2021/04/08

Green New Deal - Wikipedia

Green New Deal - Wikipedia

Green New Deal

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For the 2008 UK report, see A Green New Deal.
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Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic reforms and public works projects undertaken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression.[1] The Green New Deal combines Roosevelt's economic approach with modern ideas such as renewable energy and resource efficiency.[2][3]

A prominent 2019 attempt to get legislation passed for a Green New Deal was sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) during the 116th United States Congress, though it failed to advance in the Senate.[4] In the European Union, a 2019 proposal from the European commission for a European Green Deal was supported by the European Council, and in January 2020, by the European Parliament as well.[5]

Since the early 2000s, and especially since 2018, other proposals for a "Green New Deal" had arisen both in the United States and internationally.[6][7][8] The first U.S. politician to run on a Green New Deal platform was Howie Hawkins of the Green Party when he ran for governor of New York in 2010.[9] Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein ran on a Green New Deal platform in 2012 and 2016.[10]

History

Sustainable agriculture combined with renewable energy generation

Throughout the 1970s and 1990s, an economic policy to move the United States economy away from nonrenewable energy was developed by activists in the labor and the environmental movements.[11]

An early use of the phrase "Green New Deal" was by journalist Thomas Friedman.[12] He argued in favor of the idea in The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine.[13][14] In January 2007, Friedman wrote:

If you have put a windmill in your yard or some solar panels on your roof, bless your heart. But we will only green the world when we change the very nature of the electricity grid – moving it away from dirty coal or oil to clean coal and renewables. And that is a huge industrial project – much bigger than anyone has told you. Finally, like the New Deal, if we undertake the green version, it has the potential to create a whole new clean power industry to spur our economy into the 21st century.[14]

This approach was subsequently taken up in Britain by the Green New Deal Group,[15] which published its eponymous report on July 21, 2008.[16] The concept was further popularized and put on a wider footing when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began to promote it.

In early 2008, author Jeff Biggers launched a series of challenges for a Green New Deal from the perspective of his writings from coal country in Appalachia. Biggers wrote, "Obama should shatter these artificial racial boundaries by proposing a New "Green" Deal to revamp the region and bridge a growing chasm between bitterly divided Democrats, and call for an end to mountaintop removal policies that have led to impoverishment and ruin in the coal fields."[17] Biggers followed up with other Green New Deal proposals over the next four years.[18]

On October 22, 2008, UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner unveiled a Global Green New Deal initiative that aims to create jobs in "green" industries, thus boosting the world economy and curbing climate change at the same time.[19] The Green Party of the United States and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein proposed a "Green New Deal" beginning in 2012.[20][21][22] A Green New Deal remains officially part of the platform of the Green Party of the United States.[23]

Proposals to include the Green New Deal in recovery program from COVID-19

By 2019, international calls for a Green New Deal had already became more prominent. This reflected the popular support GND had received in the US in late 2018, growing recognition of the global warming threat resulting from recent extreme weather events, the Greta effect and the IPPC 1.5 °C report. In addition to activity within conventional national & multilateral politics, there has been support for a Green New Deal within City diplomacy. In October 2019 the C40 committed to support a Global Green New Deal, announcing there will be determined action from all its 94 cities, with 30 cities having already peaked their emissions and progressing rapidly towards net-zero.[24][25]

There were further proposals to include a GND, both in the US and internationally, in the recovery program for the COVID-19 pandemic.[26][27] [28][7][8][29] In December 2020 however, the United Nations released a report saying that a high proportion of the world's Covid-19 recovery stimulus was not going towards clean energy. UN secretary general António Guterres declared the world's governments were "doubling down" on fossil fuels.[30] [31] As of 2021, commentators such as the Council on Foreign Relations have noted that in addition to climate friendly policy being enacted in the U.S. by Joe Biden, other major economies like China, India, and the European Union, have also begun "implementing some of the policies envisioned by the Green New Deal" [32][33]

