SEATTLE -- The gap between the scale of the global warming crisis and President Joe Biden's initiatives remained wide on Earth Day, with many of Biden's most ambitious proposals remaining stalled in Congress.
When Biden sat down Friday at a small desk with the presidential seal that had been set up for the occasion, there was no new law to sign, only an executive order directing federal officials to keep better track of trees in national forests.
"My pen is ready," Biden said in Seattle's Seward Park. "Get some of these bills to my desk."
The president criticized Republicans for opposing climate action and hinted at his frustration with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, although he didn't mention them by name. Within the Democratic caucus, he said, "there's only two senators who occasionally don't vote with me."
The lack of unanimity among Democrats and the resistance from Republicans in the evenly divided Senate have blocked hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits for clean energy.
Without such policies, environmental advocates question whether the country can hit Biden's goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists warn that the world faces extreme heat, drought and weather unless fossil fuels are phased out swiftly.
Biden on Friday drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, who often mocked climate change as he made decisions during his time in office to unwind initiatives meant to address global warming.
"We've reached the point where the crisis on the environment has become so obvious, with the notable exception of the former president, that we really have an opportunity to do things we couldn't have done two, five, 10 years ago," Biden said.
Biden said he was staking his hopes on an up-and-coming generation.
"Every time I get a little down ... I just turn on the television or take a look at all the young people," he said. "This younger generation is not going to put up with all this stuff. No, they're not."
Biden spoke to some members of that generation during his second stop of the day, at Green River College just south of Seattle. The auditorium included scores of students, plus faculty members and local elected officials, and the president used the moment to promote an agenda that goes far beyond the environment.
The speech promoted laws that he's enacted and what he still needs congressional support to achieve. He discussed college funding, health care prices, child care expenses, corporate taxes, high-speed internet and the importance of nursing.
Biden also warned that Republicans remain determined to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act more than a decade after it was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
FOREST ORDER
The executive order signed by Biden on Friday directs federal land managers to define and inventory mature and old-growth forests nationwide within a year. The order requires the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to identify threats to older trees, such as wildfires and climate change, and develop policies to safeguard them.
Old-growth trees are key buffers against climate change, providing crucial carbon sinks that absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
The order does not ban logging of mature or old-growth trees, the White House said.
Biden used his Earth Day events to reassert his environmentalist credentials at a time when his administration has been preoccupied by high oil and gasoline prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Gas costs have been a drag on Biden's popularity and have created short-term political pressures going into this year's midterm elections. To compensate for the problem, the president has encouraged more domestic oil drilling, angering some environmental activists.
At the same time, Biden has focused on wildfires that are intensifying because of climate change. Blazes that are intense enough to kill trees once considered virtually fire-proof have alarmed land managers, environmentalists and tree lovers around the world.
A warming planet that has created longer and hotter droughts, combined with a century of fire suppression that choked forests with thick undergrowth, has fueled flames that extinguished trees dating to ancient civilizations.
Timber industry representative Nick Smith said before the order was made public that loggers are worried it will add more bureaucracy, undercutting the Biden administration's goal of doubling the amount of logging and controlled burns over the next decade to thin forests in the tinder-dry West.
"The federal government has an urgent need to reduce massive greenhouse gas emissions from severe wildfires, which can only be accomplished by actively managing our unhealthy and overstocked federal forests," he said.
But former U.S. Forest Service Deputy Chief Jim Furnish said wildfire risks and climate change would be better addressed by removing smaller trees that can fuel uncontrolled blazes, while leaving mature trees in place.
For many years, the Forest Service allowed older trees -- which are worth more -- to be logged, to bring in money for removal of smaller trees, Furnish said. But that's no longer necessary after Congress approved more than $5 billion in last year's infrastructure bill as a step to reduce wildfire risks, he said.
The law includes money to hire 1,500 firefighters and ensure they earn at least $15 an hour.
Timber sales from federal forests nationwide more than doubled over the past 20 years, as Republicans and Democrats have pushed for more aggressive thinning of stands to reduce small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires.
Critics, including many forest scientists, say officials are allowing removal of too many older trees that can withstand fires.
A letter signed by 135 scientists called on Biden to protect mature and old-growth forests as a critical climate solution.
"Left vulnerable to logging, though, they cannot fulfill these vital functions," the scientists wrote Thursday. Former Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck and Norman Christensen, founding dean and professor emeritus at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, were among those signing the letter.
SEA TURTLE RELEASED
Also on Friday, a rehabilitated green sea turtle was released back into the ocean in the Florida Keys to mark Earth Day.
Several hundred onlookers watched on Marathon's Sombrero Beach as staff members from the Keys-based Turtle Hospital released "TJ Sharp," a 65-pound juvenile sea turtle that was rescued in February. The endangered reptile had been discovered floating offshore, unable to dive and visibly affected by fibropapillomatosis -- a condition that causes cauliflower-like tumors and affects sea turtles around the world.
TJ's condition upon arrival at the Turtle Hospital required surgical removal of the tumors and treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, fluids, vitamins and a nourishing diet of greens and mixed seafood.
"Sea turtles are the oldest animal known to man -- to be able to take a sea turtle, rehabilitate it and return it to its ocean home on Earth Day, it's just an amazing day," Turtle Hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach said.
Zirkelbach said that although Earth Day is recognized once a year, humans can take daily steps to protect marine resources and help ensure the survival of sea turtles.
"What people need to do to make every day Earth Day is to reduce single-use plastics, keep trash out of our oceans and help keep our planet clean," Zirkelbach added.
Visitors and residents in the Florida Keys are commemorating Earth Day's significance with outdoor activities throughout the weekend, including Mote Marine Laboratory's 10th annual Ocean Fest: A Community Celebration today in Key West.
Information for this article was contributed by Josh Boak, Chris Megerian, Matthew Daly, Matthew Brown and staff members of The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden speaks at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
This photo provided by California State Parks shows the Pioneer Tree one of the few remaining old-growth coastal redwoods at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Calif., on Thursday, March 24, 2022, after it collapsed from a fire. (California State Parks via AP)
In this photo provided by the National Park Service, fallen trees smolder after a wildfire at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona, Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Winds are expected to intensify through the end of the week as firefighters battle blazes across the Southwest. Resources are tight, and fire managers are scrambling to get crews on board. (Richard Ullmann/National Park Service via AP)
President Joe Biden walks with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., as they arrive at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., is at right. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden speaks at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden talks with Teri Gobin, Chairwoman, Tulalip Tribes, after signing an executive order intended to help restore national forests devastated by wildfires, drought and blight, during an event at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden salutes after speaking at Green River College, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Auburn, Wash. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden arrives to speak at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. From left, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Biden, Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden speaks at Seward Park on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)