Environmental Science Blog

$369 billion. Yes – nine zeros – that is how much money going towards environmental action. Yesterday, President Joe Biden just signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.  This historic event will bring monumental benefits to many different areas including fighting climate change. The non-profit, EarthJustice, says that this bill will set us on our goal to cut all carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, and restore U.S.’s credibility to lead global action towards climate change. Currently, 27% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. comes from transportation according to the EPA. To fight this, the bill will spend a large portion of the money towards promoting and funding electric and zero emission vehicles. For example, EarthJustice reports $1 billion dollars will go to communities with bad air pollution to provide clean school buses, transit buses, garbage trucks, and other vehicles. Another large sum of money is going towards making our agriculture climate friendly. Although the environmental impact of agriculture is overlooked, the EPA shows that 11% of greenhouse gases come from agricultural practices. However, the largest investment that came from the Inflation Reduction Act will help the economy as well as the environment. EarthJustice states that $60 billion will go towards clean energy technology. This will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also create many jobs. Other investments made by the bill include research, smaller projects, tax credits, and other technology like air quality monitoring. From what I have read about this bill, I have become hopeful that the 40% reduction in carbon emissions in the U.S. in the next eight years will be successful. I have seen the pie chart of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and every single slice of the pie was addressed in this bill. Every source has some sort of solution. I hope that in eight years we will keep pushing on towards a 60% reduction, then 80%, all the way until the total carbon emissions in the U.S. is a zero.