By: Melina Farahmand

Founder & Owner of Past Present Future Co.

Executive Director: Guardians of Our Democracy

Author of: From Dust to Breath and When the Stars Collide

Climate policy is a tricky thing to navigate. You have one side saying certain policies go too far and the other side saying it's insufficient. The science on global warming and climate change is as clear as day, but the steps we've taken thus far to address the issues continue to fall flat. If we want to focus our efforts on one sector to try and address a significant contributor to climate change, we need to look at the energy industry and workshop ways to make it more efficient. Technology has continued to advance, and with the plethora of renewable alternatives to traditional, fossil-fuel-burning energy, we are in a good spot to make the shift. But we need the policy to back it up and encourage change nationally and not just on a state-by-state basis. Many will not voluntarily switch, especially in places reliant on traditional sources. This isn't surprising because the fossil fuel industry provides many jobs, and the energy production price is relatively low. Keeping this in mind, policymakers and environmental advocates must think of a solution that addresses the multifaceted aspects of climate policy (more specifically, energy policy) while addressing concerns for job loss, environmental degradation, equality, and equity.

In February of 2019, Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey of the 116th Congress introduced a resolution known as the Green New Deal to Congress. The Green New Deal is arguably one of the boldest and most comprehensive plans laid out to address all the issues that arise in the United States and globally due to climate change. Inspired by Roosevelt's New Deal of the post-World War II era, the Green New Deal covers everything from the environment to jobs. This proposal has strategies to manage the critical problems I discussed earlier. Starting from the issue of employment and looking at the impacts from an economic perspective, the United States is "set to lose billions of dollars by the end of the century" (NYT). Most of this money will be spent on dealing with climate-related disasters after the fact, such as floods, fires, etc. Knowing this alone should be incentive enough for the national government to make consequential moves towards a green future, starting with the energy sector.

The Green New Deal has ideas for training programs and creating more green jobs while providing grants for local businesses with green practices. One of the critical plans of this proposal that is the most noteworthy aspect is that it wants to revamp the entire energy grid of the country and have us reach our goal of 100% clean energy by 2030. Additionally, "The Green New Deal funds new jobs, including installing solar panels, retrofitting coastal infrastructure, and manufacturing electric vehicles. It asks for new trade rules to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas" (Congress).

Bold? Definitely. But bold action is what this country desperately needs. Change is possible, and we must start by giving our energy sector a major renovation. Having renewables as the standard energy use and not a rare case will help speed up the process of the target goals of the Paris Climate Agreement of net-zero emissions. The best part is that we don’t have to limit ourselves to only one renewable energy source. With a plan like the Green New Deal, we can also implement strategies for building more wind and solar farms and additional nuclear energy sites (while creating more jobs). Overall, this process won't be cheap by any means. Still, the long-term financial consequences will devastate the nation's already fragile economy if we don't work now to address the climate crisis. I don’t believe we should rely on one source anyways, so we can push forward all options and create these sites based on the needs of a particular geographical location. Decarbonizing is possible because we have the technology and means to make the shift. It's up to the people to push their government to leap forward with it.