What to make of the Green New Deal

‍This Week’s Reason for Hope

Seville Spain is first city to start naming heat waves

Heatwaves have been dubbed the silent killers

And the City just experienced its worst heatwave in 60 years back in May

The frequency of heatwaves in Spain has have doubled compared to previous decades

Going forward, plan is to name and classify heatwaves similar to what way hurricanes are

‍Sources

Seville to name and classify heatwaves in effort to protect public | Spain | The Guardian

What is the Green New Deal and what is it intended to accomplish?

Summary

U.S. Congressional resolution focused on addressing climate change while reducing economic inequality

Inspired by the historical New Deal enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help U.S. recover from Great Depression

Highlights

Draws upon Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and calls out

• Catastrophic environmental, human and financial consequences of current path
• Types of solutions to be implemented
• 2030 and 2050 targets

Points to other crises facing nation

• Reduced life expectancy
• Access to clean air, water, healthy food, adequate healthcare
• Economic inequality 
• Hourly wages stagnating since 1970s
• Racial wealth divide – average white family 20 x wealthier than average black
• Gender wealth divide – women earn 80 cents on dollar

Calls for massive investment in among others

• Clean energy
• Updating our grid
• Electrifying transportation
• Cutting agricultural emissions
• Building resiliency

Goals

• Aims to lift historically marginalized communities
• Everyone gets to reap economic benefits of implementing climate solutions
• Ensure clean water, air and access to healthy food

Has the Green New Deal been implemented?

Biden - Green New Deal is a “crucial framework,” but he says his climate plan is different: it does not offer guarantees of jobs, food, and housing.

Projects are happening that fit basic criteria - jobs, justice, decarbonization

According to AOC website - More than 60 projects funded as of Earth Day 2022

Examples

Pleasant Ridge, MI

• $650,000
• Water Line Replacement project will replace a 100-year-old watermain and 70 lead service lines, investing in infrastructure and safe, clean drinking water.

Town of Clarkstown, NY

• $1,000,000.00
• Water drainage system upgrades, wetland and stream habitat restoration and stormwater improvements with intent of reducing flooding

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Why is the Green New Deal so political / controversial?

Controversy started with initial rollout

• Office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez published draft document with some more controversial ideas
• Some Congressional Republicans pounced

Allegations by Republican Senators

• Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas – indicated the proposal would confiscate cars and require Americans to “ride around on high-speed light rail, supposedly powered by unicorn tears.”  
• Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming - warned that ice cream, cheeseburgers and milkshakes would be a thing of the past because under the Green New Deal, “livestock will be banned.”

President Trump – “socialist nightmare” that would ruin American economy

Portion of fossil fuel money given to Republicans in 2017-18 election cycle

• Oil and gas – 87%
• Coal – 95%

Green New Deal remains highly popular, enjoying a 31-percentage-point margin of voter support. This includes nearly all Democrats, a majority of Independents, and over one-third of Republicans.

In a new study, scholars at Yale and UC Santa Barbara argue that bundling climate policy with social and economic policies makes climate action more palatable to Americans.

In an average year from 1934 to 1940, New Deal spending was equal to 2.8 percent of all goods and services sold in the United States. 

• Obama’s plans combined averaged around 1% of GDP
• Biden’s plan comes in around 1.1% of the economy for an average year from 2021 to 2031 — 2.1% if you include the American Rescue Plan and infrastructure bill

It’s estimated 80% of Green New Deal spending would be for social programs such as health care, not for clean energy and climate policies

Robert Pollin, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, thinks it’s entirely possible to get to net zero by 2050 by spending around 2 percent of GDP each year, or around $18 trillion in total.

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Sources

Envisioning a Green New Deal: A Global Comparison | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)

What Is the Green New Deal? A Climate Proposal, Explained - The New York Times

The Green New Deal is Here - AOC's website

2022 Green New Deal Proposal - Congress.gov

A Brief History of the Green New Deal (So Far)- Literary Hub

Oil & Gas: Top Recipients | OpenSecrets

Fossil fuel political giving outdistances renewables 13 to one » Yale Climate Connections

https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/4/19/voters-support-green-new-deal

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/02/joe-biden-new-deal-infrastructure/

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