Tags
Co-Sponsors of Green New Deal Resolution, Five goals of Green New Deal, Green New Deal Resolution, November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment: Volume II Impacts Risks and Adaptation in the United States, October 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5℃ by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), Sunrise Movement
Sunrise Movement protesters outside then Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s Office – December 10, 2018
Photo Credit: Sunrise Movement
While our president is fixated on building a wall along our southern border to keep us safe from the invasion of “bad hombres,” he refuses to acknowledge our greatest existential threat: climate change disruption. Young climate change activists, clamoring for bold action, have found a champion in the newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York). At twenty-nine years, she is the youngest member of the US House of Representatives.
On February 7, 2019, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced a nonbinding resolution that sets out the framework for the Green New Deal. The proposal has gathered 64 House and nine Senate Co-Sponsors, including presidential hopefuls Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. In an interview with Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), not present at the unveiling, referred to the proposal as a mere suggestion.
“It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive,” Pelosi said. “The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is but they’re for it right?”
The Green New Deal Resolution – List of Co-Sponsors
Photo Credit: Sunrise Movement
In the preamble, the Green New Deal Resolution cites the critical findings of the October 2018 “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5℃” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment: Volume II Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States.
With impacts of climate change already being felt in communities across America and the IPCC’s warning that we have just twelve years to limit global warming to 1.5℃ or face catastrophic changes, the Resolution sets out an ambitious ten-year-plan of national mobilization:
- to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions;
- to create millions of good, high-wage jobs for all Americans;
- to invest in US infrastructure and industry;
- to secure for all Americans clean air and water, climate and community resilience, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment; and
- to promote justice and equity among all oppressed minority and vulnerable communities.
Projects needed to accomplish these five goals include:
- Repair and upgrade US infrastructure;
- Meet 100 percent US power demand through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources;
- Build or upgrade to “smart” power grids;
- Upgrade all existing buildings and build new buildings for maximum energy and water efficiency;
- Spur massive growth in clean US manufacturing to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; and
- Overhaul US transportation systems to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, by investing in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing, as well as clean, affordable, and accessible public transit, and high-speed rail.
You can read the complete Resolution at the government website of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.
That’s a huge undertaking. No way would the Republican-controlled Senate and our climate change denial president agree to such a plan. Where will the money come from to pay for such a total overhaul of our economy and society? The Green Party US estimates that the Green New Deal will cost between $700 billion to $1 trillion annually.
The Sunrise Movement of young activists, formed in 2016, are fierce advocates of the Green New Deal. Believing that it’s possible and practical, they’ve concluded that “for too many decades fear and complacency have kept our leaders – and our nation – frozen. The result is malaise and stagnation, with wealth concentrating ever more densely at the top, poverty overwhelming the bottom, and insecurity menacing the middle. Meanwhile, climate change threatens humanity and most forms of life with extinction. All we’ve awaited throughout this decline is good faith, clear vision, and passionate leadership.”
With plans to make the Green New Deal the defining issue of the 2020 election, Sunrise Movement will launch a 14-city campaign tour through early primary states.
“When you come out to a tour stop,” Varshini Prakash, co-founder of Sunrise Movement, said in an email to Huffington Post, “we’ll give you all the tools you need to spread the word within your own community, build support, and pressure your elected officials to take a stand.”
Are Americans ready to take the bold action now needed to save ourselves from climate change calamity?
Three Worlds One Vision 
Pingback: The Green New Deal: Are Americans ready for bold action? | Three Worlds One Vision – A record of mankind's degradation of planet earth
Thanks for sharing my post 🙂
LikeLike
Much as I believe addressing climate change is essential, the election in many congressional districts will be won or lost depending on what they, the residents, believe to be the crucial issues for them. The candidates will be wise not to let climate, by itself, push aside the bread and butter concerns these folks have. Thus, climate cannot, I think, be given the same emphasis in all places.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, Dr. Stein, but what makes the Green New Deal such a bold proposal is that it integrates climate change action with societal justice. Take a closer look at the five goals and the complete list of the projects required to achieve those goals. Such a plan would definitely not go down well with the corporate, power elite running our government.
You can read the full Resolution at the link below. I had forgotten to add the link when I first posted the article.
Click to access Resolution%20on%20a%20Green%20New%20Deal.pdf
LikeLike
Reblogged this on jpratt27.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for sharing my post, John 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately there exist a element of American (and world) society that will resist change because they have established their comfort zone/level and do not support anything that may cause them to have to change, especially financially… as with all else, for one to make change, one needs to start at the roots, one’s neighborhood, town, etc and work up… don’t try to convince the politician about climate change, convince the people who support that politician… 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
I agree with you, Dutch. We humans resist change that threatens our comfort zone. The young climate change activists in the Sunrise Movement understand well that they have to inform and mobilize people across America to pressure their representatives in Congress to support the Green New Deal. With their future at stake, they are prepared to take on the challenge.
