A new chapter

Like many other Americans, I watched the inaugurations of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris yesterday with joy and an immense sense of relief. The past four years were a nightmare for those of us who value democracy, the environment, and human rights. 

As I have written previously, the past four years marked dangerous rollbacks in environmental regulations going back decades. Yesterday President Biden (it feels so good to write that!) took the first step in dragging us up out of a deep, dark hole by signing an executive order to get the U.S. back into the Paris Agreement. 

​Photo by Tim Brenner of Reuters, posted on the CNBC website.

With the creation of a cabinet-level position of a climate envoy (John Kerry) and a national climate advisor (Gina McCarthy), Biden is setting a much needed tone of urgency in his administration. I woke up this morning feeling like we have finally turned the page and entered a new, more hopeful chapter. Of course there is MUCH work to be done on many fronts (the pandemic, racial and social justice, immigration, and the economy) but we now have an administration focused on improving the country, not television ratings and other narcissistic endeavors.

Additional, unrelated note, it was awesome to watch the first woman vice president to be sworn into office and we couldn't have dreamed a more qualified woman to fill that role than Kamala Harris.

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Photo by AP/MEGA posted on the Deadline website.

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