ATNJ Supports The Green New Deal

MADISON, NJ, February 28, 2019 –  On February 7th Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-NY and Senator Ed Markey D-MA released a broad framework to avert catastrophic climate change over the next twelve years commonly known as the Green New Deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for a vote on the resolution in the Senate as early as this week, seeing it as a wedge issue to divide democratic loyalties and split the party.

Climate scientists have reached an overwhelming consensus that we must limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, which would include deadly extreme heat, hurricanes, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Our nation has already suffered the effects of thousand-year floods and storms coming every few years, and entire towns have been wiped off the map from severe wildfires. The US Military has listed climate change as one of the greatest threats to National Security for the past decade. On February 22nd, in response to this crisis, the European Union pledged to spend 25% of their budget for the next seven years to combat climate change, a financial commitment of over 450 billion dollars. The United States should do likewise. Climate change has cost the US economy and taxpayers over 350 billion dollars over the past decade according to the Government Accountability Office. That number is expected to rise dramatically as the effects of climate change worsen.

The Green New Deal calls for common non-partisan goals to create a net zero greenhouse gas emissions status for the United States which will in turn create millions of high paying jobs as we invest in the infrastructure needed to scale up clean energy sources.

The plan supports the diverse communities of our country in this global crisis by calling for locally specific actions, such as supporting more family farms and retrofitting urban buildings to be energy efficient and ecologically sustainable. By mitigating climate change and limiting the effects of it, the Green New Deal seeks to place our country on a stable financial footing where natural disasters do not deplete our coffers each year.

Action Together New Jersey is proud to support the environmental goals of the Green New Deal, in which we are joined by 81% of the population of the United States, according to a recent Yale poll. We are also proud to join our Senator Cory Booker, who has endorsed the resolution and call on all Democratic and Republican Senators to place the well-being of our children, our land, our water, and our futures above partisan politics. We further call on all Democratic Senators to support this resolution as a united front to demonstrate their commitment at the highest levels to ensure a livable planet for future generations.

Andrea D’Ovidio

Environmental Director, ATNJ