The Green New Deal
By REBECCA CROSS
The environment has proven to be an important issue among many Americans for quite some time. Recently, much attention has been brought to the environment, specifically, in the form of The Green New Deal. While many rally behind the glistening promises of the deal, others have expressed concern in regards to the finances and logistics.
The Green New Deal objectives are expansive, from housing to clean air and water. Generally, the bill is perceived to address climate change. However, the bill also addresses employment as it states, it will “provide all members of our society, across all regions and all communities, the opportunity, training and education to be a full and equal participant in the transition, including through a job guarantee program to assure a living wage job to every person who wants one,” David Roberts reports.
Additionally, other topics explored are: renewable energy, energy efficiency, transportation, cows and climate change, labor laws, public ownership, higher education, trade unions, trade deals, indigenous communities, and more.
According to Salvador Rizzo, one of the bill’s main points is to “Dramatically expand existing renewable power sources and deploy new production capacity with the goal of meeting 100% of national power demand through renewable sources.”
Ultimately, the bill attests to "providing all people of the United States with — (i) high-quality health care; (ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing; (iii) economic security; and (iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature,” he quotes.
The bill’s figureheads are democratic, such as newly elected Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, Representative for Massachusetts; Danielle Kurzleben reports, “Ocasio-Cortez, who was already committed to putting climate change at the top of her agenda, eagerly embraced the green mobilization plan and began using the Green New Deal branding.”
While the bill highlights beneficial issues such as upgrading infrastructure and reducing emissions that are harmful to the environment. The bill’s success is questioned. For instance, “According to Jesse Jenkins, a postdoctoral environmental fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School, ‘Where we need to be targeting really is a net-zero carbon economy by about 2050, which itself is an enormous challenge and will require reductions in carbon emissions much faster than have been achieved historically.”
Additionally, Fox News’ Justin Haskins demonstrates potentially harmful effects of the bill as he asserts, “Not only would 3.4 million jobs in the energy industry be destroyed by the Green New Deal, at the very least, millions of other jobs would likely be shipped overseas by GND’s mandate to end the use of fossil fuels in all U.S. industries, including the entire manufacturing sector and agriculture.”
Meanwhile, Haskins also estimated the cost of the bill to “cost as much as $94 trillion in the first decade” which would be “four times the current national debt, which stands at $22 trillion.”
Clearly, the controversy surrounding the bill does not appear to diminish. To add, many still have not solidified their opinion as Miranda Green of The Hill reports, “The Senate on Tuesday blocked legislation to advance the Green New Deal resolution on a procedural vote, with most Democrats voting present.”
America will watch and observe the proceedings of the bill as some will shiver in the wake of the proposed price tag while others beam with environmental and communal pride.
Works Cited
Green, Miranda. "Democrats to move on from Green New Deal." The Hill, 28 Mar. 2019, thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/436171-democrats-to-move-on-from-green-new-deal. Accessed 28 Mar. 2019.
Haskins, Justin. "Democrats running from Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal – here's why." FOX News, www.foxnews.com/opinion/democrats-running-from-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal-heres-why. Accessed 28 Mar. 2019.
Kurzleben, Danielle. "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Releases Green New Deal Outline." National Public Radio, 7 Feb. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/02/07/691997301/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-releases-green-new-deal-outline. Accessed 28 Mar. 2019.
Rizzo, Salvador. “What’s actually in the ‘Green New Deal’ from Democrats?” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/11/whats-actually-green-new-deal-democrats/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fae1e490cb4a. Accessed 7 Feb. 2019.
Roberts, David. "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already pressuring Nancy Pelosi on climate change." Vox.com, 23 Feb. 2019, https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/11/14/18094452/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-nancy-pelosi-protest-climate-change-2020. Accessed 28 Mar. 2019.