Last week, the two U.S. presidential candidates completed their final debate before the election. It was surprisingly normal compared to the last one, which is equal parts depressing and only dubiously true. While both candidates managed to finish their sentences, the substance of their ideas on climate change was lacking. And, as this journalist pointed out, the way the moderator posed the question, “We’re running out of time so we gotta get on to climate change,” reveals an important truth about the issue itself: it’s been neglected for too long.
It was encouraging to hear former Vice President Biden make his stance unequivocally clear when he said,”Global warming is an existential threat to humanity. We have a moral obligation to deal with it.” He then outlined concrete solutions he supports, including the creation of charging stations for electric cars on highways, increasing energy efficiency of buildings, and switching to wind and solar energy. He even directly confirmed that he would transition from the oil industry over time, to which President Trump replied, “Oh, that’s a big statement.” Politically it might be, but when one considers the urgency with which most of the rest of the world has committed to that sentiment, it really shouldn’t be that shocking.
The current U.S. President’s stance on the environment and climate change was clear long before this final debate. His administration has reversed nearly 100 rules regarding emissions standards, he famously placed a former coal lobbyist at the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, he removed the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, and he cited misinformation to support his anti-wind energy stance during the debate, to name a few. It seems the one positive thing Trump has done for the environment is promise the U.S.’s support of the World Economic Forum’s One Trillion Trees Initiative—an action he made sure to highlight during the debate. The Initiative’s stated goal is to “grow, restore and conserve 1 trillion trees around the world,” and that seems like a force for positive change.
Another such force exists, far from the power dynamics of international institutions and hegemonic presidents. Despite Trump’s disinterest in Africa, demonstrated by his lack of a single visit to the continent during his presidency, a particular program, Trees for the Future, based in sub-Saharan Africa, has already achieved great results. The program, which was founded by a Maryland couple and receives funding from institutions like Google and UN Migration, aims to help farmers plant forests in Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, and Tanzania in order to make regenerative gardens in arid regions. The program is locally run and sustained. According to the 2020 Impact Report, Trees for the Future has planted 191 million trees, which resulted in the restoration of almost 20,000 gardens and helped over 150,000 people in the region. Not only is the regenerative gardening program good for the environment, but it also decreases food insecurity and poverty, thereby reducing migration of people in need of resources. By 2025, the organization aims to lift 1 million people out of poverty by planting 125,000 Forest Gardens.
These successes result from the intersection between the developed and developing worlds, in which technologies and ideas can be transplanted and adapted to suit the needs of developing countries in a way that empowers local people to self sufficiency. Such an approach addresses the ethical question I posed in my last article, in which the historical rise of developed countries to power using nonrenewable energy created the problem of climate change, but even countries less responsible for the problem are needed to tailor their growth to fix it. By helping farmers in sub-Saharan Africa plant trees to develop their agricultural industry, local resource needs are met, national development goals are furthered, and global emissions are offset. This approach presents a model that other developing nations could easily implement—one that is separate from the boasting of politicians whose own interests come first, and whose progress can be dismantled by the next person in office with a different agenda.
With much of the continent still lacking adequate access to electricity, much of Africa’s energy infrastructure is yet to be built. Studies find that solar has huge potential, along with wind, and already in Kenya, geothermal energy has shown great results. Currently, only 5 GW of solar energy—less than 1% of the global total—have been installed in Africa. The potential for widespread use of renewable energy in the continent with the fastest growing and youngest population is massive. Connecting the almost billion people who don’t have access to electricity or clean cooking to a clean electricity source would save countless lives, but not if this is achieved with fossil fuels contributing to climate change, which causes the droughts and unpredictable weather responsible for so many other deaths and social issues in Africa. As in the U.S., and Europe, and India and China, and the rest of the world, now—well, really, years ago—but now is the time to transition to renewable energy everywhere, to divest from fossil fuels, to empower local farmers, and to vote into office candidates who will support these crucial goals.
Featured Image from Trees for the Future