On Wednesday, NBC’s Today show weatherman and adoring Joe Biden groupie Al Roker could barely contain his excitement over the President planning to issue executive orders that would force through radical climate change policies. Roker gushed over Biden preparing to declare climate change a “national security priority” and treated a top White House environmental advisor to a softball chat to promote the left-wing agenda.
“President Biden will be signing some executive actions around climate. One of them is gonna actually elevate climate change as a national security priority,” Roker gleefully announced during a weather report in the 7:30 a.m. ET half hour. Pointing to a map of U.S. military bases, he melodramatically warned: “...if you look at some of our top military sites across the country, the greatest warming, these sites are most at risk for climate change and, in fact, a 2017 Department of Defense study showed that climate change is the number one threat for homeland security.”
During that same segment, he touted an upcoming interview with former EPA administrator and Biden administration national climate advisor Gina McCarthy during the 3rd Hour Today show. At the start of that friendly sit-down in the 9:00 a.m. ET hour, Roker hailed:
One of the first actions President Biden took after taking office was rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, signaling his commitment to battling climate change. Well, today, the President is set to lay out his plan and announce several new executive actions, including establishing a national climate task force. White House national climate advisor, the first one, Gina McCarthy, joining us now with more on the administration’s climate agenda.
The longtime climate crusader seized on recent natural disasters to boost the Biden agenda in his first question to McCarthy: “Well, according to NOAA, nearly 10.3 million acres of land destroyed by wildfires last year, record-setting 30 storms named during the Atlantic hurricane season. Globally, the second hottest year on record....Why is climate change a matter of national security?”
McCarthy was clearly happy to have an easy national platform to sell the policy:
Well, Al, I think you’re asking me a question that we’ve been talking about for a number of years, which is that climate change is one of the most significant threats that we have to our health, our well-being. It’s one of the most significant threats we have to our safety, both here domestically, as well as internationally.
She then promised Roker that his enthusiastic support would be rewarded: “Which is why the President today is signing three executive orders. And you’re gonna really get excited about this, because two of them are focused on bringing back science integrity....The third is all about tackling climate change, which is really one of the biggest threats of our lifetime.”
Rather than challenge McCarthy on the fact that the President just eliminated thousands of jobs by cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline under the guise of helping the environment, Roker instead teed her up to laughably claim the administration’s efforts to destroy the fossil fuel industry would somehow be a job creator: “So the administration, as you mentioned, laying groundwork for new climate and clean energy policies in several different sectors. How’s that going to affect infrastructure going forward? And to your point, what does this mean for jobs?” McCarthy asserted: “Well, it means millions of new jobs in clean energy.”
Following the exchange, co-host Craig Melvin joined in applauding the effort: “Yeah, among the other things I was just reading, Al, they’re going to create the Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, putting an entire generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and water, akin to what FDR did.” Roker gushed: “That’s right, this is like a public works project, a New Deal, an Americorps for the environment, which is something we need.”
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Here is a full transcript of Roker’s January 27 interview with McCarthy:
9:00 AM ET TEASE
CRAIG MELVIN: We’ve got a lot of ground to cover on this hump day, including a first look at President Biden’s plan to tackle climate change. And this one is near and dear to your heart.
AL ROKER: Absolutely. In fact, we’re going to be talking with the new White House national climate adviser, Gina McCarthy. She’s going to tell us what the President is going to be announcing today and why he is classifying climate change as a matter of national security.
9:10 AM ET TEASE
AL ROKER: Coming up next, inside President Biden’s plan to combat climate change. The steps he’s going to be laying out today, including classifying this crisis as a matter of national security.
9:14 AM ET SEGMENT
AL ROKER: One of the first actions President Biden took after taking office was rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, signaling his commitment to battling climate change. Well, today, the President is set to lay out his plan and announce several new executive actions, including establishing a national climate task force. White House national climate advisor, the first one, Gina McCarthy, joining us now with more on the administration’s climate agenda. Good morning, Gina. Thanks for joining us.