LikeLike
Hopefully.❤️
LikeLiked by 2 people
Although I try to be optimistic when it comes to the future, I can not help to have a bad feeling regarding climate change. People always act when it´s too late, this will be no different, I fear. And as long as those who are in power don’t feel the need too, nothing will change.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Sarah, I also fear that we will fail to act until it’s too late. On the other hand, I believe that we cannot and must not stop demanding and pushing for action. As a member of the younger generation, with a gift for capturing the beauty of our natural world in your watercolor paintings, you should find a way of transforming your “bad feeling regarding climate change” into some form of positive action ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very true, Rosaliene. Giving up is not an option, we need to shout out and act as long as we can. I´m glad that there´s still some fight left in today´s youth, they are determined to get heard and we need to do everything we can to support their voices. There´s been a discussion for a long time to start granting 16 year-olds the right to vote in Germany, I think it would be a very good step in the right direction.
And thank you for reminding me that there´s a way to transform my bad feelings into positive actions – I will give my best! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Giving up is not an option, Sarah, when the survival of our species, and so many others facing extinction, depend upon the action we take today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh if only…..what an aspiring movement, but the old guard and money and conservatives will fight it tooth and nail and we will all lose.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mary, without a doubt, they will fight any proposal that threatens their power and dominance.
LikeLike
I’m glad people are organizing around these important issues. Great post. Thanks! -Rebecca
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for dropping by, Rebecca 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is either extremely naive, or has a hidden agenda. This Green New Deal sounds great, like promising two chickens in every pot – a very old political scam. Problem: She is solidly anchored into the old guard, utterly corrupt Democratic party and openly proud of it. She makes not a single mention of reducing military spending. No mention of taxing the elites to the max to make them pay for their destruction of the infrastructure her “plan” seeks to rebuild. With the US national debt about to cross the 22 TRILLION$ mark… and her plan to cost a TRILLION$ a year, and no actual mention of reining in the galloping inflation that makes the debt even possible, I hope she has a very, very, rich fairy godmother.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sha’Tara, our young House Representative doesn’t appear to me to be naive or having a hidden agenda. In her interview with National Public Radio (NPR) about the Green New Deal, she referred to her audacious proposal as “our moonshot. Just like the time when JFK [President John F Kennedy] said we’d go to the moon by the end of the decade, people [then] said it was impossible.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
As an ex-pol. and environmentalist as well as union activist, I certainly understand the need to believe that change can come so painlessly, easily, smoothly and without bloodshed. I banked my entire active life on that and what I saw was sellout after sellout after sellout until there was nothing left to sell. The gamblers (working classes) had stripped themselves of all the hard earned gains from previous generations and all that remained when I retired was absolute corruption on all fronts. So, let’s just say I’m going by what I know. I know that real change will NEVER come from the establishment, be it government, religion or banksterism. It will come, as it always has, from the street. From popular, powerful, unstoppable and violent revolution.
Imagine the System as a box of apples. The common knowledge says that it only takes one rotten apple to corrupt the entire box if that apple isn’t removed and destroyed. Now imagine a System (Box) where over 90% of the “apples” are corrupt to their very core. You tell me what chance the remaining, or newly added, 10% have in curing that box of apples? It doesn’t work that way, never have, never will. What you are looking at is simple: revolution or death. I think that your own background would enable you to see the harsh truth of this. Ocasio-Cortez is naive or already a sell-out. Yes, the proposals look good on paper but her own party is NOT going to endorse most of it. Pelosi didn’t even bother attending the unveiling of this new deal non-binding resolution, and basically brushed it off. And where was Zionist Schumer?
She either has no idea who and what she is playing with, or will be satisfied in getting a few little hand-outs from the Regime so she can continue to play the Bernie Sanders hypocrisy game to keep her seat. Meanwhile things will continue to disintegrate and the revolutionary spirit will go from simmer to boil. Just a by the way, who is going to pay for her trillion$/year new deal? That’s a big mortgage to take on, where’s the loan coming from, and at what interest rate???
If I were looking to accomplish any sort of real change my first proposal would be to cut military spending by at least 80%. If that went with the voters, good. If it did not, then I would quit then and there and go back home to play my harmonica in the basement. To entertain the mice…
LikeLike
By the way, I happen to be one of those who, by studying good science, understands that with the technology then available to NASA, it would have been utter disaster to try to put any living biological creature on the moon. That Van Allen belt radiation is a sure killer, the solar radiation on the moon even more so and the pretend radiation shielding used was a joke. Real shielding would have had to be lead and there was no way the lander had the power to lift off with that kind of weight on it. No one ever went to the moon and there are no human footprints there unless they were made by aliens. Sorry, more calculated fiction to entertain and fool the masses… just like 9/11 and other myths. Kennedy knew this when he made his political statement but he knew that Hollywood and NASA were already working on ways to produce one, or several, moon landings in conjunction with some spectacular launches, (at tax-payers’ expense of course) and impossible TV programming. You’ve been fooled, and royally so. Just as you’re about to be fooled again when the country switches from Republican to Democrat believing it will change anything substantial. The con goes on, Rosaliene. It’s how the System maintains itself in power and profits at the expense of the masses.
LikeLike
My stars….are you really saying you think the moon landings and 9/11 were fake?