Environmental justice

Main article: Environmental Justice

The 2019 Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey Green New Deal advocated for a "just transition", counteracting previous systemic injustice that had disproportionality hurt vulnerable communities. Commentators have called for future Green New Deal type programs to also emphasize environmental justice, both in the US and overseas.[34][35][36] Other commentators, while agreeing on the need for the incorporation of justice, have cautioned against excessive emphases on identity politics, or on bundling in too many economically progressive measures. They fear including too much in a GND package will make it harder to achieve broad based majority support. Polls had found that in 2018 the Ocasio-Cortez and Markey GNG was initially supported by a majority of conservatives. Yet after a few months of hostile criticism by shows like Fox news for being excessively socialist, only about 35% of American conservatives remained in support. [37][38]

Australia

The Australian Greens have advocated for a "Green Plan", similar to the Green New Deal, since 2009.[39] Deputy Leader Christine Milne discussed the idea on the ABC's panel discussion program Q&A on February 19, 2009,[40] and it was the subject of a major national conference of the Australian Greens in 2009.[41]

Canada

In early May 2019, with rising concerns about the need for urgent global environmental action to reduce potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, a non-partisan coalition of nearly 70 groups launched the Pact for a Green New Deal (New Deal vert au Canada in French).[42] With press conferences in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, the coalition called for fossil fuel emissions to be halved by 2030.[43][44] On May 16, 2019 the Green Party released a 5-page summary of their plan entitled "Mission: Possible: The Green Climate Action Plan".[45]

European Union

Main article: European Green Deal

On continental Europe, the European Spring coalition campaigned under the banner of a "Green New Deal" for the 2019 EU elections.[7][8] In December 2019, the newly elected European Commission under Von der Leyen presented a set of policy proposals under the name European Green Deal. Compared to the United States plan, it has a less ambitious decarbonisation timeline, with an aim of carbon neutrality in 2050. The policy proposal involves every sector in the economy and the option of a border adjustment mechanism, a 'carbon tariff', is on the table to prevent carbon leakage from outside countries.[46]

A pilot program for a four-day workweek, under development by Spain's Valencian Regional Government, has been described as a "helpful counter to ... fearmongering about the bleak, hamburger-free world climate activists are allegedly plotting to create with a Green New Deal."[47]

In April 2020 the European Parliament called to include the European Green Deal in the recovery program from the COVID-19 pandemic.[28]

The proposals were criticised for falling short of the goal of ending fossil fuels, or being sufficient for a green recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.[48] In its place, it has been proposed that the EU enacts a "Green New Deal for Europe", which includes more investment, and changes the legal regulation that enables global warming from coal, oil, and gas to continue.[49]

South Korea

In 2020, after the Democratic Party won an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the leadership of the country began to advance a Green New Deal. It includes:

  • Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. South Korea is the first country in east Asia committing to this target.
  • Expanding investments in renewable energy.
  • Stopping investments in coal in the country and outside it.
  • Establishing a Carbon tax.
  • Creating a Regional Energy Transition Centre to ensure that the coal workers will not suffer and will be transitioned to green jobs.[50]

United Kingdom

In the UK, the Green New Deal Group and the New Economics Foundation produced the A Green New Deal report asking for a Green New Deal as a way out of the Global Financial Crisis back in 2008, demanding a reform of the financial and tax sectors and a revolution of the energy sector in the country. Also, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, raised the idea during an economic debate in 2008.[51]

In March 2019, Labour Party members launched a grassroots campaign called Labour for a Green New Deal. The aim of the group is to push the party to adopt a radical Green New Deal to transform the UK economy, tackle inequality and address the escalating climate crisis. It also wants a region-specific green jobs guarantee, a significant expansion of public ownership and democratic control of industry, as well as mass investment in public infrastructure.[52] The group states that they got their inspiration from the Sunrise Movement and the work that congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has done in the US. Group members have met with Zack Exley, co-founder of the progressive group Justice Democrats, to learn from the experiences that he and Ocasio-Cortez have had in working for the Green New Deal campaign in the US.[53]

On April 30, former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband joined Caroline Lucas and former South Thanet Conservative MP Laura Sandys in calling for a Green New Deal in the UK.[54] The left-wing campaigning group Momentum also wish to influence the Labour Party's manifesto to include a Green New Deal.[55]

In September 2019, the Labour party committed to a Green New Deal at its 2019 annual conference. This included a target to decarbonise by 2030.[6][56] Polling undertook by YouGov in late October 2019 found that 56% of British adults support the goal of making the UK carbon neutral by 2030 or earlier. [57]

