Green New Deal

Political discussion here. Any reasonable opinion is welcome, but due to the sensitive nature of the topic area, please be nice and respectful to others. No flaming or trolling, please. And please keep political commentary out of the other board areas and confine it to this area. Thanks!
Post Reply
User avatar
Mori Chu
Posts: 20891
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:05 am

Green New Deal

Post by Mori Chu »

What do y'all think about this? The term "Green New Deal" is kind of a blanket term to describe a package of ambitious/progressive legislation related to climate change. The term is currently getting the most play by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, but a lot of the other Dem candidates (Warren, Harris, Sanders, etc.) say that they support some form of a Green New Deal.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environm ... sio-cortez

The latest is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to put AOC's Green New Deal proposal to a vote. Presumably this is because he has whipped the votes and knows that it will not pass, and he wants to be able to point to the votes on it later and say, "Look at all of these Democrats who want a large expensive expansion of the government toward socialism," or things of that nature.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/mitch-m ... -deal.html

Do you folks support the idea of a Green New Deal? Does it go too far? Do you consider the issue of the environment / climate change to be critical, important, sort of important, not important? Thoughts?

User avatar
Nodack
Posts: 8517
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:50 pm

Re: Green New Deal

Post by Nodack »

I think things are moving in that direction anyway. Electric cars have become common now. I drive a Volt and my wife drives a Bolt. GM already announced it will be going almost all electric in the near future. The GND sounds ambitious but, it sounds like it is more of an idea right now than an actual plan.

How important should we take climate change? It’s hard to say. Like always the sides are at polar opposites. The far left says we are all going to die from the catastrophic consequences of not doing enough soon and the far right says there is nothing to worry about and that this is all fake news. IMO like almost always the truth will be somewhere in the middle.

I agree with Cortez that nobody on the green panel should be members who have accepted money from the fossil fuel industry. There are many Republicans and Democrats on that list. I am so happy she keeps bringing attention to members of Congress accepting money from lobbyists. Of course if you take money from the fossil fuel industry you are going to be swayed in their direction and ignore doing what is right for America. She can’t stop lobbying but, she can publicly call out members who have taken money and embarrass them like.

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Green New Deal

Post by Indy »

Yeah, I think we talked about this in a different politics post. I shared the link to the actual document. It is nothing more than some general statements, no specific policy aspects or legislation.

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Green New Deal

Post by Indy »

Nodack wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:44 am

I agree with Cortez that nobody on the green panel should be members who have accepted money from the fossil fuel industry. There are many Republicans and Democrats on that list. I am so happy she keeps bringing attention to members of Congress accepting money from lobbyists. Of course if you take money from the fossil fuel industry you are going to be swayed in their direction and ignore doing what is right for America. She can’t stop lobbying but, she can publicly call out members who have taken money and embarrass them like.
This is critical, although I would expand it to include any lobby that might touch it (solar companies, mining companies, companies that make equipment for mining/drilling/processing fuels, battery companies, etc.). If I had it my way, no companies would be able to donate to members of congress, but this would be a start. And it doesn't take any new laws to make this happen. The committee chairs just have to decide it.

Post Reply