President Biden Delivers Remarks to Commemorate Earth Day

Please welcome Senator Bernie Sanders.

What a beautiful day. I am proud to be standing here today with President Biden and environmental leaders in Congress to announce an unprecedented $7 billion in funding for the Solar for All program legislation that I introduced. Let us be very clear. Climate change is real. Climate change through drought, floods, forest fires, heat waves, and extreme weather disturbances is already causing massive devastation to our country and the entire world. And if anyone tells you that climate change is a hoax, have them talk to farmers whose crop production is dwindling because of drought. Have them talk to firefighters who risk their lives fighting fires with more severity and size than we’ve ever seen before. Have them talk to many thousands of Americans, including many in my own state of Vermont, who have lost their homes because of unprecedented flooding.

(01:53)
And if anyone tells you that the United States should not help lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels, understand that they are literally threatening the health and well-being of our children and our grandchildren and the future of the entire planet. And we cannot and will not allow that to happen. All of which brings us to why we are here today. I am proud to have worked for a number of years on a program that will cut carbon emissions, will substantially lower the electric bills of some 900,000 Americans, and, in the process, will create thousands of good-paying jobs. This legislation, Solar for All program, is a win for the environment, a win for consumers, and a win for job creation.

(03:14)
In my state of Vermont and around the country, we are seeing more and more people install solar panels on their roofs. And the reason is simple. When they do that, they cut their electric bills by 70 to 90%, depending upon solar exposure, 70 to 90% reduction in electric bills. That’s huge and amounts, on average, to over $1,200 a year in savings, over $100 a month. The problem is that in order to get those annual savings, you need to make an initial investment. And depending upon the size of your home and where you live, that investment in solar panels may be 10,000 to $20,000, which is a lot of money if you’re an average American. And that is where the Solar for All program comes in.

(04:29)
This program will provide grants and loans to working-class families to help cover the cost of installing solar rooftops or participating in community-based solar projects. Families who have in the past not been able to take advantage of solar panels will now be able to do so. And this program is cost- effective. And I want to thank the EPA for their good work on this. And the EPA projects that it will more than pay for itself. The estimate is that this $7 billion investment will save working families more than 8.7 billion in lower electric bills over the lifetime of these solar panels. In other words, we’re spending seven billion to save more than 8.7 billion, and we’re reducing carbon emissions, and we’re creating jobs. That seems like a pretty good deal to me.

(05:47)
In the 1930s, as I think many of you know, the federal government helped bring electricity to every region of our country as part of the New Deal, and that was a great, great accomplishment. Today, we can lead the world in transforming that energy system away from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy and, in the process, save Americans billions on their electric bills. I want to thank President Biden for his leadership on this issue, and I look forward to our continued work together to expand residential solar, to lower the cost of electric bills throughout this country, and to combat the existential threat of climate change. And now I would like to introduce Senator Ed Markey, who has been one of the leaders in the U.S. Senate in environmental issues, who will talk about another exciting part of our agenda that will create good-paying jobs for young people who will be working hard to save the planet. Ed.

Bernie. Bernie. And thank you, Bernie Sanders, for your great work on Solar for All. Thank you, Bernie. This is a day of celebration, and there is no one that I would rather celebrate Earth Week with than with all of the Corps members, all of the environmental leaders of our country, who are gathered here today because those Corps members are already changing the world. And with our champion for the climate and for working Americans, the greatest climate champion president in the history of the United States, President Joe Biden, today is a day to celebrate. Today, we celebrate the historic American Climate Corps and the $7 billion for the Solar for All program. Programs that will electrify and energize. It’s putting all of these issues right on the front of the agenda for our country. And even more, we celebrate the movement that got us here, and we know it is not a moment to soon.

(08:41)
Climate change is an emergency. It’s putting our present in peril. The planet is running a fever. There are no emergency rooms for planets. We have to engage in preventative care. That’s what these Corps members are going to be doing. The young people aren’t giving up. They’re not backing down or begging for a livable future. You are demanding a livable future, and we stand inspired by you. But more importantly, we stand in solidarity with you. And that’s why Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and I did not agonize; we organized alongside all of you for a 21st century Climate Corps, a job-creating program that would build the workforce for a clean tomorrow while tackling the problems of today, and President Biden delivered on that dream. And that is what we are celebrating here today. On top of the historic billions in climate funding, including for the Solar for All program we celebrate today, we have an historic new American Climate Corps to turn those assets

… sets into action all across our country. Today marks the launch of the American Climate Corps website, climatecorps.gov. Say it again, climatecorps.gov, where people all across the country can sign up to get paid, get trained, and get to work protecting our country. Tens of thousands of Americans together transforming our nation to survive a transforming world.