In July 2020, while the UK government promised a "green recovery" from the COVID-19 pandemic, this was criticised as being insufficient, and lacking changes to regulation that enabled coal, oil, and gas pollution to continue.[58] An alternative "Green Recovery Act", widely endorsed by politicians and the media,[59] was published by an academic and think tank group that would target nine fields of law reform, on transport, energy generation, agriculture, fossil fuels, local government, international agreement, finance and corporate governance, employment, and investment. This has the goal of establishing duties on all public bodies and regulators to end use of all coal, oil and gas "as fast as technologically practicable", with strict exceptions if there are not yet technical alternatives.[60]

United States

Early efforts

In 2006, a Green New Deal was created by the Green New Deal Task Force as a plan for one hundred percent clean, renewable energy by 2030 utilizing a carbon tax, a jobs guarantee, free college, single-payer healthcare, and a focus on using public programs.[61][62][63]

Since 2006, the Green New Deal has been included in the platforms of multiple Green Party candidates, such as Howie Hawkins' gubernatorial campaigns in 2010, 2014, and 2018, and Jill Stein's 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns.[62]

The Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey Green New Deal

Background

A "Green New Deal" wing began to emerge in the Democratic Party after the November 2018 elections.[64][65] A possible program in 2018 for a "Green New Deal" assembled by the think tank Data for Progress was described as "pairing labor programs with measures to combat the climate crisis."[66][67]

A November 2018 article in Vogue stated, "There isn’t just one Green New Deal yet. For now, it’s a platform position that some candidates are taking to indicate that they want the American government to devote the country to preparing for climate change as fully as Franklin Delano Roosevelt once did to reinvigorating the economy after the Great Depression."[68]

A week after the 2018 midterm elections, climate justice group Sunrise Movement organized a protest in Nancy Pelosi's office calling on Pelosi to support a Green New Deal. On the same day, freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launched a resolution to create a committee on the Green New Deal.[69] Following this, several candidates came out supporting a "Green New Deal", including Deb Haaland, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Antonio Delgado.[70] They were joined in the following weeks by Reps. John Lewis, Earl Blumenauer, Carolyn Maloney, and José Serrano.[71]

By the end of November, eighteen Democratic members of Congress were co-sponsoring a proposed House Select Committee on a Green New Deal, and incoming representatives Ayanna Pressley and Joe Neguse had announced their support.[72][73] Draft text would task this committee with a "'detailed national, industrial, economic mobilization plan' capable of making the U.S. economy 'carbon neutral' while promoting 'economic and environmental justice and equality,'" to be released in early 2020, with draft legislation for implementation within 90 days.[74][75]

Organizations supporting a Green New Deal initiative included 350.org, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Extinction Rebellion and Friends of the Earth.[76][77]

A Sunrise Movement protest on behalf of a Green New Deal at the Capitol Hill offices of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer on December 10, 2018 featured Lennox Yearwood and speakers as young as age 7, resulting in 143 arrests.[78] Euronews, the pan-European TV network, displayed video of youth with signs saying "Green New Deal," "No excuses", and "Do your job" in its "No Comment" section.[79]

On December 14, 2018, a group of over 300 local elected officials from 40 states issued a letter endorsing a Green New Deal approach.[80][81] That same day, a poll released by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication indicated that although 82% of registered voters had not heard of the "Green New Deal," it had strong bi-partisan support among voters. A non-partisan description of the general concepts behind a Green New Deal resulted in 40% of respondents saying they "strongly support", and 41% saying they "somewhat support" the idea.[82]

On January 10, 2019, over 600 organizations submitted a letter to Congress declaring support for policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes phasing out fossil fuel extraction and ending fossil fuel subsidies, transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2035, expanding public transportation, and strict emission reductions rather than reliance on carbon emission trading.[83]

Green New Deal Resolution

Ed Markey speaks on a Green New Deal in front of the Capitol Building in February 2019

On February 7, 2019, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey released a fourteen-page resolution for their Green New Deal (House Resolution 109, closely related to S. Res. 59).[84] Their proposal advocated transitioning the United States to 100% renewable, zero-emission energy sources, along with investment in electric cars and high-speed rail systems, and implementing the "social cost of carbon" that had been part of the Obama administration's plan for addressing climate change within 10 years. Besides increasing state-sponsored jobs, this Green New Deal is also sought to address poverty by aiming much of the improvements in "frontline and vulnerable communities" which include the poor and disadvantaged people. The resolution included calls for universal health care, increased minimum wages, and preventing monopolies.[85]

