As Biden Issues Groundbreaking Climate Orders, Activists Push to Ban Fracking
President Joe Biden prepares to sign executive orders after speaking about climate change issues in the State Dining Room of the White House on January 27, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker-Pool / Getty Images
On Wednesday, the Biden administration delivered a second surge of orders responding to activist demands to address the climate emergency head-on at every level of the federal government. Like no mandate a U.S. president has signed off on before, the Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad lays out a plan to measure and mitigate pollution that has disproportionately harmed low-income, Black, Indigenous and other communities of color living on the fence lines of industry for decades. It is a government-wide attempt to avert the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis and build a more vibrant and equitable society that acknowledges the legacy of harm over a century of burning fossil fuels and overlooking industry has caused communities of color and other vulnerable communities that are now the most prone to the floods, fires, disease and displacement of climate chaos.