A Green New Deal

  • A “Green New Deal” is a mass mobilization of resources to make the changes by 2030 that can lead to a carbon neutral economy by 2050.
  • This means moving swiftly to electric cars and heating and 100% clean, renewable energy by 2030, plus completing changes to industry and agriculture by 2050.
  • Nothing short of this will achieve the required cuts to greenhouse gas emissions in the timescale we have left.
  • A GND will require as much as $9 trillion of investment over the next 30 years, or as much as $300 billion per year.
  • But that’s not a cost as much as a capital investment, since it will be recouped by future sales of electricity, electric vehicles, electric public transport fares, and other income.
  • A GND would produce enormous savings, millions of jobs, and other benefits, including healthier air.
  • A GND would require many green-collar workers: PV installers, wind turbine construction workers, electric car and bus production line workers, etc.
  • A GND must also have a large number of experts in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to solve some highly complex and technical problems like large-scale battery storage, more efficient solar panels, zero emission airplane fuels, etc.

The Nuclear Ban Treaty

  • The US has been legally committed to eliminating nuclear weapons since the Non Proliferation Treaty (1970).
  • The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017) now outlaws everything to do with nuclear weapons.
  • The Treaty creates a pathway for multilateral, verifiable nuclear disarmament.
  • Unlike the climate crisis, getting rid of nuclear weapons does not require a re-tooling of the entire economy.