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Navyaa Jain
Mar 14
The Green New Deal: A Forgotten Solution for American Climate Resilience
Photo by PBS News Hour/The Conversation
Introduction
The United States is dealing with a problem it is not effectively addressing: an increase in climate disasters. As the percentage of American counties hit by hurricanes, earthquakes, and more in the last decade increased by 90 percent, inefficient and unsuccessful aid policies revealed the harsh reality of America’s inability to handle disasters (Costley 2022). The U.S. government has attempted to improve its aid response with a new plan, which hopes to reduce the administrative burdens of receiving disaster relief while focusing on providing immediate cash and housing assistance to those affected (Flavelle 2024). However, while the government continues to expand retroactive aid, it fails to mitigate the causes of climate disasters and climate change.
The Green New Deal (GND), a forgotten bill, is the strongest solution to a cleaner future for the United States. While Congress has passed other climate legislation since the GND’s proposal, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, none address climate change as effectively. This comprehensive plan focuses on decarbonizing the economy and transitioning the country to entirely clean energy, all while creating ample jobs for Americans. Most importantly, the plan prioritizes the groups most affected by climate disasters: low-income and minority communities (Noor 2023). To effectively minimize the impact of climate disasters and provide comprehensive aid for affected families beyond cash, the GND must be revisited as a way to make the United States more resilient and environmentally sustainable.
What is the Green New Deal?
Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts in 2019, the Green New Deal is a bill that would move the United States away from fossil fuels and create high-paying jobs in the clean energy industry. While the bill received a lot of media coverage and support from Democrats when it was first introduced, it was quickly forgotten and dismissed as expensive and unrealistic. The essential elements of the deal require a massive infrastructure overhaul, including digitizing the nation’s power grid, implementing the necessary tools for 100% renewable energy, and investing in public transportation and high-speed rail (Friedman 2019). While critics argue that this shift would take away jobs from those in the natural gas and coal industries, they fail to acknowledge the massive job growth the GND would create in clean energy sectors (Glasser 2020). This shift in labor allocation is where the true success of the GND lies: the opportunity to rebuild and transform the communities in which it is implemented.
Adapting the Green New Deal for the Future
In Vermont, the nation’s leader in clean energy jobs, six percent of residents are employed in the clean energy sector, and it continues to grow every year (“Vermont Clean Energy” 2023). Through their own small-scale implementation of the GND, they have made themselves a case study for national GND implementation and a model for other states to learn from. Despite the clean energy sector’s sharp decline in employment during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Clean Energy Industry Report claims its rebound was significantly sharper than the statewide employment average. Now, the state’s clean energy employment suffers from a shortage of skilled labor for clean energy jobs. This mismatch between the skills of workers and the needs of these jobs displays that the problem with current GND implementation is the lack of trained workers, not a lack of clean energy jobs. However, Vermont is a rural state with a very small population to pull from. With more federal funds for clean energy education and a national call for labor, the GND’s impact would be exponential if done right.
In 2021, researchers at the Brookings Institution identified the need to balance the ratio of post-disaster rebuilding and resiliency spending (Frank et al. 2021). Investment in the Green New Deal would significantly balance that 7:1 ratio by preventing the increase in climate change-related events through fossil fuel usage and emissions, while rebuilding cities to be more sustainable. By focusing on increasing resilience spending, we could better address the needs and problems experienced by climate victims. Those affected by climate disasters tend to experience housing insecurity, job loss, and psychological trauma. Within their communities, these events destroy infrastructure and negatively impact businesses (Flavelle 2024). However, the GND can be adapted to balance that ratio and significantly improve post-disaster aid. Currently, the GND as written faces skepticism regarding its ability to mobilize enough workers and build enough infrastructure for successful implementation, as seen in Vermont (Kane and Tomer 2023). Building the necessary green infrastructure in those vulnerable communities while simultaneously training that workforce to take over green jobs through the GND would address the resiliency issue and the labor shortage.
Although implementing the GND in counties across the country would be difficult, it is certainly feasible. Studies demonstrate that the primary targets of clean energy infrastructure and jobs are communities where fracking and coal are the primary employers, as well as communities most vulnerable to climate disasters such as “indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth” (Glasser 2020). Furthermore, another study completed by Brookings across 50 cities outlines the feasible, albeit difficult, steps needed to implement green jobs across the nation. As emphasized previously, these steps include funding the training and education for green energy skills while boosting equity and reaching different groups of workers. Therefore, by working with affected groups to tailor to their needs, including coordinated efforts between educational, infrastructure, and funding organizations, most cities would successfully adapt to green jobs and clean energy (Kane and Tomer 2023). This targeted implementation of the GND is not only possible but entirely necessary if it seeks to rebuild resilient communities and successfully fight climate change.
Implementing the GND will also provide long-term economic benefits for impacted communities. Once clean energy jobs are readily available in an area, their pay is also comparable to those in fossil fuel industries, with the average green wages being about 39 to 43 dollars/hour compared to 40 to 47 dollars/hour depending on the sector (Glasser 2020). These wages move beyond injecting cash into affected cities and counties. With the right training and investments from the GND, they ensure that those who have lost their jobs and infrastructure can rebuild their economy for the future and continue to grow.
Conclusion
Tackling the ongoing global climate change challenge is a balancing act, as we must deal with the current disasters while protecting our communities and preventing future turmoil. As seen by the current efforts to rebuild affected areas, the United States needs to foster resilience as the U.S. government has failed to focus on policies that will move us to a greener future and prevent climate disasters from growing in frequency and severity. The GND proposes a viable solution by helping climate disaster victims rebuild their cities and economies around clean energy. Not only does it address issues of lost infrastructure and job loss, but it also contributes to long-term economic and job growth in targeted areas. While the GND must be adjusted to successfully transition these communities to sustainable economies, the previously discussed push for clean energy education and training would invite a steady growth rate in clean energy employment. Congress cannot forget about the most comprehensive climate change bill proposed in the United States, as the Green New Deal is needed now more than ever.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Rice Journal of Public Policy, its staff, or its Editorial Board.
Baja, Kristin. “Climate Resiliency: A Unique Multi-Hazard Mitigation Approach.” Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, vol. 9, no. 4, June 2016, pp. 304–16.
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