Precision agriculture
Biden’s plan suggests “helping farmers leverage new technologies, techniques, and equipment to increase productivity and profit.” In order to do that, he advocates for precision agriculture, which is basically just data-driven farming. Precision agriculture uses satellites, sensors, GPS, and software that helps farmers use resources more efficiently while getting more output. Instead of blanketing their fields in chemicals, Silent Spring style, farmers using precision agriculture techniques get to be more discerning with their spraying. Incorporating frequently updated soil, plant, and weather data can help reduce the amount of water, fertilizer, seed, and pesticides farmers use in their fields, which in turn curtails environmental degradation and saves water. Biden’s plan calls for “funding research and development in precision agriculture” and “leveraging precision agriculture through regional demonstration projects to minimize the impacts of drought.”Micromobility
Micromobility vehicles — scooters, e-bikes, and other lightweight devices that don’t go faster than 15 miles per hour — also have a role to play in Biden’s plan. The nominee promises to help cities “invest in infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, and riders of e-scooters and other micro-mobility vehicles.” The plan doesn’t specify whether that means bikeshare and scooter-share programs or just better streets for privately owned micromobility devices, but it does name-check “machine-learning optimized traffic lights,” which could help make bike and scooter trips faster. You can hate on e-scooters all you like, but you can’t deny that they’re a climate-friendly and coronavirus risk–free way to get to work.5G
Broadband doesn’t exactly sound like a cutting-edge climate solution, but it is. Transitioning from fossil fuels as our main source of energy to renewables will mean more and more remote, internet-based jobs. But millions of people don’t have access to broadband, which, the plan explains, means those households “are locked out of an economy that is increasingly reliant on virtual collaboration.” How will America transition to a green economy if millions of people, particularly in rural places that are behind on the transition to renewables, can’t participate? Biden suggests expanding broadband or wireless broadband via 5G — the fifth generation technology standard for cellular networks — to every American. “Just like rural electrification several generations ago, universal broadband is long overdue and critical to broadly shared economic success,” the plan says. As the months until the general election continue to tick down, we’ll likely hear more from the Democratic nominee on climate change. As it stands, his climate plan calls for more spending than almost all of his other proposals, including education, housing, and the opioid epidemic combined. “When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is hoax,” Biden said during a speech announcing his new climate plan in Delaware on Tuesday. “When I think about climate change, the word I think about jobs.” But as the new plan makes clear, Biden is also thinking about details.This story was originally published by Grist with the headline 3 unexpected ways Joe Biden plans to tackle climate change on Jul 16, 2020.