Biden taunts Trump in the Amazon jungle for threatening his green legacy: 'nobody can reverse it'
President Joe Biden taunted President-elect Donald Trump during a tour of the Amazon rainforest Sunday, saying nobody can reverse his green legacy.
President Joe Biden taunted President-elect Donald Trump during a tour of the Amazon rainforest Sunday, saying nobody can reverse his green legacy.
Biden - along with daughter Ashley and granddaughter Natalie - took a helicopter tour of the Amazon, before walking through a portion of the rainforest at the Museu da Amazônia in Manaus, Brazil.
Trump ran a campaign on fully embracing fossil fuels and hired a fracking company CEO as his Department of Energy secretary.
Its no secret that Im leaving office in January, Biden said in a brief statement to the press. I will leave my successor and my country a strong foundation to build on if they choose to do so.
Biden said that while some seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution nobody, nobody can reverse it.
Not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits. Not when countries around the world are harnessing the clean energy revolution to pull ahead themselves, the 81-year-old Democrat said.
The question now is, which government will stand in the way and which will seize the enormous economic opportunity, Biden added.
Senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the trip said Biden was able to see the effects of draught, deforestation and illegal forest cutting during the tour.
President Joe Biden taunted President-elect Donald Trump during a tour of the Amazon rainforest Sunday, saying nobody can reverse his green legacy
President Joe Biden stands alongside his daughter Ashley (to his left) and granddaughter Natalie (to his right) during a tour of a portion of the Amazon rainforest Sunday in Manaus, Brazil
The official said the administration is working hard to finalize environmental rules in the last two months of Bidens term.
Much of what Biden is doing can be undone by his successor, although the new $50 million commitment is already out the door. Other efforts have a level of bipartisan support.
As for Trump rolling it all back: Maybe hell come down here and see the forest and see the damage being done from the drought and other things and change his mind about climate change, said the official.
Bidens own trip came with a heavy carbon footprint.
An online calculator puts the cost of the brief trip by a smaller 757 (Air Force One is a modified 747) 45 tons of C02.
According to the U.S. Governments Office of Science and Technical information, the Blackhawk helicopters that the president sometimes uses for transport emits 0.2-1.4 g/kg fuel of particulate matter, for the T700 engine, depending on the fuel.
The feds have conducted reports on the gaseous and particulate-matter emissions when the aircraft are used in populated areas.
Multiple helicopters were used during the aerial tour.
Marine One can be seen flying over deforested portions of the Amazon rainforest Sunday in Brazil
President Joe Biden tours the Museu da Amazonia with his granddaughter Natalie Biden (right) as they visit the Amazon Rainforest in Manaus, Brazil before heading on to Rio de Janeiro for the G20
Marine One can be seen flying over the Amazon River during President Joe Bidens aerial tour of the area on Sunday
President Joe Biden (center right) arrives in Manaus, Brazil alongside daughter Ashley (right) on Sunday
Marine One can be seen over a large ship on the Amazon River during Sundays aerial tour
Biden called attention to the importance of preserving the rainforest as a global carbon sink just days after leaders gathered for the annual COP20 climate change summit.
This years climate conference was held in fossil fuel-generating Baku, Azerbaijan.
The president spoke how the Amazon is called the lungs of the world.
But in my view, our forests and national wonders are the heart and soul of the world, he said. They unite us, they inspire us, they make us proud of our countrys heritage.
Biden highlighted how the Amazon rainforest took 15 million years to grow.
History is literally watching us now. So lets preserve this sacred place for our time and forever - for the benefit of all humanity, he said.
The president then ignored a shouted question on his decision to greenlight Ukraines use of long-range weapons into Russia - as hes refused to speak to the press during the duration of his South America trip.
In this case, maracas were being loudly played by the local indigenous tour guides who had shown the president and his family members around.
The Democrat hasnt answered questions from reporters since Vice President Kamala Harris bruising election loss to Trump - except to suggest hed like to see a TV camera whack a journalist in the head.
She had asked if he thought hed be able to get a Middle East ceasefire before January 20th, when Trump takes over.
Bidens stopever in Manaus came after he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Lima, Peru.
Hell arrive Sunday night in Rio de Janeiro to attend his final G20 summit as the U.S. president.
Ahead of his rainforest tour, the White House released a fact sheet Sunday detailing taht the U.S. has reached $11 billion in international climate financing, will proclaim November 17th to be International Conservation Day, put $50 million toward the Amazon Conservation Fund, and allocate $10 billion in public and private investment for land restoration and bioeconomy-related projects by 2030.
The contribution comes after the administration announced plans for a $500 million contribution last year.
The trip is a swan song for Biden, which he underlined by breaking with his usual routine by attending a dinner gathering at the ornate Government Palace during APEC in Lima.
Then he had his a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday, hosted on the Chinese leaders hotel in an upscale neighborhood, as part of what what the White House described as a rotation of political turf.
In Rio de Janeiro, Biden will be staying at a hotel on the beach under heavy guard by the Brazilian military, with a naval vessel patrolling the coast off the citys famed Copacabana beach.
He is visiting for annual meeting of G20 leaders. Hell be on the ground for less than 48 hours before heading home to Washington.
Brazils left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva blasted neoliberalism in remarks setting the tone for the event, as Biden and other politically weakened leaders start to roll into town.
Neoliberalism has worsened the economic and political inequality that is currently plaguing democracies, he said.
The preliminary schedule released by the White House has Biden launching an alliance against hunger and poverty in a city whose iconic beaches are surrounded by impoverished favelas.
He is also set to attend a reception for leaders in what is likely to be his last international conference, after spending decades jetting to all manner of global gatherings as a senator, vice president and president.
Then, he is set to have a working lunch with the Brazilian president, before heading back to Washington on Air Force One for the last two months of his term.
