Green New Deal

GreenFaith supports the GND because it is bold and comprehensive. Consider that today:

• We face a climate emergency that impacts every region of the country. Recent events like Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, and the Paradise and Los Angeles wildfires are vivid expressions of this emergency. These events caused avoidable death or displacement for thousands of people. These kinds of events will become more and more common until we take dramatic action.

• Because climate change hurts vulnerable communities worst, it exacerbates the extreme income inequality that grows more widespread every year and that is counter to the values of faith communities. The richest 5 percent of Americans now hold two-thirds of the nation’s wealth. The average white family holds 41 times more wealth than the average African-American family, and 22 times more than the average Latino family. We need policies that will invest in under-resourced communities through job training, green infrastructure, and protection from climate impacts.

The GND aligns strongly with a fundamental truth: building sustainable societies requires comprehensive overhauls, not mere tweaks, of modern economies. Sweeping changes are inevitable when energy systems, the foundation of modern economies, are switched from fossil fuels to renewables, when publics and policymakers commit to living in harmony with Earth’s systems, and when we elevate equity as a policy priority. The GND embodies such comprehensive change, and aligns with the deepest values of religious and spiritual traditions.

The GND has five overarching goals. It seeks to stabilize the climate by achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions; upgrade infrastructure and industrial plants to make them clean and cutting-edge; promote environmental health by cleaning up the air and water; invest in high-paying jobs that help create a broadly prosperous society; and promote justice and equity by prioritizing the interests of marginal and vulnerable groups.

This GND vision is currently expressed in simple resolutions introduced in identical form in the US House (H.Res.109) and the US Senate (S.Res.59). It lays out the framework for an economy overhauled for sustainability and calls for a 10-year society-wide mobilization effort to achieve it. To operationalize the vision will require a series of bills addressing various areas of the economy.

Concretely, the GND vision would bring major changes to key sectors of the economy: It would

• Replace or upgrade buildings on a massive scale to maximize energy and water efficiency, and to make buildings durable. Millions of good jobs would be created. The plan would also provide new sources of capital for green building projects at the local level.
• Set a national goal of a 100% renewable energy supply through a massive expansion of renewables capacity, especially solar and wind power, and through adoption of distributed energy solutions and smart grids.
• Work with farmers and ranchers to remove the pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the agriculture sector.
• Invest in manufacturing industries to reduce or eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
• In transportation, give priority to zero-emission vehicles, public transit, and accessible and safe walking and biking infrastructure
• Safeguard the environment by ensuring that hazardous waste areas are cleaned up and that public lands, waters and oceans are protected.

Through these sectoral advances the plan would help people to build more dignified lives. It would guarantee work for all, at a “family-sustaining wage” and with family leave, medical leave, and retirement provided for all. It would provide health care, affordable and safe housing, clean water, clean food, and access to nature for all Americans. It lifts up historically mistreated groups, for example indigenous people, who would gain consultation and decision-making power over policies that affect them or their territories. In sum, the plan creates a healthier society, economy, and environment that reflects a basic fairness and compassion.

Some observers object that the cost of such a national overhaul is prohibitive; frightened estimates often run into the trillions of dollars. These estimates are misleading. Executed intelligently, a GND is affordable for the United Sates, for several reasons:

• Much of GND spending consists of investments (spending that spawns a series of benefits over time) rather than costs (simple expenditures). A trillion dollars’ worth of smart investment generates returns that build prosperity and opportunity for years. It is not an economic drain.
• Many GND investments target work that must be done anyway. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 infrastructure report card gave a D+ to the country’s infrastructure because of the poor condition of our bridges, roads, and pipelines. Given the need, and because most infrastructure is in place for decades, rebuilding the country’s physical assets now in a sustainable and climate-friendly way is smart economics.
• The cost of a GND must be compared to the cost of business as usual. Numerous authoritative studies have shown that inaction on climate change is far more expensive than action. Indeed, Citigroup estimates that climate change could reduce gross world product by tens of trillions of dollars by 2050. Wise economic stewardship suggests a need for strong action, soon.
• Finally, trillions have been spent in the past two decades on wars, tax cuts for the country’s wealthiest households, and other immoral activities. Isn’t it time that US resources be directed to activities that rebuild our cities, safeguard the environment, and create broad prosperity for all people?

The climate crisis represents a grave threat to humanity, the global environment, the most vulnerable among us, and future generations. Our religious and spiritual traditions call us to care for each other and for the Earth. However, the scientific consensus is powerful and direct: without incredibly ambitious and rapid action, we face brutal environmental disruption that will cost millions of lives, displace hundreds of millions from their homes, impoverish countless communities, and badly degrade ecosystems that support life. The most vulnerable among us will suffer worst, despite having contributed least to the problem.

To stabilize the climate at a level that is still dangerous but short of catastrophic levels, greenhouse gas emissions need to fall to a net zero level by 2050. This is an unprecedented challenge for humans.

Since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2016, the world has actually lost ground in responding to climate change.

• Globally, and in the US, carbon emissions have risen.

• The fossil fuel industry has spent more than $1 billion since 2016 directly and through its trade associations lobbying against climate change legislation.

• The financial sector has increased its financing for new fossil fuel infrastructure to the tune of $1.9 trillion since the Paris Agreement was signed.

This reality is alarming. Combined with a federal administration that is actively hostile to climate action, the prospects are dire.

People of faith and spirit must decide what kind of response to climate change they will support. GreenFaith supports a response based on compassion, love and justice and believes that four conditions must guide our approach to climate change. Our response must

• Be urgent and ambitious, meeting the scale of the problem at the fastest possible rate. A mobilization of society similar to past wartime mobilizations is needed.

• Be holistic. It must transform our energy, transportation, food and water systems, our buildings and infrastructure, and economic systems. All must change if we are to meet the challenge.

• Engage those hurt most by and vulnerable to the climate crisis and invest heavily in their communities and solutions. It must provide protection from extreme heat, severe weather, high flooding waters, and deadly air pollution. It must support local solutions and local leadership, and the countless local solutions that are already underway.

• Invest in the training of workers, job placement, and a commitment to good paying jobs. It must fund re-training and income maintenance for displaced workers, so that those who have built the foundation for today’s economy aren’t hurt by the transition to a new economy.

The Green New Deal embodies a rapid, urgent response. It calls for a massive transition to renewable energy and green economy over the coming decade.

It is holistic. It recognizes that we need a new generation of energy, transportation systems, farming, buildings, and more.

It can be fair and just, by investing in frontline communities and in communities of color.

It can support workers, through legislation that ensures that the millions of jobs required to make the transition successful will pay family-sustaining wages and benefits and offer workers the opportunity to join a union.

The Green New Deal represents a bold vision that can meet the climate crisis. It can save lives, protect health, create jobs, and transform society. It is based on values at the heart of the world’s religions - compassion, love, and justice.