GINA MCCARTHY: It’s great to talk to you again, Al. Thanks.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The Climate Crisis; President’s National Climate Advisor on White House Environmental Plan]
ROKER: Yeah, good to see you. Well, according to NOAA, nearly 10.3 million acres of land destroyed by wildfires last year, record-setting 30 storms named during the Atlantic hurricane season. Globally, the second hottest year on record. And today, President Biden plans on taking further executive actions, including elevating climate change to a national security priority. Why is climate change a matter of national security?
MCCARTHY: Well, Al, I think you’re asking me a question that we’ve been talking about for a number of years, which is that climate change is one of the most significant threats that we have to our health, our well-being. It’s one of the most significant threats we have to our safety, both here domestically, as well as internationally.
Which is why the President today is signing three executive orders. And you’re gonna really get excited about this, because two of them are focused on bringing back science integrity and also bringing back the president’s advisers, that give him information on science and technology, so this country can keep progressing forward.
But the third is the big one. The third is all about tackling climate change, which is really one of the biggest threats of our lifetime. And it’s all about bringing the power of the whole federal government to bear. It’s about tackling our international commitment to the Paris agreement by being strong in terms of what we’re doing domestically to actually bring the actions we need to address a crisis that is as broad and deep as the climate challenge.
But, Al, I have to tell you, the most exciting thing about this is that we’re not asking for sacrifice here. The President fully understands that people are suffering now. So this is all about recovering from the COVID crisis. This is all about building good, clean jobs. Jobs where you can get access to good pay in unions. This is all about investing in infrastructure we need to build that future that is going to get us to clean electricity and net zero in 2050. This is all promises he made that he’s gonna keep.
ROKER: So the administration, as you mentioned, laying groundwork for new climate and clean energy policies in several different sectors. How’s that going to affect infrastructure going forward? And to your point, what does this mean for jobs?
MCCARTHY: Well, it means millions of new jobs in clean energy. And it means opportunities that we’re going to lay out in this executive order that grow new jobs, where the communities that have been highly dependent on energies and individual utilities will be – those workers will be able to transition into jobs where they still invest and live in their own communities. We’re going to talk about environmental justice communities that have been left behind and build equity as a fundamental consideration in everything we do. Because after all, those are the communities that have marginalized and overburdened by pollution. And they’re in the cross hairs of not just climate change, but COVID-19. We owe investments to those communities, and we’re gonna deliver them.
ROKER: You talk about investments. Basically talking about a price tag of around $2 trillion or more. How do you – how do we pay for this?
MCCARTHY: Yeah. Well, this is really an investment in economic development, isn’t it? It’s really an investment in our future. If you take a look at the costs of climate change, they far outweigh the money that it takes to actually rebuild. And you know, Al, there are millions of people out of work today. Millions and millions of families who don’t know how they’re going to put food on the table tomorrow. We have to rebuild. We have to invest to strengthen our economy. And if we invest wisely, by building the future we want to hand to those children, a future that is clean and more equitable, that is safe, a future where we join the international effort with special envoy John Kerry, who is a good friend and is going to push like crazy to meet our great commitments in the Paris agreement. If we work together, we can build that future that doesn’t just do one thing, but it does it all. There is no reason why we can’t build the future that we’re all proud of. And the future needs to start being built today. That’s what this investment is all about.
ROKER: Well, Gina McCarthy, the national climate advisor to the President, thank you so much, we really appreciate it. Looking forward to talking to you again about this.
MCCARTHY: Terrific.
SHEINELLE JONES: They’re definitely on it, aren’t they?
CRAIG MELVIN: Yeah, among the other things I was just reading, Al, they’re going to create the Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, putting an entire generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and water, akin to what FDR did.
JONES: Wow.
ROKER: That’s right, this is like a public works project, a New Deal, an Americorps for the environment, which is something we need.
JONES: That’s great.
ROKER: And to put in place all of these efforts.
JONES: That’s so good. And our kids are very well aware, they’re on it. It’s the older folks that have to get in line.