(10:33)
We stand in this historic civilian Conservation Corps camp at Prince William Forest Park, taking lessons from our past as we look forward to a better future. We will make sure that our American Climate Corps is ambitious, just, and unapologetically pro-union. That it’s done by and for those who have been locked out and left behind in the past, especially Black and Brown and indigenous communities all across our country, and that our Climate Corps members tackle thousands of projects with one shared purpose. To build a world worth saving, we’ll need all three of the Green New Deal principles, union jobs, environmental justice, and climate action built into this program. Without any one of those pillars, our green temple will fall.

(11:43)
The American Climate Corps members we salute, we celebrate, and call to action today showcase the best of those principles. Generosity, not greed. Excellence, not exploitation. Hope, not hate. Thank you, President Biden. Thank you for your leadership in ensuring that we create this opportunity for young people to save our planet. Thank you to all the present and future American Climate Corps members for showing up in solidarity and in service.

(12:21)
This is the dawn of a new era, and we are just so proud to be with all of you here today. Now it is my great honor to turn the podium over to my great friend, my partner, the inspirational congresswoman from New York City, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Thank you.

Thank you, [inaudible 00:12:53].

[inaudible 00:12:54].

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

Happy Earth Day.

I’m so excited to be here today with Senator Sanders, Senator Markey, and President Biden. Today is a historic day and a landmark achievement for organizers and countless young people as we officially open the American Climate Corps to the public.

(13:21)
I want to thank President Biden for working with us to take swift and bold executive action to protect the planet by launching the American Climate Corps, and also for investing billions in clean, resilient energy via the Solar for All competition among so many other climate victories.

(13:41)
As you’ll hear in today’s announcement, it is no accident that this president is overseeing the single biggest federal investment in tackling the climate crisis in our nation’s history. Over just the past few months, President Biden has paused new natural gas exports, vastly expanded the conservation of our public lands in Alaska, and he has overseen tens of billions of dollars in climate investments across the United States.

(14:17)
Today also serves as a reminder of the power of organizing, of what we can accomplish when young people, climate advocates, labor organizers, and working people of all backgrounds come together to demand the future we all deserve. It is especially important that we remember the power of young people shaping this country today of all days, as we once again witness the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests on campuses like Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, and many others.

(14:54)
Just three years ago, Senator Markey and I introduced the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act. People said then it was impossible, and to that we said, “Watch us work.” We knew an American Climate Corps wasn’t impossible because our country has done this before. What we needed was … Rather, because we knew that we have done this before. Apologies. We knew that we’ve done this before. What we needed, though, was the political will. It was the power of young people that have made today possible.

(15:40)
This is why I am especially encouraged that President Biden is reviving the idea that inspired our bill, which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first put forward in 1933, in the creation of the original Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC, as it was known then, was revolutionary. In the wake of the Great Depression, the CCC put over three million young people to work, created 711 new state parks, and drastically improved our nation’s public lands.

(16:15)
This very park that we are in today is the result of the original Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, over 90 years later, the American Climate Corps will follow in these footsteps and go beyond by giving young Americans a chance to take on the climate crisis while training for the careers of tomorrow.

(16:41)
Just like a century ago, the Climate Corps is part of a vision affirming that our environmental and economic future are intertwined. So let’s invest in both. I truly believe that the young people who joined this first American Climate Corps cohort are and will continue to become profoundly influential leaders in the United States. They will be a part of confronting the climate crisis while building a just economy that works for all of us.

(17:19)
So if you are a young person interested in learning the skills to be part of our emerging climate resilience and clean energy workforce, or if you know someone who is, visit climatecorps.gov now and apply today. I applaud President Biden for taking action to create the American Climate Corps, and I look forward to continuing our work in Congress to ensure the growth and success of our climate agenda. Thank you all so very much.

Please welcome, Za’Nyia Kelly.

Hello. My name is Za’Nyia Kelly. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan as the middle child of a family of seven. I grew up in a neighborhood where there weren’t many grocery stores that had healthy food options nearby. There were times where liquor stores doubled as grocery stores. In elementary school, I learned the importance of having access to healthy food options and my mom and I started a backyard garden. I was hooked.

(21:02)
From our little backyard oasis, I could see the impact that fresh fruits and vegetables had on my family’s health. The high school I attended focused on aviation. Between learning how to fly planes and build engines, I also learned how flying and different forms of transit contributed to climate pollution.

(21:24)
For me, transportation was personal. Apart from lacking healthy food options, my entire city lacked reliable transportation. Coming from a big family, cars were expensive, so I had to rely on public transit. A 25-minute car ride to school could easily be a two-hour bus ride. One winter in 10th grade, I got second degree frostbite on all of my toes because I had to walk for miles in the snow when the bus didn’t show up. These experiences inspired me to combine my passions for improving both the environment and public transit systems as an AmeriCorps member. After graduating from Michigan State University last May, I now proudly serve in the Michigan Healthy Climate Corps. I serve at Transportation Riders United. TRU is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing pollution by improving Detroit and the surrounding region’s public transit system.

