Supporters of the Green New Deal are launching a nationwide tour to build support for the congressional resolution to transform the U.S. economy through funding renewable energy while ending U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Noam Chomsky expressed in an interview that the Green New Deal is exactly the right idea.  It will change the old, gray economy into a new, sustainable economy that is environmentally sound, economically viable and socially responsible. It seeks to solve the climate crisis by combining quick action to get to the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy by 2030 along with an “Economic Bill of Rights” the right to single-payer healthcare, a guaranteed job at a living wage, affordable housing and free college education. European Greens were among those calling for a Green New Deal in 2006 in response to the global financial crisis. In addition to a call for both climate action and a bill of economic rights, the approach by the European Greens sought to democratize the world’s financial system.
The Green New Deal
The implementation of the Green New Deal will revive the economy, turn the tide on climate change and make wars for oil obsolete. This latter result, in turn, enables a 50% cut in the military budget, since maintaining bases all over the world to safeguard fossil fuel supplies and routes of transportation could no longer be justified. That military savings of several hundred billion dollars per year would go a very long way toward creating green jobs at home. On top of that, the Green New Deal largely pays for itself in healthcare savings from the prevention of fossil fuel-related diseases, including asthma, heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Moving to 100% clean energy means many more jobs, a healthier environment and far lower electric costs compared to continued reliance upon fossil fuels. Studies have shown that the technology already exists to achieve 100% clean energy by 2030. And we can speed up the transition by making polluters pay for the damage they’ve caused, starting with a robust carbon fee program. The Green New Deal is not only a major step towards ending unemployment for good but also a tool to fight the corporate takeover of our democracy and exploitation of the poor and people of color. Historically, talks aimed at stopping global warming have centred on the goal of staying below a 2 degrees Celsius rise in average temperature. The major “victory” at COP 21 in Paris was that the industrial polluting nations such as the United States agreed with the rest of the world that the existing global warming-cap target of 2°C would lead to catastrophic change. The recent report by the International Panel on Climate Change warned that the world needs to keep the increase in global warming below 1.5°C and said we had 12 years to take dramatic worldwide action. Timing is running out for such action. The Green New Deal may be our last, best hope. “We can be whatever we have the courage to see.” That’s the message of a stunning new video released by The Intercept, Naomi Klein and award-winning artist Molly Crabapple Wednesday that imagines a future shaped by the Green New Deal. It’s called “A Message from the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
The United Nations announced a Global Green New Deal in 2008. Former President Barack Obama added one to his platform when he ran for election in 2008. In New York State, Howie Hawkins promoted a Green New Deal in his 2010 Green Party run for Governor an issue focus that subsequently was picked up by Jill Stein in her 2012 Presidential campaign and by many other Green Party candidates across the United States. While the idea of a Green New Deal and the threat of climate change have been known by politicians for years, this is the most detailed plan yet to transform the economy presented to the American people, even though it is itself extremely vague and more a set of principles and goals rather than policies. The resolution says the U.S. must take a leading role in reducing emissions because it is technologically advanced and has historically been responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions according to World Bank report.
>Alma Siddiqua