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Europe's Green New Deal
Forget about ten years to save the planet, we've got 100 months. At least that's what the Green New Deal Group, based in Europe, is telling us. Set the fear-mongering aside, and their plans are worth examining.
By Alisha Fowler, Breakthrough Generation Fellow Forget about ten years to save the planet, we've got 100 months. At least that's what the Green New Deal Group, based in Europe, is telling us. The Green New Deal Group plans to tackle the "triple threat" of the credit crunch, high gas prices, and climate change in an effort to prevent degradation of life and "the world as we know it." Despite their fear-based messaging and impossibly short timeline, the Group's proposals sound pretty good. In fact, they sound a bit like what we've been talking about to build a bright future for America.  The Group draws obvious parallels between FDR's efforts to jumpstart America's economy during the Depression, and what we can do now to breathe life into the faltering global economy while also moving toward a clean energy future. Their plan is for the UK initially, but they say it will serve as an example for the world. The following objectives lie at the core of their proposal:
To help us understand what the second bullet would look like, the Group says they want to start a "carbon army," comprised of a people who are currently under- or unemployed who could be trained for the low- to high-level jobs required for the infrastructural shifts in a clean energy society. So who is behind The Green New Deal Group? It is a plan offered by Finance for the Future LLP (a group run by a former coordinator of Greenpeace International's Economics Unit and a chartered accountant). And a policy director of the New Economics Foundation think tank, a former director of Friends of the Earth UK, an adviser on sustainable development, a Green party MP, and the economics editor of the Guardian UK are heading up the initiative. I couldn't really find a solid website for them, in the brief search that I did (but I did find some Guardian articles on them, imagine that!). The biggest downside to the Group's position: they are heavy on fear, which is exhausting and not something the public will get behind right now. Energy issues have taken center stage and any successful climate policy solution must be framed around energy and economic growth. Energy has been declared the number one concern for voters as they head to the polls this November. The substance of their recommendations, however, sound both familiar and appealing. Tackling our mounting energy crisis as one nation united with a vision for a clean energy future is something that will be good for the environment and good for our pockets. And who can disagree with that? 0 COMMENTS: Post a comment |
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