Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has made a name for herself for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is for her "Green New Deal" proposal. She partnered with The Intercept to create a video showing what America would look like in 10 years if the Green New Deal is adopted. And, naturally, AOC was the hero in the video.
"It’s often said you can’t be what you can’t see. I think there was something similar with the Green New Deal. We knew that we need to save the planet and that we had all the technology to do it, but people were scared," Ocasio-Cortez saids in the narration. "They said it was too big, too fast, not practical. I think that’s because they just couldn’t picture it yet.”
The narrative AOC drives home: the fossil fuel industry, large corporations and politicians are to blame for problem of climate change. She suggests that companies, like Exxon, knew about the fossil fuel epidemic but chose to get rich over doing what was best for the planet.
According to Ocasio-Cortez, America ha 12 years to change what took place before “hundreds of millions of people would be more likely to face food and water shortages, poverty, and death."
She said it was when the Democrats took back the House of Representatives in 2018 and eventually the Senate and White House in 2020 that “launched the decade of the Green New Deal, a flurry of legislation that kicked off our social and ecological transformation to save the planet.”
What's interesting is AOC said American jobs prospered because of the Green New Deal, saying most people went to work to restore the planet and clean up the mess that was made as a result of climate change and fossil fuels. She also said the problem was actually a shortage of workers (maybe it's more like people don't want to work). The Democrats were also responsible for establishing Medicare For All and paying a "living wage" (which usually means $15 an hour) and benefits to workers.
Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal is expected to cost $93 trillion dollars or $65,000 per household. And, naturally, she never discusses what these types of policies will cost, probably because it's better to be ignorant and "worry about it later" than deal with it head on.
What about people who work in logging or coal mining? There are areas of the nation that rely on those very industries to thrive. I live in a major logging area, where working for the mill is a great blue collar, highly respected job. It's tough work but people are willing to do it. Those in my area rely on the logs to keep their homes warm during winter, to cut down on the amount they spend on electricity.
So, AOC, what do you say to those men and women when you suggest that their way of life be replaced with solar panels? What do you tell to those children whose parents rely on these blue collar jobs to provide for their families?
Climate change is here + we’ve got a deadline: 12 years left to cut emissions in half.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 17, 2019
A #GreenNewDeal is our plan for a world and a future worth fighting for.
How did we get here?
What is at stake?
And where are we going?
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