(22:40)
Thanks to President Biden, I’m so excited to be a part of the inaugural cohort of the American Climate Corps. For young environmentalists like me, it means so much to know that we have a president who understands the importance of climate change, clean energy, and climate justice. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m now honored to introduce to you the President of the United States, Joe Biden.

Hello, hello, hello. Thank you, Za’Nyia for sharing your story that embodies the spirit of Earth Day. On this day 54 years ago, with literally toxic rivers burning, air-filled pollution, millions of Americans from every age and background rallied together to stand for our environment and for future generations.

(24:06)
I got to know Senator Gaylord Nelson, from Wisconsin when I got to the Senate and he organized the first Earth Day. I later introduced the first climate bill in the United States Senate and all these years later as president, I was able to sign into the law the Inflation Reduction Act. The most significant investment ever anywhere in the history of the world, and we’re just getting started.

(24:36)
Earth Day pushed the country forward leading to Environmental Protection Agency and we’re fortunate enough to have with us EPA Administrator, Michael Regan. Where are you, Michael? Stand up, get up, get up. I stole him from Carolina, we’re not letting himm go back. We’re joined by our great Secretary of Interior, Deb Haaland. Deb, stand up. The first Native American ever to serve in a cabinet. And AmeriCorps CEO, Michael Smith. Michael, where are you? There you go. Joined by members of the Congress, including Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who by the way, thought this was an important idea a long time ago and talked about dealing with the Climate Corps when it needed one. Ed, we owe you a lot, pal. We owe you a lot.

(25:34)
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont who understands what beautiful territory looks like up in Vermont and has done everything in his power to protect it. Bernie, you’re the best. Representative Ocasio-Cortez of New York. I learned a long time ago, listen to that lady. Listen to that lady. We’re going to talk more about another part of the world too real quickly.

(25:59)
Joined by all of your advocates and community leaders, this is a good day. It’s fitting to be here in Prince William Forest Park. On March 31, 1933 during the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Climate Conservation Corps, which is talked about a little bit, to put Americans to work to conserve our country’s natural resources. Thousands, thousands of young Americans from the Civilian Conservation Corps built this park providing jobs, recreation, hope, and healing at the time.

(26:35)
We know today we face another kind of existential threat. It requires equally bold and clear action. As President, I’ve seen the devastating toll of climate firsthand. Since I’ve been president, I’ve flown over all the major fires in the thousands upon thousands of acres that have burned flat by the wildfires. More acres than the entire state of Maryland combined.

(26:59)
I met with families whose homes are wiped off the map by devastating hurricanes, floods, and storms. Last year was Earth Day’s hottest day on record. Over the last two years, natural disasters and extreme weather in America have caused $270 billion, $270 billion in damages. The impacts we’re seeing decades in the making because of inaction are only going to get worse, more frequent, ferocious, and costly.

(27:32)
But since Kamala and I took office, we’ve been acting and today I’m proud to announce two major steps forward. The first, energy costs are among the biggest costs for families to budget, particularly poor, middle-income families. In fact, low-income families can spend up to 30% of their paychecks on their energy bills. It’s outrageous. To reduce family energy costs for folks with low and moderate incomes today, the Environmental Protection Agency will invest $7 billion from our Inflation Reduction Act on a new program called Solar for All.

(28:12)
The award grants 60 grants across the country to states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, nonprofits to develop programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from residential solar power, and it’s a big deal. This new Solar for All program means that 900,000 households, 900,000 will have solar on the rooftops for the first time and soon. Millions of families will save over $400 a year in utility bills and that’s $350 million nationwide. My dad said it matters what’s there at the end of the paycheck when the month is out, if you have anything left.

(28:52)
It means we’ll cut more than 5 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually. Folks, solar for all will give us more breathing room and cleaner breathing room. It’s going to also create 200,000 good-paying and union jobs over the five years in communities that need in most, fence-line communities.

(29:16)
As I always say, I think about climate, when I think about it, I think not only about health and safety, but I think about jobs. That brings me to my second announcement. Last fall, I talked about historic new program that my administration was launching with the help of my colleagues on my right here called the American Climate Corps. As I said, and I’m not being solicitous, Ed Markey talked about that long before. It’s patterned after the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Like them, it brings out the best in young people to do what’s best for America and will put tens of thousands of young people to work at the forefront of our climate resilience

… energy future, clean energy future. Today, I’m proud to announce that Americans across the country can now apply to become the first members of the American Climate Corps. We’re recruiting for over 2,000 positions in 36 states to start with, and Washington DC, Puerto Rico, with many on the way. Just go to Climate Corps, as mentioned already, ClimateCorps.gov to apply. You’ll get paid to fight climate change, learning how to install those solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuild wetlands, weatherize homes, and so much more that’s going to protect the environment and build a clean energy economy.

