The Green New Deal: Simplified (Part 2/2)

The Green New Deal: Simplified (Part 2/2)

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What is the problem, as defined by the Green New Deal?

In Part 1, we detailed what the Green New Deal is, why it is important, who supports it, and also covered how the Green New Deal has defined the problem: the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that determined that a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gases that have been emitted are due to the United States, and that these greenhouse gas emissions are, and have been, the major cause of climate change. Also, climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction is responsible for worsening racial, regional, social, environmental, and economic problems. But, the Green New Deal also recognizes that, with immediate action, national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a massive scale is an opportunity to create millions of jobs, provide economic security, and counteract systemic injustice. By acting now on climate change, we can enter into a new age of prosperity and a cleaner, more stable future.

For the full text of Part 1, click here!

Why is it necessary to summarize the Green New Deal?

The Green New Deal has become a very controversial topic among many politicians and has spurred many heated debates. But for as often as the Green New Deal comes up in political discourse, and as often as it becomes a central point of discussion between politicians, I felt that more people might be more interested to know what is actually contained within the text of the Green New Deal itself, written in plain, easy-to-understand English rather than the wordy legalese the original document contains.

My father and I worked together to put together this blog post, in which we have only formatted and made small changes to the wording of the original Green New Deal document to make it more readable to the average person. Much of the text of the resolution has been kept as is. While we are supportive of most aspects of the Green New Deal, I have decided that we will try to keep this post true to the nature of the original Green New Deal resolution and not include our own opinions or narrative. This post is simply an easy-to-read version of the Green New Deal as it exists as of February 7, 2019.

What is included in the Green New Deal?

Broadly, the Green New Deal can be separated into 7 sections, which we have decided to cover over two posts:

Part 1, The Problem: Climate change and the social problems it causes

• What is the problem and why should we be concerned?
• What are the current social conditions that are being made worse by the changing climate problem?
• How does climate change affect US security interests?
• How can the Federal Government mitigate the negative impacts of the changing climate?

Part 2, The Solution: The goals and action items of the Green New Deal

• What are the goals of the Green New Deal?
• What specifically can be done to realize those five broad goals?
• How can the Federal Government ensure that everyone can participate in how the goals of the Green New Deal are accomplished?

If you are just interested in reading the full plain-English summary without supporting text or images, I’ve put them in a blog post found here.

This post is Part 2 in the series, so let’s jump into what the Green New Deal proposes we do, and what our goals as a national should be!

The goals and action items of the Green New Deal

What are the goals of the Green New Deal?

It is the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal—

1. to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers;
2. to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States;
3. to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century;
4. to secure for all people of the United States for generations to come—
   1. clean air and water;
   2. climate and community resiliency;
   3. healthy food;
   4. access to nature; and
   5. a sustainable environment; and
5. to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘frontline and vulnerable communities.’’)

What specifically can be done to realize those five broad goals?

These above goals should be accomplished through a 10-year national mobilization that will require the following goals and projects—

1. building resiliency against climate change-related disasters, such as extreme weather, including by leveraging funding and providing investments for community-defined projects and strategies;
2. repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including—
   1. by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible;
   2. by guaranteeing universal access to clean water;
   3. by reducing the risks posed by climate impacts; and
   4. by ensuring that any infrastructure bill considered by Congress addresses climate change;
3. meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources, including—
   1. by dramatically expanding and upgrading renewable power sources; and 
   2. by deploying new capacity;
4. building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and ‘‘smart’’ power grids, and ensuring affordable access to electricity;
5. upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification;
6. spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible, including by expanding renewable energy manufacturing and investing in existing manufacturing and industry;
7. working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including—
   1. by supporting family farming;
   2. by investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase soil health; and
   3. by building a more sustainable food system that ensures universal access to healthy food;
8. overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in—
   1. zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing;
   2. clean, affordable, and accessible public transit; and
   3. high-speed rail;
9. mitigating and managing the long-term adverse health, economic, and other effects of pollution and climate change, including by providing funding for community-defined projects and strategies;
10. removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and reducing pollution by restoring natural ecosystems through proven low-tech solutions that increase soil carbon storage, such as land preservation and afforestation;
11. restoring and protecting threatened, endangered, and fragile ecosystems through locally appropriate and science-based projects that enhance biodiversity and support climate resiliency;
12. cleaning up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites, ensuring economic development and sustainability on those sites;
13. identifying other emission and pollution sources and creating solutions to remove them; and
14. promoting the international exchange of technology, expertise, products, funding, and services, with the aim of making the United States the international leader on climate action, and to help other countries achieve a Green New Deal.

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How can the Federal Government ensure that everyone can participate in how the goals of the Green New Deal are accomplished?

