Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., think they have a start to a solution.
What is the Green New Deal?
The Green New Deal is an ambitious proposal in the US to combat climate change. Named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to combat the Great Depression, the Green New Deal is a massive stimulus package aimed to address climate change, as well as the rising social, economic, and political inequality in the US that comes with it. It calls for economic mobilization not seen since World War II and the New Deal and aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in half by 2030, shift 100 percent of national power generation to renewable sources, upgrade all infrastructure and transportation for energy efficiency, decarbonize the largest polluting industries (manufacturing and agriculture), fund the capture of GHGs, and virtually eliminate poverty in the US by including everyone in the prosperity that this transition would provide.
