Moonshot Plan

“Green New Deal” Calls for a Zero-Emission America by 2030

AOC is calling for an ultra-ambitious national effort. Will Americans rally?
The resolution for the Green New Deal was posted online. It includes ambitious plans to clean up the U.S. economy by 2030, but lacks specific proposals.
Image: Alex Wong/Getty Images

It’s Finally Here

The Green New Deal, the ambitious climate-change prevention overhaul of the U.S. economy introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, made its way to the internet on Thursday.

The Green New Deal (GND), which is not a bill in itself but rather a resolution for the government to craft new laws promoting clean energy, was published online along with an FAQ sheet that highlights some of the proposal’s broad strokes. Particularly striking: an ambitious call for America achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Moonshot

The GND calls for a nationwide effort to embrace renewable energy, stop burning fossil fuels, retrofit buildings to be eco-friendly, and invest in reforestation to provide the world with carbon sinks. It also includes plans to provide education and job training to those in the areas and lines of work most impacted by climate change.

In short, the Green New Deal involves overhauling the U.S. economy in a drastic push to end the country’s massive contribution to global climate change.

Nuts and Bolts

Some of the Green New Deal’s goals may be more ambitious than practical, like the part about planting enough trees to suck up the carbon from extant emissions or the proposal to develop a high-speed railway to replace the bulk of U.S. air travel.

As a result, some have called into question how feasible these goals may be. The GND, as it currently stands, lacks the specific, actionable proposals necessary to accomplish its goals in such a short amount of time.

But it is the most ambitious push for progressive, environment-saving policy to hit the mainstream — and enjoys a great deal of public support in a nation with leadership that’s reluctant to address damage caused by our changing climate. The nuts and bolts can come later.

READ MORE: Green New Deal resolution lays out ambitious plan to fight climate change [The Verge]

More on climate change: Report: Unless we Make Drastic Changes, We’re Headed for Climate Catastrophe

Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.