DEMOCRATS

TAKE ON CLIMATE
CHANGE
By Beatrice Miller
22 April 2021
GREEN NEW DEAL
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J.
Markey of Massachusetts, right, announcing the resolution on Feb 19.

Course of action for creating a more environmentally friendly U.S
The United States is staring to take control on handling climate change for
the next decade. President Biden announced Apr. 20 that U.S. would work to
stop greenhouse gas emissions around 50 percent by 2030. Although the
United States is the largest country in controlling pollution it’s also second in
the world behind China for emitting greenhouse gases. From 1990 to 2017
the greenhouse gas index has increased by 41 percent only increasing 1
percent in 2016. Since 2000 over $10 billion dollars has been invested into
research and development for lower emission energy solutions. Biden claims
that the U.S. will reclaim its spot-on top as the leader in fighting climate
change. Japan announced it would also fight by cutting emissions 44 percent
below their 2005 levels by 2030. However, climate change is not a
monolithic idea there are several parts across the world that need to be
either fixed or regulated. From the Commercial Fishing with plastic pollution
to Polar dying due to the melting ice caps to transportation and food and
clothing it’s a lot. Americans are notorious for buying a lot of food and
material items and just over buying things that aren’t need. Trying to cut
down a lifestyle that majority of the county is so comfortable with could lead
to another series of problems. Biden proposed a big infrastructure estimated
between $3 trillion and $4 trillion which includes tax incentives for clean
energy and electric vehicles. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
sponsored a green new deal which call for the government to acknowledge
climate change; it may lead to job creation and reduce economic inequality.
However, the GND does not concisely depict the importance of protecting
ocean life and reducing ocean pollution. The only opposition are coming from
Republicans who claim that climate change is a hoax and a ploy for a socialist
takeover. They also argue that if China, the world leader in greenhouse
emissions, is not pressing the issue of climate change neither should the
United States. The largest contributor to climate change is electricity and
heat production (burning coal and oil) in global emissions. This serves as a
problem because over 9 million people are employed by the oil industry.
With electric cars on the rise and solar power becoming more prominent this
industry will start to wither away and the people that spend their lives trying
to get these jobs will be unemployed. The Green New Deal could impact the
U.S. for the better, but it doesn’t adequately address the many environmental
and social challenges that come with it.

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 References

Dennis, B. (2021, April 20) Biden plans to cut emissions at least in half by
2030, Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-
environment/2021/04/20/biden-climate-change/

Friedman, L (2019, February 21) What Is the Green New Deal? A Climate
Proposal, Explained, Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/climate/green-new-deal-questions-
answers.html

Makower, J. (2020, July 20) How a Blue New Deal charts a course for a
sustainable sea change, Retrieved from
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-blue-new-deal-charts-course-
sustainable-sea-change