A Green New Deal must be developed through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses.  To achieve the Green New Deal goals and mobilization, a Green New Deal will require the following goals and projects—

1. providing and leveraging, in a way that ensures that the public receives appropriate ownership stakes and returns on investment, adequate capital (including through community grants, public banks, and other public financing), technical expertise, supporting policies, and other forms of assistance to communities, organizations, Federal, State, and local government agencies, and businesses working on the Green New Deal mobilization;
2. ensuring that the Federal Government takes into account the complete environmental and social costs and impacts of emissions through—
   1. existing laws;
   2. new policies and programs; and
   3. ensuring that frontline and vulnerable communities shall not be adversely affected;
3. providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States, with a focus on frontline and vulnerable communities, so that all people of the United States may be full and equal participants in the Green New Deal mobilization;
4. making public investments in the research and development of new clean and renewable energy technologies and industries;
5. directing investments to spur economic development, deepen and diversify industry and business in local and regional economies, and build wealth and community ownership, while prioritizing high-quality job creation and economic, social, and environmental benefits in frontline and vulnerable communities, and  de-industrialized communities, that may otherwise struggle with the transition away from greenhouse gas intensive industries;
6. ensuring the use of democratic and participatory processes that are inclusive of and led by frontline and vulnerable communities and workers to plan, implement, and administer the Green New Deal mobilization at the local level;
7. ensuring that the Green New Deal mobilization creates high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages, hires local workers, offers training and advancement opportunities, and guarantees wage and benefit parity for workers affected by the transition;
8. guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States;
9. strengthening and protecting the right of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment;
10. strengthening and enforcing labor, workplace health and safety, antidiscrimination, and wage and hour standards across all employers, industries, and sectors;
11. enacting and enforcing trade rules, procurement standards, and border adjustments with strong labor and environmental protections—
    1. to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas; and
    2. to grow domestic manufacturing in the United States;
12. ensuring that public lands, waters, and oceans are protected and that eminent domain is not abused;
13. obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples for all decisions that affect indigenous peoples and their traditional territories, honoring all treaties and agreements with indigenous peoples, and protecting and enforcing the sovereignty and land rights of indigenous peoples;
14. ensuring a commercial environment where every businessperson is free from unfair competition and domination by domestic or international monopolies; and
15. providing all people of the United States with—
    1. high-quality health care;
    2. affordable, safe, and adequate housing;
    3. economic security; and
    4. clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and access to nature.

Part 2, The Solution in Summary

The Green New Deal states that it is the duty of the government to achieve five goals:

1. Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions while…
2. creating good, high-wage jobs, ensuring economic security and stability for Americans, 
3. investing in infrastructure and industry to sustainably meet 21st century challenges,
4. ensure a clean, sustainable environment and access to basic needs for all, and 
5. promote justice for the oppressed, including indigeonous people, migrants, and communities of color. 

In order to accomplish these goals, the Green New Deal has recommended specific steps to achieve these goals. Over the next 10 years, it recommends goals and projects including:

• Building resiliency against climate change-related disasters
• Repairing/upgrading infrastructure to provide safety, clean air and water, and reduce pollution
• Meeting 100% of energy requirements with clean, renewable energy
• Improving the power grids to be “smart”, efficient, and adaptable
• Encouraging clean manufacturing
• Overhauling transportation to be low or zero-emission
• Community-based strategies to tackle pollution and other adverse health effects due to pollution
• Restoring protected, threatened, or fragile lands and ensuring the survival of native species of plants and animals
• Cleaning up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites
• Promoting international exchange of technology and services, making the US a leader in climate action

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One of the most important goals of the Green New Deal is to ensure that everyone in the country is able to participate and reap the benefits of the transition to renewable energy and reduced pollution. It plans to accomplish this through transparency and intense collaboration with all levels of community and government to ensure everyone is involved. More specifically, by taking actions such as:

• Investing and financially supporting policies, communities, organizations, and all levels of government working on Green New Deal mobilization, as well as in development of new clean and renewable energy technologies and industries.
• Taking into account the impact and environmental/social costs of existing and new laws and policies.
• Directing investment to spur economic development and new, high-quality job creation, including to those who may have lost jobs in the former energy industries. This includes providing training, resources, and education, as well as ensuring that new jobs are well paying, hiring local workers, and include family/medical leave, paid vacations, insurance, and retirement security to all.
• Enacting trade rules and standards to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas and grow US-based manufacturing.
• Ensuring that public lands, waters, and seas are protected and not abused.
• Obtaining consent of indigeneous peoples for all decisions that affect them.
• Ensuring fair competition of businesses.
• Ensuring all Americans have access to health care, housing, economic security, clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and access to nature.

The Green New Deal represents radical changes to America on an almost unprecedented scale, but with climate change, we are facing a problem of unprecedented magnitude. Large-scale changes in how we live our lives and how we connect to nature and the environment are necessary. Some may argue that by making these big changes to our lives it is inconvenient and we will lose something, but facing these challenges and making these changes will not take away from American lives. Instead, they are designed to make them better, to transition us into a life that is healthier, more prosperous, and more in balance with nature and the world in which we live. They usher us into a life of new opportunities and a future that is better for every living thing on Earth.’