A green wave of progressivism is here, and there’s no stopping it.
Stop playing politics with our future. Take action on climate change, or get out of the way.
The new year has brought a torrent of horror stories about the climate. The oceans have absorbed 60% more heat than was previously thought. It’s still chock-full of plastic and our clean-up attempts are not working. Meanwhile, CO2 emissions globally were at an all-time high in 2018 due to the persistent mantra of economic growth, and to top it all, Monarch butterflies are dangerously close to extinction.
It’s now undeniable, even to the most conservative skeptics of climate change, that we are facing a future which will be marked by more and more disaster. But it seems futile for a country as politically fractured as the United States to have a hope of militating against the effects of climate change, let alone making the effort to help people in countries more vulnerable to disaster. Is it not just easier to give in to that existential dread and carry on? Perhaps the world will be better off once we are swept from the planet. Of course, the privileged will continue to live privileged lives, after having migrated to more habitable zones, protected from the plebes who have lost everything, until the inferno reaches the doors of their ‘apocalypse retreats’ nestled in the South Island of New Zealand.
Will we wait until it’s too late before we put up a fight?
In the wake of November’s destructive wildfires, we got a breath of fresh air in the form of the Green New Deal, popularized by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement. This, alongside the election of the most diverse congress in history has given rise to new optimism for green progressives, has given some of us cause to pull our heads out of the sand.
Green initiatives have been cropping up even in state governments. Just last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the launch of his own ‘Green New Deal,’outlining a plan for New York to become 100 percent carbon-free by 2040. This followed California’s Clean Energy Bill, signed in September. These deals are indicative of a paradigm shift in the left — of a progressive narrative overwhelmingly dominated by a demand for action on climate change. Why is it, then, that incumbent Democrats have resisted committing to a plan of action?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for one, has responded to America’s plea for a Green New Deal by playing it safe. Of course. Following youth-organized protests, and Ocasio-Cortez’s own sit-in in Pelosi’s office, the Speaker started her term by creating a Select Committee on the Climate Crisis which, as stated by Sunrise Movement found Varshini Prakash, “falls woefully and inexcusably short of what we need in this moment in terms of climate ambition in this crucial juncture in history.”
Instead of forming a committee dedicated to laying the groundwork for a 2020 Green New Deal, Pelosi summoned a committee comprised of the usual suspects. Members haven’t even been required to distance themselves from oil and gas interests, and Pelosi hasn’t yet articulated what the committee will actually do. She and her committee want to ensure full support of the caucus before even committing to planning for a Green New Deal.
But Pelosi and those who are playing the political game are entirely missing the point.
Proponents of the Green New Deal recognize that there is no chance of passing progressive legislation with our 116th Congress and the fossil-fuel-funded Trump Administration. Currently, the government can’t even manage the basic operation of government, let alone trying to re-prioritize its economic principles. The movement behind Green New Deal represents far more than a legislative push from the left. Rather, it’s a sea change in progressive politics which can’t be suppressed by the reticence of a moderate select committee, nor even by a government shutdown.
Stephen O’Hanlon, spokesman for the Sunrise Movement put it best in an interview with Politico: “Legislation won’t make the case for itself. Supporters need to make the case for it. The goal is to convince the public that an extreme emergency justifies extreme actions.”
The progressive wave is surging, and those who take a conciliatory approach will be washed away to make room for those who are willing to meet the deluge of horrific truths head on.
The time has never been more appropriate to take extreme actions in our government and society. It’s outrageous to even consider playing it politically safe at such a dire time, and we need to make our politicians understand this — especially those who espouse concern for the environment but do not act.
So write to your representative and tell them you want to decarbonize the US economy. Show up at their office with your community. Tell them you are in support of making a Green New Deal.
Climate change will define our century. Reality has forced its way into our lives, into politics, and future politicians see that they need to make it their top priority. Elizabeth Warren, 2020 hopeful, just put Green New Deal on her platform, knowing full well that it’s a mandatory issue for the left. As we approach this primary season, we need to ensure that every candidate is committing to fighting climate change. We need to let them know that it is no longer acceptable to be funded by oil and gas executives. Now is the time to get pollution out of politics.
Lastly — and perhaps most importantly — we need to understand that action doesn’t start and stop with our representatives. We need to do all we can on local and state levels to reduce our carbon emissions and protect whatever remaining species are left. We need to exercise both our freedom of choice and power of boycott to do all we can to change our relationships with our planet, and things we do that contaminate and choke it.
We must continue to build the momentum and put pressure on those who remain complacent. We need to get angry. We need to take extreme measures.
