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Speaking in Colorado on Thursday, President Trump went after a favorite target: wind turbines.
Texas, yes Texas, leads in wind energy production. The farmers there oppose the government telling them what they must do, but will do the right thing for the money they earn.
We will get a green new deal eventually, but it may be too late if we don’t act now.
The green new deal covers a lot more than climate change. I don’t know why free college tuition is included, for example.
Automation and AI are taking away jobs. I don’t know the remedy, but this issue seems distinct from climate change. There are other quibbles. Many people believe that nuclear power is essential in the short run. Sanders is against nuclear power.
I’m glad to see this discussion of the insanely important need to rapidly evolve our energy production landscape and the production of Co2. The time to switch to alternative systems was 50 years ago. Now, it’s likely too late to prevent catastrophic change. This planet has survived for a hundred million years, and has developed a very healthy balance of systems within its atmosphere that allowed for our current diversity of life to develop. 200 years ago, we came along and fundamentally ignored and changed that balance. The earth itself is resilient, but not if we insist on tipping the balance toward doom.
Ainsley Earhardt is correct, it’s terrible we can’t have hamburgers anymore because the cows must be kept alive to supply methane to fuel our airplanes.
Two consecutive generations need to forgo procreation. That’ll fix most of our problems.
NOT. AT. ALL. SNARK.
If the Green New Deal focused on green energy, I’d agree. But it’s larded up with irrelevant wish-list items that turn the whole thing into farce.
If you are going to title your opinion piece with a claim that the gnd is not the least bit radical, your content should address the most radical parts, not just the mainstream ones.
"Guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States” isn’t radical?
We spend upwards of $700 billion a year on defense and defense related budget items. Suggesting the nation possesses the means to make life livable for all its citizens in light of that obscene use of money renders it less radical.
The climate and geography of Texas are incredibly well-suited for wind power. This isn’t true of all (most?) other states.
Actually doing something as an individual is not difficult and not at all impossible.
I first experienced recycling in the 1950’s during my first non-family employment. The manufacturing firm would collect and recycle all the paper. They knew that 90% of all paper was used on only one side so they made scratch pads, etc out of the waste. I asked if they actually saved any money doing so as it seemed that the cost to sort etc would offset any sayings. I was told the actual savings approached 50%. Been recycling since.
Then personally I have been 100% off the electric grid for 9 years now and I use rainwater retention for 100% of my water needs for the past 6 years. My neighbors’ monthly utility bills have risen at least annually for both. At present, my ROI has come and gone and I am therefore actually saving more each month. In both cases, I have NEVER even felt the need to think about my usage. Never gave it a thought when neighbors lost power for a week when I provided a warm place to stay, showers, laundry and cooking for up to 10 guests at a time during that week. We never ran low on power nor did we need to conserve our water usage. Even on cloudy days, the solar field was generating some replacement power.
As for food, I did a complete gut of my original 1956 landscaping a few years ago. In doing so instead of ornamental planting around the house I used cranberry and blueberry bushes. The harvest went into my freezer. In the back yard, I planted 3 and 5 in 1 varieties of apples, cherries and plums the crop is then canned or frozen for use later. For fresh greens, etc a number of narrow raised beds along a walking path that rings the yard provide root crops, salad fixings, etc. What is the work this takes, why maybe 5 minutes to till up the soil and to spread seeds in the spring, I already have begun planting for this year. Those 5 minutes come as I take a break from my daily power stroll around the paths. Harvesting actually takes longer but even that is not more than an hour-long exercise per crop. So at 75, I get to do some physical and mental exercise in planning what to grow. Non of which takes much time. All on an under acre lot.
The net result is that I am saving far more than I spend for my more dependable resources, electricity and water, and healthier food.
Final thought, over the past few weeks, I have been reading many many articles about contaminated water. Using rainwater for all my needs takes that “fear” out of the picture for me as my tested water normally test out higher than that provided by the local utility.
Individually I don’t do a hell of a lot to mitigate my contributions to global warming, however, if more did similar all those little drops do add up.
Those poo, poo folks can now begin.
The opposition to allegedly “radical” policies like the Green New Deal, affordable tuition and UHC is based on fear of change, ignorance, inertia, and, for some, namely Repubs, corporate Dems and the well-off and very selfish, the quite reasonable fear that it’ll hurt them economically and politically (which, if done right, it absolutely should, because they have way too much).
Sadly, not a few Dems are in this camp, and thus doing the GOP’s work for them, either knowingly, being owned by big money, or having been manipulated over decades into forgetting what the Democratic party stands for and what being a liberal requires, which is not putting the interests of the rich over those of everyone else, or claiming that this is merely “realistic”.
Anyone who’s against any of these policy goals, in whatever form, is not a real liberal, and should be marginalized within the party as being more aligned with the GOP and big money than with the American people. These are the same people who are calling Sanders a radical and commie and doing all they can to make sure that he can’t beat Trump.
Sorry, this is all of an overall package. The corporate/centrist wing of the party simply has to be crushed and marginalized. Like, where are most of them going to go, to Trump’s GOP? You’re either working towards fair outcomes or working to prevent them. No middle ground here. We just don’t have the time and so many people are paying the price for cowardly incrementalism.
The Green New Deal Is Not The Least Bit Radical
Framing the Green New Deal as a radical scheme to remake the U.S. economy is becoming ridiculous.
The same is true for Medicare For All, or admitting to the fact that the military budget is wildly out of control, or that the country is already a democratic socialistic state in all but in name (so long as you don’t ask who’s getting all the financial reward).
Props to you for that. Really, it sound like you live in an truly idyllic situation.
You fail to realize that most people are not in your situation. The majority of Americans do not own their homes, and most renters have some or significant restrictions on what they are allowed to do with their property. For those living in apartments, every single thing that you cite is not doable for them.
No no NOOOOOO! We can’t have nice things! It’s…un-American! It’s…COMMUNISM!!!
FreeDUMB!!!
…bleated the good little sheep ‘asleep’ all in a row in front of their TVs.
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The Green New Deal is a way out from it’s alternatives inevitable dystopia. I don’t see it as radical. It’s very different but different is what you need if what you’re doing sucks. Trump isn’t capable of dealing with the threats we’ve inflicted on ourselves. His go to tool for problem solving is denying the existence of the problem. Warming is a hoax. So is Russian meddling. He’s incapable of seeing things outside of what they can do for him and how much they’re worth in dollars. Wrong vantage for dealing with climate change and what the Green Deal is designed to tackle.
If you’re young you best get your ass out and vote. People my age can afford to stick with our plastic bags and 12 MPG land yachts. We’ll be dead when the shit hits the fan but young folks will be standing two feet in front of it. AOC will be around to confront it as well. That’s why I think younger Americas need to take over. It’s your future the older ones are fucking over.
Most of the plastics you put into the recycling are not recycled. The best way is to just avoid single use plastic packaging when possible.
Our atmosphere is 0.041 percent carbon dioxide.
Only thirty two percent of the carbon in our atmosphere is currently due to man’s emissions. Globally, all transportation accounts for only 20% of the carbon. Earth would be 59 degrees colder without our greenhouse gasses.
EV’s are not going to save us.