It is critical to understand how blocking the regime change agenda with respect to Venezuela is integrally connected to confronting the challenge of climate change.

Fighting the Media War

Albany – Since the midterms a Green New Deal has been the policy on the lips of progressive congresspeople and is the territory which the current fight to prevent the worst of climate catastrophe between the corporate state and the people.

The event will explore the various GND proposals and how to fund it. First developed in the United States by Howie Hawkins in 2010 and then promoted by Jill Stein in her presidential campaigns. It combined the need for fast, emergency action on climate with the concept of an FDR-like New Deal economic bill of rights and includes the concept of economic and financial democracy by reforming the banking system.

The Green New Deal has recently become a popular and controversial topic of conversation since New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey introduced HR 109. This is a non-binding House Resolution to transition the country to 100 percent clean energy by 2030 while providing high-wage jobs to millions of workers and addressing “systemic injustices.”

Republicans are calling the “completely outrageous” proposal a “socialist fantasy” whose goal is “ending air travel, destroying American energy and banning cow farts” while secretly rejoicing that it will seal the doom of Democratic economic policies.

Much fanfare and criticism have accompanied the announcement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-Mass.) Green New Deal. Both are necessary. It is positive that the idea of a Green New Deal is receiving attention, but the actual resolution falls far short of what is needed to address the climate crisis. As Jason Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank, said, “At the moment, the Green New Deal is a mirror that allows anyone to see their own interest."

New York – Members of the Green Party of New York (GPNY) came out in full force to demand immediate and comprehensive action to address the planetary emergency of climate change at New York State Senate hearings held the week of February 10, 2019. Greens called for the elimination of new fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly the building of new gas pipelines and gas-fired power plants, and moving to a carbon-neutral, 100% clean, renewable energy economy by 2030. They emphasized the need for a just transition for workers and frontline communities most affected by climate change.

2007

Colin Hines, an environmentalist who was previously the head of Greenpeace International's economics unit, and Guardian Economics editor Larry Elliot were discussing the possibility of another big economic downturn and suggested a massive program of Green Keynsianism in response. Hines suggested calling it the "Green New Deal" after Roosevelt's New Deal. He got together with a group of people who were also concerned and started discussing a formal approach to the problem. They later formed the Green New Deal Group.

JANUARY

New York Times op-ed columnist Thomas Friedman called for a Green New Deal, a "a broad range of programs and industrial projects to revitalize America" and to "change the very nature of the electricity grid — moving it away from dirty coal or oil to clean coal and renewables."

OCTOBER

The term "Green New Deal" first appeared in the UK press in an article by Elliot that quotes Hines. 

2008

JULY 

The Green New Deal Group, which included Caroline Lucas, the first leader of the Green Party of England and Wales who later became a Green MP for Brighton Pavillion, and Colin Hines, a Green Party advisor, began meeting in 2007. Their inspiration came from President Roosevelt's comprehensive response to the Great Depression. They proposed a modernized version, a 'Green New Deal,' designed to power a renewables revolution, create thousands of green-collar jobs and rein in the distorting power of the finance sector while making more low-cost capital available for pressing priorities.

They released the Green New Deal Report on July 21, 2008.

Following iterations of the Green New Deal were developed as a response to the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.

2009

MARCH

The United Nations Environment Programme issued the Global Green New Deal Policy Brief, saying that an investment of one percent of global GDP over the next two years could provide the critical mass of green infrastructure needed to seed a significant greening of the global economy.

The Global Green New Deal had three broad objectives:

• to make a major contribution to reviving the world economy, saving and creating jobs, and protecting vulnerable groups
• to promote sustainable and inclusive growth and the achievement of the MDGs, especially ending extreme poverty by 2015
• to reduce carbon dependency and ecosystem degradation

SEPTEMBER

The Green European Foundation published a study "A Green New Deal for Europe" that was commissioned by the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament. The focus was on job creation in "eco-industries" in three main sectors:

• Transport
• Energy
• Resources

2010+

Howie Hawkins used the concept in three successive campaigns for governor as "A Green New Deal for New York, calling for a 100% clean energy system by 2030. >  2010 | 2014 | 2018

2012 /2016

Jill Stein used the concept in two successive campaigns for president.

"What we really need is a WWII-scale mobilization to transition to a sustainable economy with 100% clean renewable energy by 2030. That's why I'm calling for a Green New Deal to create 20 million jobs by investing in renewables such as wind, solar, tidal and geothermal, as well as public transit, sustainable agriculture, conservation and energy efficiency. The Green New Deal will create 20 million jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030 and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation."

Green Pages publishes a summary of Stein's Green New Deal, titled Solutions for a country in trouble.

2018

Mark Dunlea, co-founder of the Green Party of New York and director of the Green Education and Legal Fund, ran for New York Comptroller.

His campaign focused on divesting the New York pension fund from fossil fuels among other issues. 

2019

Democratic Party "discovers" the Green New Deal

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Green New Deal is not the eco-socialist approach the Green Party has had in mind in gubernatorial and presidential campaigns since 2010. The Greens' version is an economic justice program like the original New Deal. It aims to revitalize the public sector in order to secure universal economic rights to a living-wage job, an adequate income, decent housing, comprehensive health care, and a good education. It includes public job and income guarantees, expanded public housing, improved Medicare for all, and free public education from pre-K through college. It's a Green New Deal because it would also build a zero-carbon, 100 percent clean energy economy by 2030 to provide the economic stimulus and sustainable foundation for economic rights for all.

Testimony by Howie Hawkins, Senate Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation Public Hearing to discuss the Climate and Community Protection Act.

Albany, NY, February 11, 2019 – Thank you for this public hearing to discuss how to strengthen and improve the Climate and Community Protection Act (A3871/S2292). My name is Howie Hawkins. I am a retired Teamster from Syracuse, New York. I was the Green Party candidate for Governor of New York in 2010, 2014, and 2018.

Why We Must Support a Real Green New Deal Before It's Too Late!

One of the most talked about policy changes currently taking place in Washington, D.C. and here in New Jersey is "The Green New Deal," a plank in the Green Party US and the Green Party of New Jersey (GPNJ's) platform for decades. GPNJ calls on Governor Murphy, state senators and assembly members, local officials and our entire New Jersey Congressional delegation to support a Real Green New Deal with enforcement mechanisms. According to the most recent report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we have only 12 years to prevent a total planetary disaster.

We interviewed Dahr Jamail about his new book, “The End of Ice,” for our podcast, Clearing the FOG, this week. It will be available Monday. Jamail describes the grim reality of human-caused climate distortion. The bottom line is: It is here. It is accelerating. We need to take swift action to attempt to mitigate it and adapt to it as best we can.