Today, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey to announce non-binding Green New Deal legislation that would strive to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers” and “create millions of good, high-wage jobs.”

The Green Party of the U.S. issued the following response:

We Can’t Compromise on Issues of Life or Death: Green Party Response to Democrat’s Green New Deal

The Green Party of the United States has championed the idea of a Green New Deal to address the climate crisis and wealth inequality for nearly a decade. Given the most recent report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change giving twelve years to address the crisis, we need bold solutions now, not compromise.

The Democrat’s proposed Green New Deal fails to address one of the biggest drivers of the climate crisis: the use of fossil fuels as an energy source. It contains loop holes for their continued use without a set end date. The Green Party’s plan for a Green New Deal would transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030.

The Democrats have yet to come to terms with the massive amount of government investment needed to implement a Green New Deal that leads to a fossil-fuel free country with full employment. The Green Party solution for the needed investment is cutting the military budget by 50%, as wars for oil will no longer be required.

The United States, as the biggest per capita user of fossil fuels in the world, must have a clear plan to end their use quickly. The Democrats face a choice: either have the courage to take on the fossil fuel industry and lay out a bold plan for a clean energy economy by 2030 or continue to take dirty industry money and fail to prevent climate chaos.

For the Green Party, a party that refuses corporate donations, the path forward is clear. We must end fossil fuels and nuclear power as sources of energy, move quickly to 100% clean, renewable energy sources and make that transition in a way that is fair to workers and lifts up all people, especially those who have been harmed the most by the current dirty energy economy. We cannot begin from a position of compromise when failure to take appropriate action will cost lives.

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Green New Deal | News Stream