According to The Washington Post (February 11, 2019), the resolution called for a "10-year national mobilization" whose primary goals would be:[86]

"Guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States."
"Providing all people of the United States with – (i) high-quality health care; (ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing; (iii) economic security; and (iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature."
"Providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States."
"Meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources."
"Repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including . . . by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible."
"Building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and ‘smart’ power grids, and working to ensure affordable access to electricity."
"Upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification."
"Overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in – (i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; (ii) clean, affordable, and accessible public transportation; and (iii) high-speed rail."
"Spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible."
"Working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible."[87]

House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

Main article: United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

Various perspectives emerged in late 2018 as to whether to form a committee dedicated to climate, what powers such a committee might be granted, and whether the committee would be specifically tasked with developing a Green New Deal.

Incoming House committee chairs Frank Pallone and Peter DeFazio indicated a preference for handling these matters in the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.[76][88] (Writing in Gentleman's Quarterly, Jay Willis responded that despite the best efforts of Pallone and De Fazio over many years, "the planet's prognosis has failed to improve," providing "pretty compelling evidence that it is time for legislators to consider taking a different approach.")[75]

In contrast, Representative Ro Khanna thought that creating a Select Committee specifically dedicated to a Green New Deal would be a "very commonsense idea", based on the recent example of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (2007–2011), which had proven effective in developing a 2009 bill for cap-and-trade legislation.[76][88]

Proposals for the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis did not contain "Green New Deal" language and lacked the powers desired by Green New Deal proponents, such as the ability to subpoena documents or depose witnesses.[89][90][91]

Representative Kathy Castor of Florida was appointed to chair the committee.[91][92]

January 2019 letter to Congress from environmental groups

On January 10, 2019, a letter signed by 626 organizations in support of a Green New Deal was sent to all members of Congress. It called for measures such as "an expansion of the Clean Air Act; a ban on crude oil exports; an end to fossil fuel subsidies and fossil fuel leasing; and a phase-out of all gasoline-powered vehicles by 2040."[93][94]

The letter also indicated that signatories would "vigorously oppose" ... "market-based mechanisms and technology options such as carbon and emissions trading and offsets, carbon capture and storage, nuclear power, waste-to-energy and biomass energy."[93]

Six major environmental groups did not sign on to the letter: the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, Mom's Clean Air Force, Environment America, and the Audubon Society.[95]

An article in The Atlantic quoted Greg Carlock, who prepared "a different Green New Deal plan for the left-wing think tank Data for Progress" as responding, "There is no scenario produced by the IPCC or the UN where we hit mid-century decarbonization without some kind of carbon capture."[93]

The MIT Technology Review responded to the letter with an article titled, "Let’s Keep the Green New Deal Grounded in Science." The MIT article states that, although the letter refers to the "rapid and aggressive action" needed to prevent the 1.5 ˚C of warming specified in the UN climate panel's latest report, simply acknowledging the report's recommendation is not sufficient. If the letter's signatories start from a position where the options of carbon pricing, carbon capture for fossil plants, hydropower, and nuclear power, are not even on the table for consideration, there may be no feasible technical means to reach the necessary 1.5 ˚C climate goal.[96]

A report in Axios suggested that the letter's omission of a carbon tax, which has been supported by moderate Republicans, did not mean that signatories would oppose carbon pricing.[94][97]

The Director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy at George Mason University was quoted as saying, "As long as organizations hold onto a rigid set of ideas about what the solution is, it’s going to be hard to make progress ... And that’s what worries me."[96]

Criticism

Many who support some goals of the Green New Deal express doubt about feasibility of one or more of its parts. John P. Holdren, former science advisor to Obama, thinks the 2030 goal is too optimistic, saying that 2045 or 2050 would be more realistic.[98]

Many members of the Green party have also attacked the plan due to its cutting of multiple parts of their plan, such as the elimination of nuclear power and jobs guarantee, and the changing of the goal from a one hundred percent clean, renewable energy economy by 2030 to the elimination of the U.S. carbon footprint by 2030.[62][63]

