The Leverage In The Green New Deal

How the Green New Deal Is Forcing Politicians to Finally Address Climate Change

Justin Worland, March 21, 2019 (Time Magazine)

“…[E]nvironmental activists are being welcomed by Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill and, after years of quiet on climate change, leaders on both sides of the aisle are acknowledging the issue, despite White House denial. The] shift has been a long time coming. Scientists have understood for decades that climate change is happening and that humans are causing it…[and] more than 70% of Americans now understand that…Into this new political reality came the Green New Deal–equal parts policy proposal and battle cry…The response was mixed…But in D.C., where climate has long been relegated to third-tier status, lawmakers could no longer avoid the issue…Within weeks of the proposal’s release, Democrats competed to burnish their green credentials…

Nearly every Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination has endorsed the Green New Deal. Washington Governor Jay Inslee entered the race on a climate-themed campaign–something unthinkable just a few years ago…[Behind the scenes, Republicans are grasping] for a solution…Love the Green New Deal or hate it, the conversation it has unleashed represents a shift in the discussion surrounding climate policy…[It may have created] an opportunity to push real legislation…A carbon tax–once anathema to the right–is an unlikely beneficiary…[M]ajor oil-and-gas companies would rather see a conservative approach [like a carbon tax] than a paradigm-shifting program like the Green New Deal…[It would be easy to dismiss] climate activists as noisy but dreamy, idealists…[But social movements, from civil rights to gay rights, look] naïve until they come to look like instigators…” click here for more

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