O n November 13, a group of climate activists staged a sit-in protest in Nancy Pelosi’s office. The Sunrise Movement and other activists called on the Democrats to establish a Select Committee for the Green New Deal (GND). Earlier that week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had released its latest report, which gave a ten-year deadline for humanity to avoid catastrophic climate change. Simultaneously, the new cohort of progressive Democratic congress members were in the midst of their orientation at Congress. On a break from orientation, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newest representative of New York’s 14th congressional district, joined the protest.
The idea of the GND first arose in 2007 when journalist Thomas Friedman argued that a massive economic stimulus project on an unprecedented scale would be necessary to “spur the [American] economy into the 21st century.” Support for a GND was subsequently taken up by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2008. Since then, notable individuals and groups including Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the European Green Party, and the Henrich Boll Foundation have all advocated for it. As envisioned by the Sunrise Movement and Ocasio-Cortez, the GND would encapsulate a multitude of progressive issues, addressing historic inequality, achieving “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions,” strengthening union and labour rights, obtaining the consent and cooperation of Indigenous peoples within the United States, health care, housing, and much more.
The term “Green New Deal” references Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 to 1936 “New Deal,” which was a series of economic stimulus programs encompassing financial reforms, public work projects, and other regulations put in place at the height of the Great Depression. It sought to hoist the country out of the Depression, which had been caused by massive spending, and to fundamentally overhaul the laissez-faire economics which marked the early 20th century American political economy.
However, the GND has remained hypothetical until now. On February 7, Ocasio-Cortez released a 14-page resolution outlining the aims and objectives of a GND. The resolution begins with an acknowledgement of the IPCC’s October report and the severity of the climate crisis before proceeding to outline several key issues within the US. The resolutions address wage stagnation, income inequality, and the disproportionate burden borne by marginalized communities as the impacts of climate change escalate in severity.
The resolution posits the GND as a fundamental pillar of the progressive faction within the Democratic party. Several key contenders for the presidential candidacy have already expressed their support. As the GND continues to gain traction, its popularity reflects ongoing change within the Democratic party.