Paul Bledsoe of the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank affiliated with the conservative Democratic Leadership Council, expressed concern that setting unrealistic "aspirational" goals of 100% renewable energy could undermine "the credibility of the effort" against climate change.[76]

Economist Edward Barbier, who developed the "Global Green New Deal" proposal for the United Nations Environment Programme in 2009, opposes "a massive federal jobs program," saying "The government would end up doing more and more of what the private sector and industry should be doing." Barbier prefers carbon pricing, such as a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, in order to "address distortions in the economy that are holding back private sector innovation and investments in clean energy."[99]

When Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was confronted by youth associated with the Sunrise Movement on why she does not support the Green New Deal, she told them "there’s no way to pay for it" and that it could not pass a Republican-controlled Senate. In a tweet following the confrontation, Feinstein said that she remains committed "to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation."[100]

In February 2019, the center-right American Action Forum, estimated that the plan could cost between $51–$93 trillion over the next decade.[101] They estimate its potential cost at $600,000 per household.[102] The organization estimated the cost for eliminating carbon emissions from the transportation system at $1.3–2.7 trillion; guaranteeing a job to every American $6.8–44.6 trillion; universal health care estimated close to $36 trillion.[103] According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Wall Street is willing to invest significant resources toward GND programs, but not unless Congress commits to moving it forward.[104]

The AFL-CIO, in a letter to Ocasio-Cortez, expressed strong reservations about the GND, saying, "We welcome the call for labor rights and dialogue with labor, but the Green New Deal resolution is far too short on specific solutions that speak to the jobs of our members and the critical sections of our economy."[105]

In an op-ed for Slate, Alex Baca criticizes the Green New Deal for failing to address the environmental, economic, and social consequences of urban sprawl.[106] Adam Millsap criticizes the GND's overreliance on public transit to make cities more environmentally friendly, since public transit integrates better in monocentric cities than in polycentric ones. He suggests land use reforms to increase density, congestion pricing, and eliminating parking requirements as measures that can be applied more flexibly to cities with monocentric and polycentric layouts.[107]

Left-wing criticism: Although the Green New Deal is often presented as a left-wing proposal, criticism of it has come from left-wing commentators who have argued that the Green New Deal fails to tackle the real cause of the climate emergency, namely the concept of unending growth and consumption inherent in capitalism, and is instead an attempt to greenwash capitalism.[108] Left wing critics of the Green New Deal argue that it is not the monetization of Green policies and practices within capitalism that are necessary, but an anti-capitalist adoption of policies for de-growth.[109]

Supporters

In September 2019, Naomi Klein published On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal.[110] On Fire is a collection of essays focusing on climate change and the urgent actions needed to preserve the planet. Klein relates her meeting with Greta Thunberg in the opening essay in which she discusses the entrance of young people into those speaking out for climate awareness and change. She supports the Green New Deal throughout the book and in the final essay she discusses the 2020 U.S. election saying "The stakes of the election are almost unbearably high. It’s why I wrote the book and decided to put it out now and why I’ll be doing whatever I can to help push people toward supporting a candidate with the most ambitious Green New Deal platform—so that they win the primaries and then the general."[111][112][113]

Former vice presidents

  • Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States, former United States Senator from Tennessee, Former US Representative from Tennessee's 6th congressional district and 4th congressional district, environmentalist, filmmaker[114]

