Michael E. Mann writes:

President Joe Biden, in his first weeks in office, already has advanced a sweeping agenda to tackle the climate crisis by addressing the health, economic, inequity and foreign policy aspects of the problem.

An executive order he issued last week establishes climate as an essential consideration in U.S. foreign policy and national security, recognizing the importance of restoring our role as a leader in the international effort to avert catastrophic climate change.

By labeling climate change a “maximum threat,” the president is signaling to the world that we’re in the midst of, for lack of a better term, a war.

Whether we like it or not, and surely not of our own choosing, we are indeed in a war — with powerful fossil fuel industry groups and those doing their bidding who have, for decades, orchestrated the most elaborate, well-funded disinformation campaign in the history of human civilization, the campaign to deny the reality of human-caused climate change.

Now, Biden is gathering his council to assess the current and future dangers in this fight, including all 17 intelligence agencies; a general on the international front, John Kerry, who will also have a seat on the National Security Council and will direct our diplomatic efforts abroad; and another general on the domestic front, former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy, who will coordinate climate action in the homeland.

Given the devastating climate impacts we are now seeing play out in real time, it’s no longer credible to vast swaths of the population for fossil fuel interests and their promoters to deny that climate change is real.
The troops are the vast array of experts, including scientists like myself, with whom the administration will continue to consult to assess what’s happening on the front lines.

The good news is that early battles of the climate war, targeting the basic scientific evidence, have been won. Given the devastating climate impacts we are now seeing play out in real time, it’s no longer credible to vast swaths of the population for fossil fuel interests and their promoters to deny that climate change is real. [Continue reading…]