MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Vice President Kamala Harris said she’s not only optimistic about solving climate change, she’s excited about it.
“We all understand we have to be solutions-driven. The solutions are at hand,” Harris said on the stage of the second annual Aspen Ideas: Climate conference in Miami Beach, where she was interviewed by Latin music star Gloria Estefan about the Biden administration’s recent investments into climate action.
Estefan, the Cuban-American former front woman of Miami Sound Machine, said she’s relieved to see the administration tackling an issue that worries her deeply.
“After living in Miami Beach for 38 years, we see the changes,” she said. “Our bay, our coral is dying. We have major fish kills. Living on the bay, I’ve seen the water rising to an alarming degree.”
Harris highlighted recent investments from the Biden administration that tackle climate change in multiple ways, from the expansion of electric, emissions-free school buses across America to rebates and tax breaks on green technology like electric cars, efficient heat pumps and rooftop solar.
“I think many people have the will to participate in what we have to do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but I think that not everyone has the means,” she said. “We have to think about this movement in a way that we are making it affordable for a working family that wants to participate.”
The conversation largely stayed light and focused on the Biden administration’s political wins, but at one point Harris did talk about the United States’ outsize role in producing polluting greenhouse gases that cause “disproportionate harm” to places like the Caribbean. Those countries are seeing faster and more intense impacts of climate change and have fewer resources than the U.S. to combat them.
“We have to understand the impact of what we’ve done and what we continue to do and have a conversation about what our role is as the U.S. in what we do about it,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Harris spoke at a fundraiser in Miami Beach held at the home of lawyer Alex Heckler, a longtime Harris donor and chair of the host committee for the Aspen conference. At the event, her pitch to potential donors largely focused on the administration’s climate wins.
“We’re here to speak at Aspen about the work we must do and challenges we must face to address the climate crisis,” she said. “Because of your support — just look at the infrastructure bill, the chips bill, the Inflation Reduction Act — we’re looking at a trillion dollars hitting the streets of America to deal with the climate crisis. That’s transformational.”