Individuals

Senators

Representatives

  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US Representative from New York's 14th congressional district.[136]
  • Alcee Hastings, US Representative from Florida's 20th congressional District.[137]
  • Rashida Tlaib, US Representative from Michigan's 13th congressional district.[138]
  • Jose Serrano, US Representative from New York's 15th congressional district.[137]
  • Carolyn Maloney, US Representative from New York's 12th congressional district.[137]
  • Juan Vargas, US Representative from California's 51st congressional district.[137]
  • Adriano Espaillat, US Representative from New York's 13th congressional district.[139]
  • Stephen F. Lynch, US Representative from Massachusetts' 8th congressional district.[137]
  • Nydia Velázquez, Chair of the House Small Business Committee and US Representative from New York's 7th congressional district.[137]
  • Earl Blumenauer, US Representative from Oregon's 3rd congressional district.[140]
  • Brendan Boyle, US Representative from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district.[141]
  • Joaquin Castro, US Representative from Texas 20th congressional district.[137]
  • Yvette Clarke, US Representative from New York's 9th congressional district.[142]
  • Pramila Jayapal, US Representative from Washington's 7th congressional district.[143]
  • Ro Khanna, US Representative from California's 17th congressional district.[144]
  • Ted Lieu, US Representative from California's 33rd congressional district.[137]
  • Ayanna Pressley, US Representative from Massachusetts's 7th congressional district.[145]
  • Peter Welch, US Representative from Vermont At Large.[146]
  • Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and US Representative from New York's 16th congressional district.[147]
  • Joe Neguse, US Representative from Colorado's 2nd congressional district.[148]
  • Jerry Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and US Representative from New York's 10th congressional district.[137]
  • James McGovern, Chair of the House Rules Committee and US Representative from Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district.[137]
  • Mark Pocan, Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and US Representative from Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district.[143]
  • Mark Takano, Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and US Representative from California's 41st congressional district.[137]
  • Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delegate to the US House of Representatives from the District of Columbia's at-large district.[137]
  • Jamie Raskin, US Representative from Maryland 8th congressional district.[137]
  • Gerry Connolly, US Representative from Virginia's 11th congressional district.[137]
  • Alan Lowenthal, US Representative from California's 47th congressional district.[149]
  • Doris Matsui, US Representative from California's 6th congressional district.[150]
  • Mike Thompson, US Representative from California's 5th congressional district.[151]
  • Mike Levin, US Representative from California's 49th congressional district.[152]
  • Chellie Pingree, US Representative from Maine's 1st congressional district.[137]
  • Mike Quigley, US Representative from Illinois's 5th congressional district.[153]
  • Jared Huffman, US Representative from California's 2nd congressional district.[154]
  • Bonnie Watson Coleman, US Representative from New Jersey's 12th congressional district.[137]
  • Jesús "Chuy" García, US Representative from Illinois's 4th congressional district.[155]
  • Brian Higgins, US Representative from New York's 26th congressional district.[137]
  • Deb Haaland, US Representative from New Mexico's 1st congressional district.[156]
  • Grace Meng, US Representative from New Yorks's 6th congressional district.[137]
  • Salud Carbajal, US Representative from California's 24th congressional district.[137]
  • David Cicilline, US Representative from Rhode Island's 1st congressional district.[157]
  • Steve Cohen, US Representative from Tennessee's 9th congressional district.[137]
  • Katherine Clark, Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and US Representative from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.[137]
  • Judy Chu, US Representative from California's 27th congressional district.[137]
  • Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, US Representative from Florida's 26th congressional district.[137]
  • Seth Moulton,US Representative from Massachusetts' 6th congressional district and former 2020 Presidential candidate.[158]
  • Raúl Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and US Representative from Arizona's 3rd congressional district.[159]
  • Gregory Meeks, US Representative from New York's 5th congressional district.[137]
  • Gregorio Sablan, Delegate to the US House of Representatives from the Northern Mariana Islands' at-large district.[160]
  • Barbara Lee, US Representative from California's 13th congressional district.[137]
  • Suzanne Bonamici, US Representative from Oregon's 1st congressional district.[137]
  • Sean Patrick Maloney, US Representative from New York's 18th congressional district.[161]
  • Janice Schakowsky, US Representative from Illinois 9th congressional district.[137]
  • Rosa DeLauro, US Representative from Connecticut's 3rd congressional district.[137]
  • Andy Levin, US Representative from Michigan's 9th congressional district.[162]
  • Betty McCollum, US Representative from Minnesota's 4th congressional district.[163]
  • Mark DeSaulnier, US Representative from California's 11th congressional district.[137]
  • Joe Courtney, US Representative from Connecticut's 2nd congressional district.[137]
  • John Larson, US Representative from Connecticut's 1st congressional district.[137]
  • Veronica Escobar, US Representative from Texas 16th congressional district.[137]
  • Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and US Representative from California's 28th congressional district.[137]
  • Bill Keating (politician), US Representative from Massachusetts's 9th congressional district.[137]
  • Peter DeFazio, Chair of the House Transportation Committee and US Representative from Oregon's 4th congressional district.[164]
  • Anna Eshoo, US Representative from California's 18th congressional district.[137]
  • Lori Trahan, US Representative from Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district.[165]
  • Jimmy Gomez, US Representative from California's 34th congressional district.[166]
  • Joe Kennedy III, US Representative from Massachusetts's 4th congressional district and 2020 US Senate candidate.[167]
  • Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee and US Representative from California's 43rd congressional district.[137]
  • Lacy Clay, US Representative from Missouri's 1st congressional district.[168]
  • Nita Lowey, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee and US Representative from New York's 17th congressional district.[169]
  • Thomas Suozzi, US Representative from New York's 3rd congressional district.[170]
  • Linda Sanchez, former Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and US Representative from California's 38th congressional district.[137]
  • David Price, US Representative from North Carolina's 4th congressional district.[137]
  • John Sarbanes, US Representative from Maryland's 3rd congressional district.[171]
  • Karen Bass, US Representative from California's 37th congressional district.[137]
  • Eric Swalwell, US Representative from California's 15th congressional district and former 2020 Presidential candidate.[137]
  • Jackie Speier, US Representative from California's 14th congressional district.[137]
  • Bobby Scott (politician), Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and US Representative from Virginia's 3rd congressional district.[137]
  • Grace Napolitano, US Representative from California's 32nd congressional district.[137]
  • Adam Smith, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee and US Representative from Washington's 9th congressional district.[172]
  • Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the House Administration Committee and US Representative from California's 19th congressional district.[137]
  • Jimmy Panetta, US Representative from California's 20th congressional district.[137]
  • Nanette Barragan, US Representative from California's 44th congressional district.[137]
  • Elijah Cummings, Chair of the House Oversight Committee and US Representative from Maryland's 7th congressional district.[137]
  • Danny K. Davis, US Representative from Illinois's 7th congressional district.[137]
  • Jahana Hayes, US Representative from Connecticut's 5th congressional district.[173]
  • Brad Sherman , US Representative from California's 30th congressional district.[137]
  • Alma Adams, US Representative from North Carolina's 12th congressional district.[137]
  • Lloyd Doggett, US Representative from Texas 35th congressional district.[137]
  • John Garamendi, US Representative from California's 3rd congressional district.[137]
  • Dutch Ruppersberger, US Representative from Maryland's 2nd congressional district.[174]
  • Bill Pascrell, US Representative from New Jersey's 9th congressional district.[175]
  • Pete Aguilar, US Representative from California's 31st congressional district.[137]
  • Ben Ray Lujan, Assistant Speaker of the US Representative from New Mexico's 1st congressional district and 2020 candidate for US Senate.[176]
  • Susan Davis, US Representative from California's 53rd congressional district.[176]
  • Marcia Fudge, US Representative from Ohio's 11th congressional district.[177]
  • Beto O'Rourke, former US Representative From Texas 16th congressional district, 2018 US Senate Nominee in Texas.[178]

