• Green Party demands immediate enactment of the Green New Deal, citing unprecedented Category 5 Beryl and more catastrophic hurricanes on the way in 2024

• Green New Deal

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Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For immediate release
Monday, July 8, 2024

Contacts:
Gloria Mattera, Green Party Media Committee Coordinator, 202-804-2758, [email protected]
Scott McLarty, Green Party Media Director, 202-878-2112, [email protected]

WASHINGTON, DC — "Why isn't everyone talking about the Green New Deal now?" said Green Party candidates, leaders, and activist in the wake of Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, catastrophic destruction and death in Caribbean nations, and increasing global climate instability.

"Beryl was predictable. Extreme weather events are growing more frequent. Some regions of the world will become unlivable in the coming decades. Why aren't the climate emergency and the need for the Green New Deal the top issue in the 2024 US election?" said Rachel Braaten, Green candidate for mayor of Crystal, Minnesota and co-chair of the Green Party's Eco-Action Committee.

"Record-high sea surface temperatures tell us that more monster hurricanes are on the way in 2024, with the possibility of landfall in the US. Have we forgotten Katrina and Sandy?" said Ms. Braaten.

Greens called for US aid to help victims and repair devastation in Caribbean nations, Venezuela, and Mexico, emphasizing the US's responsibility as the world's biggest fossil-fuels consumer while the crisis worsens.

The Green New Deal "seeks to solve the climate crisis by combining quick action to get to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy by 2030 along with an 'Economic Bill of Rights'" with the bulk of funding for Green New Deal programs coming from a 50% reduction in the US military budget.

New York Green gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins introduced the Green New Deal in the US in 2010. Green presidential nominee Jill Stein promoted it nationally in 2012. Progressive Democrats later endorsed watered-down versions. Democratic Party leaders and the GOP reject the Green New Deal.

Down-ticket Green candidates and Green officeholders have advocated ways to implement the Green New Deal at state and local levels, such as clean-energy technologies, green jobs, and shifting from car traffic to expanded public transportation.

"The difference between Republicans and Democrats on climate change is the difference between driving one's car off a cliff at 90 mph and driving it off a cliff at 65 mph," said Justin Paglino, Green candidate for the US Senate in Connecticut.

President Biden has taken minimal action against climate change and has continued to authorize oil drilling permits. Democratic administrations have blocked binding international measures to fight climate change during United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) meetings.

Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans have labeled the climate crisis a hoax, dismissing the scientific consensus. The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, the blueprint for another Trump administration, will render action against climate change impossible in the US.

Both major parties have maintained billions of dollars in federal subsidies for fossil-fuel industries and passed increasingly bloated military budgets (nearing $1 trillion) with no restraints on fossil-fuel use by US Armed Forces, the world's largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels.

• Rachel Braaten, Green candidate for mayor of Crystal, Minnesota

• Justin Paglino, Green candidate for the US Senate in Connecticut 

MORE INFORMATION

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