(30:46)
To ensure a pathway to good union jobs and careers, you’ll have access to free apprenticeship training through a new partnership we’re announcing today with the North American Building Trade Unions. As you may remember, when I announced in 2020, I initially didn’t announce my climate position until I talked to the unions. Because unions were all… They thought climate cost them jobs. Well, guess what? IABW stepped up and they all stepped up and now our strongest support comes from unions.

(31:25)
When you finish your service, you finish your term of service, you’ll also be eligible for a streamlined path to federal government jobs related to climate and clean energy. We’re also announcing a new collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies that puts American Climate Corps members in energy communities, like former coal mining communities, power plant communities that have powered our nation but have been fencelined, communities that have been hurt very badly for generations. Today’s announcement fills upon an unprecedented historic action we’ve already taken to tackle the climate crisis, deliver environmental justice and build a clean energy future. Just look at the last few weeks alone. To ensure clean energy, we issued new standards for chemical plants that emit toxic pollution. And because of the Clean Air Act, we’re going to reduce the number of people at risk for cancer in fenceline communities who have been smothered for decades by pollution, by 96% according to the studies.

(32:25)
By the way, parenthetically, my state of Delaware, which everybody looks at as a wealthy state, I live in a place called Claymont, Delaware. It’s in that arc that goes up into Pennsylvania and to the Delaware River. More energy plants, more oil refineries than anywhere, including Houston, Texas. And just literally, the school I went to was literally a quarter mile from that border. And the prevailing winds were southeast where we lived and so there was never any incentive for the Pennsylvanians to move to do something, but it affected Delaware. We had the highest cancer rate in the 1970s of any state in the nation. And guess what? A lot of us, me included, ended up with bronchial asthma and many other diseases.

(33:15)
Fenceline communities are the ones we have to help first, because they’ve been taking the brunt of all this. To ensure clean drinking water, we issued the first ever national drinking water standard that’ll protect people from exposure to harmful substances known as forever chemicals. And after 30 years of inadequate protections, we finally are going to put a ban on asbestos, which we know causes cancer. It’s all part of a plan to reassert America’s climate leadership. We rejoined the Paris Agreement and sparked the domestic clean energy manufacturing boom, providing incentives for 80,000 farmers to implement climate- smart agricultural practice. So plant what absorbs carbon from the air and pay them for doing it. We’ve quadrupled the number of electric vehicles sold and 11,000 dealerships have now signed up to sell more.

(34:14)
We’re modernizing infrastructure with better roads and highways and energy grids and more, so they can withstand and recover from extreme weather. Already underway, we’re replacing every single lead pipe in America so everyone can turn on a faucet, home or at school, and drink clean water that doesn’t contain lead. We also reviewing flood risk for communities, improving drought resilience, and conserving 41 million acres of the most precious and sacred lands and water. I committed that I’m going to try to reserve… Of all non-developed land and waters, we’re going to take 30% of it by 2030 and make sure it is conserved, period. We’re well on our way. We’ve already attracted at least $700 billion in private sector investments in advanced manufacturing and clean energy, creating tens of thousands of jobs here in America. And all across the board we’re lifting up communities and workers too often left out, in urban, rural, suburban, tribal communities all across the country.

(35:23)
But folks, despite the overwhelming devastation in red and blue states, there are still those who deny climate is in crisis. Our MAGA Republican friends don’t seem to think it’s in crisis. They actually want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act which provides the funding for a vast majority of these projects and roll back protections for clean air and clean water. And I’m not going to go into it now, but I’m not making it up. It’s real. Just listen to what they say. Anyone in or out of government who willfully denies the impacts of climate change is condemning the American people to a very dangerous future, and the world, I might add. They want to take us backwards, sideline our workers, let China and others lead the race for clean energy. I’m determined, absolutely determined, that we move forward. We move forward.

(36:22)
Let me close with this. In 1933, and it was referenced by the Congresslady, that when Roosevelt outlined the Civilian Conservation Corps, he said, and I’m quoting, “More important than the material gains will be the moral and spiritual value of such work.” He always put it in a context that went beyond just what the immediate need was. I’d say the same holds true for what we’re doing here today. It has a moral imperative. And I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future. We just have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America, and there’s nothing beyond our capacity. We work together. So Happy Earth Day folks, and God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. We’re going to get this done, I promise you, come hell or high water. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, guys. Let’s get this done, okay? All right. God bless y’all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.