Governors

Mayors

Organizations

Detractors

Individuals

  • On February 9, 2019, United States President Donald Trump voiced his opposition using sarcasm via Twitter as follows: "I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal. It would be great for the so-called "Carbon Footprint" to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!"[197]
  • Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein objected to the plan saying "there's no way to pay for it" and is drafting her own narrowed down version. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin criticized the plan as a "dream" adding that 'it would hurt regions dependent on reliable, affordable energy."[198]
  • Republican White House aide Sebastian Gorka has referred to the deal as "what Stalin dreamed about but never achieved" and that "they [proponents of the deal] want to take your pickup truck. They want to rebuild your home. They want to take away your hamburgers." The comments about hamburgers are a common criticism of the deal by conservatives, who have gone on to criticize Representative Ocasio-Cortez for allowing her Chief of Staff to eat a hamburger with her at a Washington restaurant.[199]
  • On February 13, 2019, Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) released a parody video on his verified Twitter account comparing the Green New Deal to the failed Fyre Festival, using the hashtag #GNDisFyre.[200][201]
  • On March 14, 2019, Rep. Rob Bishop, a Republican representing Utah's 1st congressional district, said that the legislation was "tantamount to genocide," adding shortly afterward that his comment was "maybe an overstatement, but not by a lot."[202]
  • During a Fox Business interview on August 13, 2020, President Donald Trump again voiced his opposition, declaring that adopting the Green New Deal would result in demolishing the Empire State Building and abolishing all animals.[203][204]