LikeLike
Absolutely and unapologetically, yes. I’m not saying 9/11 did not happen, but that it was a completely planned inside job for the purpose of inciting hate, violence and war among a people predisposed to such mindset. As to the moon landings, ask yourself why they suddenly stopped? Like any good series, no matter what was done, even a fake “Houston we have a problem” Apollo 13 event, they become boring and something else has to replace the old series. Plus the rising danger that the scam would be uncovered. It was a masterful piece of propaganda riddled with inconsistencies which those who studied it noticed and tried to publicize – but the public, the sheeple, need something big, “new and improved” to believe in so they won’t feel so bad when being openly fleeced. Bottom line for me is, in what possible way did the “moon landings” improve the lives of Americans, or help “make America great again”? The single-minded intent was to entertain, brainwash and of course to rake in the profits from the game. I give them full credit for accomplishing their goal. If you’re of those who say, “My mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with facts” then this is good enough. you’re a curious person however you may have questions. There is lots of sharp information on these two events available to anyone who cares to question the official stories. I began with, they lie about everything else, why not about this?
LikeLike
I think Cortez is all in favor of taxing the rich.
http://fortune.com/2019/02/07/billionaires-hate-aoc-wealth-tax/
LikeLiked by 1 person
She is, Mary. Thanks for sharing the link.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The plan may be far from perfect but it seems drastic changes are necessary if we are to survive on this planet. Changes that will not happen in a free market economy. This plan at least seems like a start in the right direction.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mara, I also share your view that the Green New Deal is “a start in the right direction.” This is just a framework. Much remains to be done in the months ahead before the 2020 presidential election.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have a feeling the corporate plan of suicide will win, but I’m holding out hope anyway. We all have to hit the streets and raid the offices of parasitic executives and politicians.
(I despise Nancy Pelosi and her corporate democrats. She sold out a long time ago.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I, too, hold out hope, Shift. I have no doubt that the corporate elite have already prepared their luxury bunkers in havens worldwide. Then, there are those who believe that a colony on Mars would ensure the survival of their offspring.
LikeLike
What’s your take on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Rosaliene? From here she looks like a breath of fresh air. Do you think she will be able to make an impact? Not only with this action but in other ways?
LikeLiked by 1 person
She’s a breath of fresh air to me, too, Denzil. I admire her drive and courage to challenge the establishment. She is already making an impact, but to achieve success in passing crucial legislation, she will have to learn to pick her fights. The Old Guard is well versed in playing the system to stay in power.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It will be interesting to (hopefully) see her progress Rosaliene.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with all eleven of your points but I suspect that the people with the real power think that it can be left until the last minute and don’t appreciate that this kind of change should be done gradually.
LikeLiked by 1 person
John, just for clarification, the eleven points in my post are taken from the Green New Deal Resolution. The people with real power want to enjoy life to the fullest–gain without pain. When Earth’s ecosystems and human societies collapse, their world will disintegrate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
it’s only a matter
of survival, right, my friend?
remembering a blogger who said
that Trump et al may be the best thing
to happen for awakening citizens.
nice witnessing some evidence.
wishing you fresh moments
out in nature, Rosaliene 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, David. The rain has kept me away from my garden during the weekends.
LikeLike
Just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start the work. We can’t afford not to.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, JoAnna.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it all goes boils down to education and cultural programming. Americans have been taught to desire and expect instant gratification in nearly every aspect of their lives, therefore they can’t take such threats (which appear existential to them now) seriously.
While we must make sure people have the basics for survival, we also must change this mind set and teach people to work toward a future that benefits all. When it comes to future negative effects of climate change, no one will be spared, although the poorest will be affected most adversely in its early stages which we’re already experiencing.
I wish the new members of Congress well when it comes to changing hearts and minds.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a debacle for the human species, Henry. It’s like we’re frozen on the railway tracks watching the train come hurtling towards us.
“[T]he poorest will be affected most adversely in its early stages which we’re already experiencing.”
~ Therein lies our problem. The billionaire class, with the power to implement plans such as the Green New Deal, will be the last hit by the climate crisis. By then, it will be too late for mitigation.
LikeLike
My wife and I would be interested to join a Green New Deal rally on our road trip. Do you know of any happening in the next two months? If so, when and where?
LikeLiked by 1 person
James, you can find locations and dates for the Road to the Green New Deal tours across America during April and May on the Sunrise Movement website at http://www.sunrisemovement.org/tour
It’s been fun following your road trip across America. All the best to you and your wife.
LikeLike
Thanks for the info. Our next stop is Utah’s Capital Reef National Park.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome, James. Enjoy your Utah visit 🙂
LikeLike
I am under the impression that these nationwide green agenda gatherings are only targeted to those in the local community. Also, why do they ask for my age in the registration process is a bit puzzling.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know why, James. Perhaps, it’s their way of judging future outreach groups.
LikeLike
I see.
LikeLike
The Green New Deal Movement is alive and well at our current road trip stay in the small town of Cambria, Calif.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s great news, James.
LikeLike
Pingback: Earth in Crisis: We need another narrative | Three Worlds One Vision