ANALYSIS | Planet Earth and planet Trump collide on climate change

Last debate between Trump and Biden was more civilized 2:19

(CNN) -

"We are running out of time, so we have to address climate change," said moderator Kristen Welker shortly before the final 2020 presidential debate came to a close.

Unintentionally, it was the truest and most tragic statement of the night.

And it led to the plans of two different planets.

"We have the Trillion Trees program," President Donald Trump began when finally asked how they would save a habitable planet.

"We have so many different programs," he added.

There was no mention of other programs.

Instead, the president released a torrent of lies, confusion and insistence that the United States remains dependent on fossil fuels, despite overwhelming evidence that hell and the 2020 high tide are only the beginning.

"Global warming is an existential threat to humanity," began former Vice President Joe Biden, down to earth again.

"We have a moral obligation to deal with that," he added.

advertising

• LEE: 7 conclusions of the final debate between Trump and Biden

Biden went over parts of his plan, from adding electric vehicle charging stations on highways to remodeling buildings to save energy.

And his proposal to focus on taking advantage of renewable resources such as wind and solar energy.

Four meters away, on the planet Trump, such predictions gave rise to a smile.

"I know more about the wind than you do and it is extremely expensive," the president said.

"Kill all the birds," he added.

In reality, the United States was late to the global boom in offshore wind farms, and turbines kill a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions of birds that windows and cats catch each year.

On planet Trump last night, "solar power still hasn't won."

But on planet Earth, earlier this month a renewable energy company called NextEra was more valuable than ExxonMobil.

And the International Energy Agency stated that "solar projects now offer some of the lowest electricity costs ever seen."

Posing against such an arrogant denial of science, Biden could probably shoot a spotted owl on Fifth Avenue and not lose the support of the Sierra Club.

But instead of following his primal instincts and playing it safe and easy, Biden has absorbed the urgent ideas of Jay Inslee, Bernie Sanders and the Dawn Movement, deploying a much bigger climate plan than Barack Obama's.

Image of the Bobcat fire in California last month.

Uncontrollable megafires and hurricane row makes this an easier political push, but Biden is quick to temper the nightmare of unpredictable weather with the dream of 50,000 electric car charging stations, millions of retrofits to achieve greater energy efficiency. and lots of $ 50 an hour green union jobs.

"It will cost $ 100 trillion!" Trump said of the plan, inflating Biden's stated cost fifty times.

With an obvious fear of losing Pennsylvania frackers in the same way that Hillary Clinton lost West Virginia miners, Biden has been cautious not to declare an end to fossil fuels.

But he also described the damage.

Climate change and environmental justice

The question was about environmental justice, a platform that gained momentum in a summer of black anger following the death of George Floyd.

What would each candidate say to families of color most likely to live near toxic industries?

"The families we are talking about have a lot of jobs and are making a lot of money," Trump responded.

"More money than they have ever made," he said.

Then came the most personal story of the night.

"When my mom would get in the car, when it was the first frost, to drive me to school, she would turn on the windshield wipers, (and) there was an oil stain on the window," said Biden, describing the health costs of living near the Marcus Hook refinery complex on the Delaware River as a child.

"This is why so many people in my state were dying and getting cancer," he said.

Biden responded to Trump: “It doesn't matter what you pay them.

It matters how you keep them safe.

Trump watched Biden closely during this windshield wiper story.

And when the moderator tried to move on to the next question, she took advantage of the tender moment to attack.

"Would you shut down the oil industry?" Trump asked.

"It would transition the oil industry, yes," Biden said.

"Oh, that's an important statement," replied the president.

(Fact check: True. And sure to be repeated in an attack ad near you).

"(Oil) has to be replaced by renewable energy over time," Biden said, repeating the last words for emphasis.

"Over time".

But as the moderator said, we are running out of time to tackle climate change.

The United Nations climate panel suggests that the planet should cut emissions in half in just 10 years, and meeting Biden's zero-emissions targets by 2035 will require breakneck and seismic changes in all sectors of the world's largest economy, as the fossil fuel giants accumulate trillions in reserves.

"Our health and our jobs are at stake," says Biden.

"They want to tear down buildings and build new buildings with tiny, tiny windows," says Trump.

And two planets collide.

Presidential debate United States 2020 United States elections