Sengupta, Somini, and Lisa Friedman. “War Abroad and Politics at Home Push U.S. Climate Action Aside.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/climate/state-of-the-union-biden-ukraine-climate.html.
In this article by The New York Times, the authors, Somini Sengupta and Lisa Friedman explained how the war going on between Russia and Ukraine is affecting gas prices and ultimately the climate crisis in the USA. Russia is one of the leading countries in fossil fuel exports which is a problem for all of Europe and the United States. The United States is being forced to increase drilling for fossil fuels, worsening the climate crisis, something President Biden said would be a top priority to reduce under his administration.
I think that the news in this article is incredibly frustrating and unfortunate. When President Biden was elected it was great news for environmentalists around the world, especially after President Trump who was not an advocate for the environment and reducing global warming. Kadri Simson, the European Union energy commissioner said that “This war will have deep repercussions one way or another on our own energy system.” Unfortunately, Biden, and many other presidents of European countries, are unable to live up to many of these environmentalist expectations due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the high demand for fossil fuels.
I agree that this situation is incredibly frustrating, however, I think that it is a necessary sacrifice to make. If anything, I think this conflict will open many nations eyes about how bad it can be to rely on others for their energy, so hopefully in the future we see more renewable energies being put in place by other nations.
This is a tough predicament the US and other nations are in, but unfortunately, there is not much of a choice for Biden and other leaders, as Russia has crossed the line and we can no longer rely on their exports.