Top environmental activists have lead the calls for President Biden’s ouster following his widely-panned debate performance – but others still are noticeably quiet on whether Biden should stay or go.
Perhaps the most notable of these rebukes is long-time climate activist Bill McKibben – the architect behind the Biden administration’s LNG pause and a key supporter of divestment, anti-fracking and anti-Keystone XL pipeline activism – who recently took to X to declare that Biden needed to “pass the torch.”
I don't really care about the pundits, the media, etc–but I do trust the people who have to knock doors in elections, and they're telling me it's time for Biden to pass the torch. @ThirdActOrg https://t.co/rKLTJwGceo
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) July 6, 2024
McKibben also wrote in a recent Substack post about the sentiment of voters and organizers across the country who he’s talked to:
“… it’s clear to most of them that I’ve talked to that dragging Biden across the finish line will be a hugely hard—probably impossibly hard—task.”
Similarly, Climate Defiance, a fringe group that receives its funding via the shadowy pass-through group the Climate Emergency Fund, which the Washington Free Beacon reports receives “dollars from well-known Hollywood elites, left-wing millionaires, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s progressive political action organization Onward Together,” lambasted Pres. Biden in a post saying his “lust for power” will “inciner[ate] earth.”
Fucking pass the torch already. What is the game plan here? Stay til election day so that Trump can win? Go down in history books as a dithering old man whose lust for power snuffed out democracy and incinerated earth? Tell us! Tell us!
— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) July 8, 2024
The Sunrise Movement – a youth led climate organization that worked to elect President Biden – is also now calling on him to leave the ticket. Aru Shiney-Ajay, the executive director of the Sunrise Movement, said in a statement:
“Joe Biden’s next climate legacy-defining act must be to pass the torch to a new nominee.”
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, was one of the first lawmakers to say someone else should lead the Democratic presidential ticket. And let’s not forget the very existence of environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy’s third-party presidential campaign.
A Mixed Bag
On the other hand, several environmental groups and lawmakers have expressed concern but stopped short of calling for full removal from the ticket. For example, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse – one of the most ardent environmentalists in the U.S. Senate – has taken a wait-and-see approach, despite saying he was “pretty horrified” while watching the debate.
Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said he “expects complete transparency” from the White House on Pres. Biden’s capabilities while Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has said he is having a “serious conversation” about what to do.
Still, others have continued to back the President with Green New Deal enthusiast Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R-NY) and other members of the “squad” firmly declaring:
“He is in this race. The matter is closed.”
The Sierra Club also continues to back the president and Friends of the Earth Action has, for now, not called for the President’s removal.
Noticeably Absent
Other top greens continue to be noticeably absent from the conversation. Climate investor Tom Steyer, Rockefeller Family Fund Director Lee Wasserman, GASLAND film director Josh Fox, activist Jamie Henn and others have not definitively weighed in on whether Pres. Biden should stay as nominee or be replaced – and should be asked.
Bottom Line: Key environmental activists have begun to turn on President Biden – even as his administration has largely fallen in line with activist-pushed climate policies like the recent LNG ban. Will McKibben’s and others’ call be the domino that topples the rest?
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