Story by Carolina Ramos
With the recent fire outbreak in the Amazon rainforest, as well as a rise in temperatures and an increase in natural disasters, it is vital now to start doing our part to save our planet for our future. On Feb. 7, 2019, a resolution was introduced: The Green New Deal. It is a step forward in eliminating our biggest threats: climate change and economic inequality. It is our responsibility as residents of this planet to take care of it and resolve the mess we have made. We must get behind this resolution and take the lead in this revolution for change.
In 2018, a panel of the world’s top climatologists announced that we are well over the 1.5 degree Celsius pre-industrialized level, that was set in the Paris agreement back in 2016.
At this time, the global temperature is hitting at or above 2 degree Celsius and on track to rise if we do not change the amount of impact we have on climate change, which is causing dangerous and major environmental effects.
The Green New Deal is a resolution and a set of goals surrounding how we can eliminate greenhouse gas emission and aim for a net-zero global emission by 2050.
It suggests that human activity is the dominant cause of climate change and the U.S is responsible for emitting 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases alone.
Our leaders and government are not paying attention to this very real and harmful threat. This resolution was presented to get our government to listen to how important it is for us to take the lead in preserving the life span of our planet, and the human race.
It introduces certain goals and projects that should be accomplished through a 10 year national mobilization to a net-zero global emission. This means that this needs to happen rapidly.
For instance, the burning of fossil fuel needs to stop, and we need to rethink the way we use energy by removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible from manufacturing, industry, and the agriculture and transportation sector.
The resolution strategies include creating projects that invest in the research and development of new clean, renewable energy technology and industries. In addition, they include upgrading and creating new buildings that meet an energy efficient standard. That involves rethinking the vehicles we drive and updating our homes to be more energy efficient.
The resolution also discusses investment in our food system that can provide locally grown food, ensuring universal access to healthier food for everyone, in addition to investments in farmland and family farms.
It also discusses the installation of high-speed rails, having clean affordable public transportation and investing in zero-emission vehicle infrastructures. It is a massive undertaking, but making these changes will help us create a world powered without fossil fuel.
The Green New Deal also includes promises that guarantee Americans with higher paying jobs after the transition, as well as public investment, high-quality health care, education and training during the 10 year mobilization.
The Green New Deal gives us the opportunity to create an economy that will allow ordinary Americans that didn’t have the same opportunities before, to come out better on the other side.
As we continue to let greenhouse gases pour into our atmosphere the worse it will get. Harmful gases are entering our bodies every time we breath creating lung diseases in humans.
It’s creating wildfires that are destroying our forests, that regulating climate and absorbing carbon dioxide. This is resulting in rising temperature that are warming up oceans, destroying coral reefs, melting glaciers and resulting in sea levels rising that is harming our coastal habitats; the list goes on and on.
It is our right to have access to clean air, water, access to healthier food and to live in a world that is not under threat of climate change. We have to speak up, especially the younger generation because what we decide now will impact us the most. Our government needs to make climate change top priority.
Although we are already doing many impacting things such as protesting and speaking out about climate change, we all need to step up and make our voice loud enough that our leaders will finally take action.
This is the only resolution we have in order to fight one of the biggest threats of our very existence. We need to do the same at this very moment in time to step up and save our planet and our future, by getting our government to push for The Green New Deal.