What we talk about when we talk about climate
Biden's State of the Union reflects the new language of climate change.
💘 Happy Valentine’s Day! And welcome to Planet Days, a green newsletter for a greenwashed Planet.
Did I borrow today’s title from a popular short story by Raymond Carver? Yes. Did I also choose this title so I could swap out “love” for “climate” on Valentine’s Day? Of course.
If you’re new to Planet Days, every other week (or so) I send out three-minute reads on what it means to go green. Previously, I’ve written about topics from gas stoves and recycling bins to lawns and electric vehicles.
Now, the story.
“We need disruption to end the destruction. No more baby steps. No more excuses. No more greenwashing. No more bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers.”
These words were spoken by a prominent world leader last week, laying out his priorities for the coming year.
It wasn’t United States President Joe Biden, though, who attacked Big Oil profits in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. It was United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, delivering annual remarks to the U.N. General Assembly a day earlier — a sort of “State of the Planet,” as writer and activist Bill McKibben called it.
Though the State of the Planet is not the State of the Union, and each has different goals — for example, Biden was making the case for a second term — they do each grapple with climate change. And how Guterres has historically framed the issue is important for understanding how other world leaders talk about it.
During his tenure as secretary-general, Guterres has never shied away from blunt language, especially when talking about climate: At COP27 in November he warned that humanity is “on a highway to climate hell,” with a choice between “a climate solidarity pact — or a collective suicide pact.”
Such language echoes the words used by climate activists worldwide, who popularized “climate emergency” so much that Oxford Dictionary named it its 2019 word of the year.
With repeated choice words like these, Guterres has taken the language of activists and normalized it on a world scale, paving the way for Western leaders like Biden to echo his urgency when framing action on climate change.
Biden spent only about three of his 70-plus minute State of the Union on climate, but what he did say was pointed: The president stressed the “existential threat” of climate change and our “obligation not to ourselves, but to our children and grandchildren to confront it.”
And, like Guterres, he attacked the fossil fuel industry while he was at it:
“Big Oil just reported its profits. Record profits. Last year, they made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis. I think it’s outrageous… They used the record profits to buy back their own stock, rewarding their CEOs and shareholders. Corporations ought to do the right thing.”
But Biden’s speech also showed the limits of American climate action. Whereas Guterres slammed “fossil fuel producers and their enablers [for] scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits,” Biden called for the opposite, criticizing Big Oil for not ramping up domestic production of fossil fuels.
Both messages certainly reflect the growing acceptability of damning and blunt language by world leaders. But they also remind us that urgency alone isn’t enough. That’s where unity comes in.
Recognizing that the U.N. can’t force countries to live up to commitments, Guterres consistently hinges messaging on solidarity to tackle expansive problems like climate change.
“Now is the time to transform humankind’s relationship with the natural world — and with each other,” said Guterres in his 2020 State of the Planet speech. “And we must do so together. Solidarity is humanity. Solidarity is survival.”
And understanding the realities of a divided Congress, in his State of the Union Biden acknowledged the need for oil and gas “for at least another decade… and beyond that” (a direct appeal to the right), while touting bipartisanship: “The climate crisis doesn’t care if you’re in a red or a blue state.”
Though Biden’s speech raises questions about the timeline for his climate goals, it also signals hope that American politics can finally recognize and collectively address the growing threat of climate change — a hope articulated through the new language of climate change.
And for that, we have Guterres, and countless activists, to thank.