Green Party Urges AOC to Embrace its Initial Green New Deal Proposal from 2010
The Green Party of the United States (GP) leaders said that the re-introduction of the Green New Deal (GND) resolution by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey was unfortunately yet another step away from the initial vision of the Green Party, whose candidates were the first ones to campaign nationally for a GND in 2010.
The GP proposal is for 100% clean energy and zero emissions on a ten-year timeline (initially by 2020, now by within a decade) while the AOC-Markey resolution delays until 2050.
Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
May 1, 2023
Contact:
Philena Farley, Co-Chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Mark Dunlea, Co-Chair, Green Party EcoAction Committee, [email protected].
"We are out of time to avoid catastrophic climate change. We must make the hard decisions and implement them quickly and equitably. The first step is to rapidly phase out fossil fuels, including an immediate halt to new uses. We must build equitable and sustainable economic models to create a society that can survive and thrive under climate change. This means replacing elite decision-making by profit-driven capitalists with ecosocialist economic democracy," said Mark Dunlea, co-chair of the Green Party's EcoAction Committee and author of the newly released Putting Out the Planetary Fire.
Kevin Anderson, a climate scientist at Manchester University, estimates there is a 50 percent chance of meeting the 1.5°C target if global carbon dioxide emissions are reduced to zero by 2040. Breaching the 1.5 deg C warming target will lead to climate catastrophes much worse than witnessed now.
The Greens noted that while even progressive Democrats add decades on to the timeline that the Greens argue science calls for, they also have dropped the Green Party's GND Economic Bill of Rights to living-wage jobs, income above poverty, affordable housing, universal health care, life-long free public education, and a secure retirement. Democrats have increasingly limited the Green New Deal to a marketing device to highlight that the transition to a clean energy future is a job creation strategy.
Howie Hawkins, the 2020 Green Party candidate for President, and the initial author of the Green New Deal in the U.S., pointed out some issues dropped from the GP GND by AOC-Markey:
- ban on fracking and new fossil fuel infrastructure
- phase out of nuclear power
- deep cuts in military spending to help pay for the GND
- zero emissions by 2030 — extended it to 2050
- real zero emissions — changed to net zero, opening the door to continued fossil fuel burning combined with sketchy carbon offsets and sequestration
- ecosocialist planning and production through public agencies and enterprises — replaced that with market incentives for private businesses and consumers
The Green Party noted that it was a Green New Deal for Health that was featured in the press conference about reintroducing the non-binding resolution for a Green New Deal. While the GND resolution does say it is for "providing all people of the United States with high-quality health care," the Green New Deal for Health makes no mention of that. Publicly financed universal health care (improved Medicare for All) is in the Green Party's GND as part of its Economic Bill of Rights bill proposes needed investments in community health centers, including clean energy retrofits and new green construction. But Greens are angry that universal health care remains far from a Democratic Party priority. The one-page summary and text of the bill are here.
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