Vox Sentences - The US rejoins the climate fight

It’s a new day for US climate policy; the Olympics are looking increasingly less manageable.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum.

TOP NEWS

With a slew of orders, Biden begins his climate agenda

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Joe Biden used his first hours in office to demonstrate the centrality of climate policy to his agenda, overturning Trump policies, creating new regulations and rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement through executive orders. [Vox / Lili Pike]
Biden immediately began dismantling Trump’s anti-environmental legacy, revoking the permit for the controversial Keystone Pipeline, enacting a moratorium on oil and gas activity in the Arctic and ordering a review of all Trump-era climate actions. [Reuters / Valerie Volcovici and Trevor Hunnicutt]
He also began an environmental regulation push, asking departments to reverse Trump policy as quickly as possible, such as by strengthening fuel efficiency standards. [The Washington Post / Juliet Eilperin, Steven Mufson, and Brady Dennis]
Trump’s climate policy could take years to undo and refigure. Biden wants to use executive power to move quickly by investing in biofuels, implementing methane pollution limits, and making federal infrastructure energy-efficient, among other ideas. [Vox / Umair Irfan]
Republicans will be Biden’s biggest obstacle in pursuing his stated goal of a $2 trillion clean energy and infrastructure push — though Democrats can pass some climate legislation through budget reconciliation. [Green Tech Media / Jeff St. John, Julian Spector, and Emma Foehringer Merchant]
Already, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is introducing resolutions that would require Biden to get Senate approval on rejoining the Paris agreement and would independently authorize the Keystone Pipeline. [The New York Times / Coral Davenport and Lisa Freidman]
But Biden’s arrival, temporary alliance with activists, and early actions signify the strongest American commitment yet to climate leadership. [Intelligencer / David Wallace-Wells]
As the Biden administration gears up, subscribe to Vox's The Weeds newsletter to follow this burst of policymaking. [Sign up here]

Are the Olympics still going to happen?

The International Olympic Committee president projected confidence about the rescheduled Tokyo Summer Games, but a coronavirus case surge and newly declared state of emergency in Tokyo has government officials uneasy. [The New York Times / Victor Mather]
With the games scheduled for July — just two months after Japan’s planned mass vaccination push in April — 80 percent of the Japanese public believes they should be canceled or postponed, according to a recent poll. [Al Jazeera]
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has remained committed to hosting the games, saying they will be an important display of triumph over the vaccine. London 2012’s chief executive, however, has said the IOC should be making cancellation plans. [BBC News / Dan Roan]
Experts are worried the Olympics could become an enormous superspreader event, while a cancellation would be economically disastrous for the IOC, which faces frequent corruption scandals. [Foreign Policy / William Sposato]
Vaccination of athletes would quell the likelihood of an outbreak in the Olympic Village, but officials and athletes themselves must weigh the efficacy of jumping ahead in line in their home countries, when they are among the world’s healthiest populations. [The Guardian / Kieran Pender]

MISCELLANEOUS

President Biden placed a 100-day moratorium on deportations to give the new administration a chance to reevaluate the Department of Homeland Security’s priorities.

[Vox / Nicole Narea]

With states pushing drug decriminalization, psychedelic tourism could offer a boon to local areas and create a new business sector. [The Washington Post / Jen Rose Smith]
Biden plans to use the National Defense Act to speed up production of testing and vaccine equipment to meet his goal of 100 million inoculations in his first 100 days. [The Hill / Jessie Hellmann]
Carole Baskin says she is grateful that her nemesis Joe Exotic did not receive a pardon from President Trump on his last day in office. [BuzzFeed News / David Mack]

VERBATIM

“Just because he is gone — thank God — we don’t say to a president, ‘Do whatever you want in your last months of your administration. You’re going to get a get-out-of-jail card free because people think we should make nice-nice.’”

[Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, on her decision to pursue impeachment]

LISTEN TO THIS

What it means to be a "good" rich person

Vox columnist Anne Helen Petersen talks with sociologist Rachel Sherman about her research into the anxieties of wealthy people and their desire to be seen as "middle class." Sherman's work exposes the flawed stories we tell ourselves about who qualifies as middle class and who qualifies as "good" in the US. [Spotify / Anne Helen Peterson]

Vox Sentences - The US rejoins the climate fight

Older messages

The Democratic trifecta

Biden's Day 1 agenda

The $1.9 trillion Biden agenda

"A clear and present danger to the nation"

The criminal neglect in Flint

You Might Also Like

A really great travel backpack

☕ Icons

Welcome to The Flyover

AIPAC is secretly funneling money into a congressional race, sources say. Here are the details.

$33 Billionaire C.Z. Gets 4 Months | ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Arrested On Tax Charges

Sen. Maria Cantwell calls for an ‘AI Bill for education’

Welcome to The Flyover

Everything Worth Buying From Wayfair’s Way Day Sale

Beethoven's Ninth at 200

Welcome to The Flyover