“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” That’s a joke, and it’s funny because a lot of people feel that the government couldn’t possibly do anything to help anyone. Americans, more than citizens of most countries, distrust their government. Most of us believe that we’d be best off if the government would just leave us alone. We don’t always consider that the government makes sure the food we eat is safe, that we’re not invaded by a foreign power, that our children are educated, and that our air and water remain relatively clean.
Permit me to take it a step further. There are some things that only the government can do. Think: create the interstate highway system, build the Panama Canal, defeat Hitler, and put a man on the moon. Let me also add, create the New Deal to vanquish the Great Depression, and, I hope, create the Green New Deal.
In the early 1930s, the nation was in dire straits. The stock market had crashed, and the Great Depression was only just getting going. The nation was seized by fear. There was no end in sight. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted a series of programs and projects aimed at stabilizing the economy and providing jobs and relief to those who were suffering. This was the New Deal.
The New Deal wasn’t a clear or instant success. Many of the jobs and programs didn’t last. The Depression proved more resilient than anyone thought possible. But some of the New Deal Legacy is still with us, however. Parks and their infrastructure, much farm legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate financial markets, and this thing called, ‘Social Security.’ But most of all, the New Deal gave people hope. Hope was something only the government could provide in this instance. Hope is the opposite of fear, and it was what we needed most.
In the early part of this, the twenty-first century, the nation and the world are in dire straits. Pollution is overwhelming and climate change is spiraling out of control. There appears to be almost no progress toward curbing our nation’s use of dirty fossil fuels, as entrenched powerful interests with unlimited resources fight to keep the status-quo.
We’ve known about climate change and its causes for 35 years now, and yet we’ve only continued to make this existential problem worse each year. Furthermore, Indigenous People, People of Color, the disadvantaged, the poor and the working poor are disproportionally affected by the disastrous results. Witness Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Witness the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and arrests.
In 2007, New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman wrote an article and book in which he coined and made popular the phrase, ‘Green New Deal.’ The idea was that a green revolution in America can drive innovation, spur new industries, help the disaffected, and enhance our security. Although President Obama referred to it as he ran for President in 2008, the concept didn’t really catch on.
Until 2019, that is. In January of this year, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), a newly elected Congresswoman from New York, took up the challenge. She and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts wrote a detailed national, industrial, economic mobilization plan to transition the country away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy within ten years.
The plan is only fourteen pages in length. I’ve read it. It doesn’t contain any specific legislation but is rather a road map for radical change in our nation’s economy and especially our energy production and usage. Is this what’s needed to reverse climate change? Yes; this, or something like it.
The Green New Deal (GND) has now gained attention. Other countries are following suit. It’s nice to be a leader once again, even when our Presidential leadership won’t. Several presidential candidates, the Sierra Club, 350.org, and the Sunrise Movement have endorsed it. I am most encouraged by the signing on of Sunrise. They are primarily students and other young people. They’re the ones who will need to live with climate change as it continues to get worse. I attended one of their meetings and came away more encouraged than ever. The energy was contagious. Since we old people have made such a mess of this planet, we have no other choice than to rely on those who inherit it from us.
Here is Sunrise’s description of the GND.
The Green New Deal is a 10-year plan introduced by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey to mobilize every aspect of American society toward 100% clean and renewable energy, guarantee a good job to all members of our society, and create economic prosperity for all. The goals of the Green New Deal are:
to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers;
to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States;
to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century;
to secure clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for all people of the United States for generations to come; and
to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, de-industrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth.
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Most importantly, the Green New Deal can give us hope. Hope that can win over fear.
You may think that it will be too costly. You may wonder whether we can afford the Green New Deal. We can’t afford not to do it.
