Joe Biden: For the First Time This Earth Day

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-biden/for-the-first-time-this-e_b_547834.html

For the First Time This Earth Day
Joe Biden

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But the clean energy economy is not some abstract or macroeconomic concept -- it affects towns and neighborhoods across America. Yesterday at the White House, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and I kicked off the Administration's celebration of Earth Day by announcing $452 million in Recovery Act "Retrofit Ramp-Up" awards. These grants went to 25 remarkable communities nationwide, which can serve as innovative models that can be expanded throughout the country. Ultimately, these grants will help make energy efficiency affordable for hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses, and are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in the process. Retrofitting existing homes has the potential to cut more than $21 billion a year annually in our energy cost, and we have been working steadily to make it as easy as possible for homeowners to take advantage of these programs.

And this is just a tiny sliver of what we've done. As the President's point man on the Recovery Act, which included America's biggest investment ever in clean energy, I've visited countless communities that have seen jobs come back through these kinds of initiatives.

Of course Earth Day is about more than just government action to protect our air, water and environment. Since the first Earth Day 40 years ago countless Americans have taken action to make their local communities cleaner and healthier and to have a positive impact on our planet.

This year, President Obama is calling on all of us to pitch in and participate in the Earth Day of Service. On Serve.gov/EarthDay, it's not too late to find thousands of Earth Day Service events in communities across the country.

Whether you pick up trash at a local park, plant trees, or clean up the river or stream in your hometown, there are plenty of ways to get involved. I hope you'll join President Obama and me in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Making the world itself better -- the air we breathe, the water we drink, the mountains our children will climb, the lakes they'll swim in -- that's why Earth Day was started 40 years ago, and it's as important today as it was then.