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What The Biden Administration Will Mean For Climate Change In New England

Jesse Costa
/
WBUR
On average, the sea level has risen 8 inches along the New England coast since 1950, and that trend is expected to accelerate due to climate change. Scituate, Mass., March 2018.

Severe storms. Heat waves. Rising seas. New England is already seeing the impacts of climate change, and scientists project they will become more severe and deadly, shaping how we live and work in the northeastern U.S.

In a special ahead of Inauguration Day, the New England News Collaborative and America Amplified look at climate change in our region and how President-elect Joe Biden’s administration could affect future climate action. Biden has proposed the most ambitious climate platform of any incoming U.S. president in history.

Premieres: January 14, 2021

“By mid-century, if we don’t have a significant cut in heat trapping emissions, we can expect extreme heat to rise here in the Northeast,” said Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

Those impacts would worsen inequities of climate change that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color, Cleetus said. “This is one of the most insidious and unjust aspects of how climate change is coming to bear.”

And we heard from listeners and residents across New England who told us how climate change has already affected their lives.

“I prefer the term ‘climate chaos’ to describe what I am experiencing as a certified organic farmer in Western Massachusetts,” Dan Pratt wrote. “Increasingly unpredictable and severe first and last frosts, more aggressive precipitation events and wilder temperature swings within any growing season make it increasingly difficult to grow food in our region.” 

GUESTS:

Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Leah Stokes, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the author of Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States

Chris Williams, New Hampshire resident who moved from Alabama, in part, due to climate change. 

Elizabeth Fussell, associate professor of population studies at Brown University.

RESOURCES: 

Check this link to find out when your station airs NEXT.

CREDITS:

Hosts: Morgan Springer and Traci Griffith
Producers: Morgan Springer, Lily Tyson, Lydia Brown of Vermont Public Radio and John Dankosky of America Amplified
Executive Editor: Vanessa de la Torre
Music: “TracPhone,” “The Samo,” and “One Call Away” by Latrell James.

Additional support: Connecticut Public, New England Public Media, Vermont Public Radio, Maine Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, CAI Cape and Islands, Nadine Sebai of The Public's Radio, and NENC environmental reporters. America Amplified and the New England News Collaborative are funded, in part, by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.