The Green New Deal
Caroline Moore
When talking about Progressive policies, the Green New Deal, or GND, often comes up. Many see it as the best policy to halt the detrimental effects of climate change, while others see it as an expensive solution to a problem that’s not real.
Whenever people say Green New Deal they are usually referring to a bill in Congress that was introduced by Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey. It was inspired by a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC called “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius”. This report found that human activity is the dominant cause of observed climate change over the past 100 years, and that if the world warms by more than 2 degrees Celsius, it will be catastrophic.
The Green New Deal was created mainly to stop this warming by transforming the US to a green economy, which means creating more jobs working on things like wind turbines and trains. The GND also includes giving everyone a living wage and Medicare for all.
Many organizations, including VAYCC, have been advocating for the Green New Deal since its introduction to congress in 2018. Although the bill itself hasn’t been able to pass in Congress, it has made a lot of change. It had a huge impact on Vice President Joe Biden’s climate plan.
Biden’s plan was developed by activists from the Sunrise Movement and by Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez. It lays out $2 trillion over 4 years to put toward clean energy and infrastructure. The Green New Deal also influenced many state and local climate plans, like the “Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018” and New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act, which was passed in March of 2019 by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and is very similar to the GND, but on a statewide wide level. Virginia also had a Green New Deal introduced, but it died in committee earlier this year.
Virginia’s Green New Deal, House Bill 77, set in place specific guidelines energy companies had to reach and it was going to provide environmental justice protections and the ability to sue any companies that didn’t reach the guidelines. It was introduced by Delegate Sam Rasoul, the representative from House District 11, Roanoke City. In February, it was announced that the Committee of Appropriations was going to discuss it, but it never got passed by the committee so it was never able to be passed for Virginia.
Virginia did pass the Virginia Clean Economy Act which put carbon free standards in place for Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power. Virginia is also set to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is a compact between New England and Mid-Atlantic states which will be able to lower greenhouse gases in our state even more.
The Green New Deal is a policy proposal in Congress which advocates for a green economy across the US and while the national bill hasn’t passed, changes have been made to help improve our chances of keeping the Earth livable. The best way to get more Green New Deal inspired bills passed, on the national and local levels, is to vote for the better climate candidate in each receptive election.
Caroline Moore is a press team member in VAYCC.
