Green New Deal discussions are evolving into a notorious showcase for the shortcomings of partisanship
By: Matthew Gavidia
April 03, 2019
Climate change is a vital issue that deserves to be heard whether politicians oppose or promote it. Yet, judging from the joking manner in which Republicans treated the Senate vote of the Green New Deal, climate change will never be met with the immediacy it warrants in Washington’s current political system.
States like Louisiana, whose coast has become increasingly affected by erosion due to rising sea levels, have forced local politicians to set aside their agendas for the preservation of their land. As the NRDC explained, “the one-two punch of punch of irrefutable science and irrefutable experience has raised the urgency of climate action in all voters and in both parties.” While politicians in these affected areas have taken steps toward combating climate change, Washington continues to lag behind.
Led by President Trump’s “natural instinct” for scientific analysis, Republicans in Washington have shunned extensive research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel’s warning that the “effects of climate change may become irreversible by 2040” fell on deaf ears as Trump and other Republicans interpreted the need for governmental intervention as a sign of the scientists’ “very big political agenda.”
While Republicans increasingly make climate change a subjective rather than objective issue, the data continues to point to the role of humans as the main catalyst for intensifying conditions. The strong correlation found in the studies above restate this sentiment thus asking the question: why would anyone be so adamant in their opposition toward this bill?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the Green New Deal as a “shifting” of our “political, economic and social paradigms on every issue,” which has caused Republicans to deem it as too radical for any contemplation. While it is arguable that the U.S. economy is too embedded in industries that would suffer from the bill’s passing, it is a reflection of our past ignorance toward the issue and not an excuse to further its delay. The Green New Deal tackles not only climate change, but the growing social injustices prominent in vulnerable communities.
In their defiant trolling during the senate hearing, Republicans were too distracted to even offer a viable alternative. President Trump’s skewed perception of the bill as one that constitutes “no more aeroplanes, no more cows,” and “one car per family,” when it does not mention any type of household limit on cars, further diminishes the hope of an effective compromise. As Trump remains in office until at least the end of the year, the bill will continue to be subjected to more misinformed attacks.
Time is crucial for affected regions who desperately need a change in climate regulation. As Ocasio-Cortez explained, “We don’t have time for a… watered down compromise position, when people are dying because their insulin is skyrocketing… when people are sending their kids to schools that have lead in the water.” As politicians joke about the horrors of climate change from the comfort of Washington D.C., nothing is being done to reverse decades of ignorance.
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