, I disagree with them. I don't think capitalism is the source of climate change...

 Kamala Harris- An Environmental Analysis  Note: This post was written prior to the 2020 presidential election and remains unchanged. Joe Biden chose his running mate last Tuesday: Kamala Harris. She proved herself a fierce debater in the Democratic primary debates, but she dropped out in December. The race isn't over for her yet, as she is running with Joe Biden against Donald Trump and Mike Pence. We inspected Kamala Harris's environmental proposals and achievements in her political career.      Disclaimer: EarthPlex will only judge political candidates based on their environmental policies. Even if they have caused harm to the American people or economy, they will still receive our approval if they have strong environmental policies.      As a California senator, Harris voted in favor of protecting the planet on multiple accounts. According to the League of Conservation Voters , Harris always had pro-environment votes, except for two times when...

The 2020 Green Party Candidate - An Environmental Analysis Note: This post was written prior to the 2020 presidential election and remains unchanged. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden and Donald Trump seem to be the frontrunners. With all of the media attention surrounding them, you may be surprised to learn that there are other options. That’s where Howie Hawkins comes in. He’s the Green Party’s nominee. In case you don’t know what The Green Party is, they state that they are “an independent political party that is connected to American social movements, and is part of a global Green movement that shares key values, including our Four Pillars: Peace and Non-Violence, Ecological Wisdom, Grassroots Democracy, and Social Justice, and our Ten Key Values .” Considering their name and mission, I would expect Hawkins to be passionate about the environment, so I researched his environmental beliefs, achievements, and plan for the country. We also analysed Donald Trump and Joe Biden . Disc...

Joe Biden - An Environmental Analysis  Note: This post was written prior to the 2020 presidential election and remains unchanged. Joe Biden served as Vice President of The United States from 2009 to 2017. He’s the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2020 election and will take on President Donald Trump. Previously, he worked as an attorney and a senator . With years of experience and strong performance in the polls, we decided to analyze Joe Biden’s environmental beliefs, policies, and achievements.  You can also read Donald Trump - An Environmental Analysis by clicking here. Disclaimer: EarthPlex will only judge presidential candidates based on their environmental policies. Even if the candidates have caused harm to the American people or economy, they will still receive our approval if they have strong environmental policies. A chievements Vox has an article inspecting Joe Biden’s past environmental experience . They claim that he “introduced the Global Climate Protec...

Donald Trump - An Environmental Analysis Note: This post was written prior to the 2020 presidential election and remains unchanged. One of the most controversial American presidents of all time, Donald Trump’s first term in the White House began on January 20, 2017. He is running to serve a second term as president. If he wins the election scheduled for November third of 2020, his second term will begin on January 20, 2021. He isn’t the only contender, however, and his competition includes Joe Biden (Democratic Party), Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian Party), Howie Hawkins (Green Party), and maybe Kanye West. Because he is likely to serve a second term and is the current president, we decided to analyze his environmental beliefs, policies, and achievements. Disclaimer: EarthPlex will only judge presidential candidates based on their environmental policies. Even if the candidates have caused harm to the American people or economy, they will still receive our approval if they have strong en...