By Anandita Mehta
Correspondent
On Feb. 7, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), unveiled the first draft of the Green New Deal, according to Time Magazine.
The Green New Deal is a broad reaching manifesto that calls for a plan to combat the country’s carbon footprint and better develop its climate change policy, according to The Washington Post.
The 14-page resolution aims to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and pollution by using 100 percent clean and renewable energy in energy-efficient buildings and transportation systems and reducing carbon emissions in the agricultural sector, according to CNN.
In addition to the greenhouse gas and carbon emissions reduction, the plan aims to revitalize labor laws, by strengthening workers’ rights to unionize as well as guaranteeing jobs with family-sustaining wages and adequate paid leave time as well as establishing standards with regards to wages and hours worked, CNN reported.
The Green New Deal also seeks to provide training and resources with regards to higher quality and higher education for frontline and vulnerable communities, according to CNN.
According to The Washington Post, Republican critics described the resolution as a “non-starter that reeks of socialism,” according to The Washington Post. Some experts have also called the Green New Deal “overambitious and unworkable,” as quoted in The Washington Post.
Even Democrats call the resolution “naive” while simultaneously praising its enthusiasm, Time Magazine reported.
Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science, stated that the plan’s goals are achievable if the country mobilizes around the cause of climate change as it did around the fight against Germany and Japan during World War II, The Washington Post reported.
President Donald Trump has directly criticized the Green New Deal, tweeting that it seeks to eliminate “‘all Planes, Cars Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military,’” The Washington Post reported.
The Green New Deal is a resolution about policy priorities, but it has no force as a law, according to The Washington Post. In order to have a legal force, it needs more legislative proposals.
