Green New Deal

The Green New Deal is a government plan to invest heavily into converting our public infrastructure to be more environmentally sustainable. This mostly focuses on electrifying the nation; moving our energy to clean, renewable, non-fossil fuel sources; making buildings more energy efficient; and moving to electric vehicles and high-speed rail for transportation. 

The goal is to prevent climate change, as warned by the IPCC report, and to implement all the action, policies, investment, incentives, and regulation that would be required to achieve that goal. The name comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” which was a series of reforms and public works projects in the 1930s to improve the US infrastructure and guide the US out of the Great Depression. It was a considerable investment by the federal government to help the country make a big transition. Now, with the awareness of climate change and the considerable problems it can cause if we don’t act within the next 12 years, we need this kind of major investment and transition. Right now, the Green New Deal is a concept, with a draft and different presidential candidates in the 2020 election with their own versions. Some sort of Green New Deal needs to still be passed in Congress.