by Mary Morgan
A friend of mine told me about her two 20-something sons, very, very angry at the planet being left for them. I feel their pain. And I shared my story with her: for several years now, really over a decade, I’ve been a climate-worrier. I’ve been concerned (angry too!) that we are not moving away from fossil fuels into clean energy – hey, the big new exciting economy.
Our waters are warming, our glaciers are melting, our rain-forests are depleting. I felt sick.
I read the science. The book that made the most hands-on sense to me was “Drawdown – 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming.” My takeaway: focus on the top solutions. Since I can’t add solar panels to my house (we love our beautiful summer-cooling oaks), the single most effective action I can take is to divert my food scraps away from the “dump” (methane) and into backyard or community composting, enriching soil and helping soil safely store carbon. So I’ve been busy helping my family, friends and community do just that.
But the dark cloud still hung over me. Until, miraculously, one day early last year – it lifted. Poof. Vanished. Gone. Why? Why did that old sick, sinking feeling just vanish away?
Honestly? It was something really big. It was all that clean energy legislation, executive orders, and federal initiatives that spurred investments, manufacturing, and emissions reductions. Yes, the Biden administration led the way, showed us how. Smart, caring people showed how we could turn the ship away from the iceberg (vortex?) and sail into clear waters and blue skies.
The Game-Changing Laws
Two major pieces of legislation changed everything — and they focused on solar, wind, clean energy storage and clean hydrogen. One was the Inflation Reduction Act, offering generous tax credits to communities for clean energy, extended through 2032 with extra bonuses for low-income and “energy” areas (spots of former coal mining or power plants or where fossil fuel extraction was a major employer). It put $10 billion toward advanced energy manufacturing and helped homeowners install rooftop solar and heat pumps. You want modernizing our electrical grid, more EV charging stations, zero-emission buses? That was the focus of billions of dollars in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Bold Federal Action
The administration set ambitious targets: 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030, zero-emission vehicles by 2035, and net-zero buildings by 2045. They accelerated clean energy projects on public lands, boosting permitting for solar and wind by 35%. They even invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up domestic manufacturing of solar panels, heat pumps, and grid components.
Federal agencies led by example, creating a clean electricity pipeline across 36 states and unlocking $8 billion in private funding for net-zero buildings. The EPA set new rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel plants, using financial incentives to make compliance affordable. The results? 270,000 new clean energy jobs and over $115 billion in manufacturing investments. Remember the June 2024 headline? Under Biden, U.S. economic growth becomes the envy of the world.
Good Jobs in Every Community
These weren’t just policy announcements – they created real opportunities and saved us money, too. Low-income neighborhoods received residential solar and training for clean energy careers (Solar for All, $7 billion). 654 farms and small businesses across 39 states received $126 million for their own clean energy projects (Rural Energy for America Program). Federal buildings got $250 million for solar and storage upgrades, creating energy efficiency jobs while saving taxpayers $41 million.
Community colleges, unions, and nonprofits benefited from the workforce apprenticeship programs. A quarter of the funding went to making sure these were quality jobs with good wages and local hiring. The goal: 200,000 new solar jobs nationwide, with careers as installers, designers, and project managers.
The Current Reality
Yes, it’s true, some of these programs have been stopped or disrupted under the Trump administration. Solar for All has been halted, along with EPA pollution rules and the ambitious federal clean energy goals. But other pieces remain in place: tax credits for solar and wind continue (though being phased out), rural energy grants are still flowing, federal building upgrades continue, and manufacturing credits survive.
Where’s the hope? I still feel it – and I told my friend to tell her sons this: we know how to do it now. Biden showed us how. The template exists. We’ve seen it work – creating jobs, cutting emissions, building industries, and proving that climate action and economic growth go hand in hand. That’s not theoretical anymore. It’s real, it’s documented, and it can be done again. To me, that is very, very hopeful.
Former Locavore, now a Climatarian, Mary lives in Orient with her husband Tom, a mushroom forager. They are early founders of Slow Food East End started in 2004. She leads the community compost effort with ReWild Long Island North Fork Chapter.
Climate Local Now is a partnership between the East End Beacon and two leaders of a grass-roots group inspired by the science of Project Drawdown to advance local climate solutions.
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