Legislative outcome

On March 26, in what Democrats called a "stunt," Republicans called for an early vote on the resolution without allowing discussion or expert testimony. In protest, 42 Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with Democrats voted "present"[205] resulting in a 57–0 defeat on the Senate floor. Three Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with Democrats voted against the bill, while the other votes were along party lines.[206]

2020 Presidential Campaign

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party's 2020 presidential candidate, ran on a Green New Deal platform calling for the U.S. to reach zero greenhouse emissions and 100% clean energy by 2030.[9]

Democratic Party presidential candidate and president-elect Joe Biden has declined to endorse the full Green New Deal plan proposed by members of his party, but he has promised to increase generation of renewable energy, transition to more energy efficient buildings and increase fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.[207] The joint policy proposals developed by the Biden and Sanders campaigns, which were released on July 8, 2020, do not include a Green New Deal.[208]

The Biden climate plan

In 2021, commentators noted that early climate related executive action by President Biden, such as re-joining the Paris Agreement, has much in common with the 2019 GND proposed by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey. According to Mike Krancer, while he sees the Biden Plan For A Clean Energy Revolution And Environmental Justice and the 2019 proposal as very similar, a key difference is that the Biden plan includes a prominent role for Carbon capture and storage technology.[209][210][32]

See also

References

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  3. ^ Hilary French, Michael Renner and Gary Gardner: Toward a Transatlantic Green New Deal Archived March 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine The authors state: "Support is growing around the world for an integrated response to the current economic and environmental crises, increasingly referred to as the "Green New Deal". The term is a modern-day variation of the U.S. New Deal, an ambitious effort launched by President Franklin Roosevelt to lift the United States out of the Great Depression. The New Deal of that era entailed a strong government role in economic planning and a series of stimulus packages launched between 1933 and 1938 that created jobs through ambitious governmental programs, including the construction of roads, trails, dams, and schools. Today's Green New Deal proposals are also premised on the importance of decisive governmental action, but incorporate policies to respond to pressing environmental challenges through a new paradigm of sustainable economic progress."
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Projects referred to as "Green New Deal"

Green New Deal proposal in 116th Congress

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NaomiKlein, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal

On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal eBook: Klein, Naomi: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

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#1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author Naomi Klein makes the case for a Green New Deal in this “keenly argued, well-researched, and impassioned” manifesto (The Washington Post).

An instant bestseller, On Fire shows Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but also as a spiritual and imaginative one. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink.

An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.

“Naomi Klein’s work has always moved and guided me. She is the great chronicler of our age of climate emergency, an inspirer of generations.” —Greta Thunberg, climate activist

"If I were a rich man, I’d buy 245 million copies of Naomi Klein’s 'On Fire' and hand-deliver them to every eligible voter in America…Klein is a skilled writer." —Jeff Goodell, The New York Times (less)

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Book Description

No.1 international and New York Times bestselling author Naomi Klein makes the case for a Green New Deal --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Review

"[In On Fire] Naomi Klein makes a keenly argued, well-researched and impassioned case. . . . [Y]ou need to read this book."
--David Grinspoon, The Washington Post

"If I were a rich man, I'd buy 245 million copies of Naomi Klein's 'On Fire' and hand-deliver them to every eligible voter in America. . . . Klein is a skilled writer."
--Jeff Goodell, The New York Times

"Naomi Klein is the intellectual godmother of the Green New Deal --which just happens to be the most important idea in the world right now"--Bill McKibben

"A critically important thought-leader in these perilous times, a necessary voice as a courageous movement of movements rises from the ashes."--Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

"For a quarter century, now, Naomi Klein has been an outspoken and fearless voice on that which late-stage hyper-capitalism has wrought upon the world: income inequality, overreaching corporate power, for-profit empire building and, of course, the consequent climate crisis. Honestly, we don't deserve her, and looking back at her seven books one can't help but think of Cassandra, her warnings ever accurate yet unheeded... with her eighth book, On Fire, Klein collects her longform writing on the climate crisis--from the dying Great Barrier Reef to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico--and somehow manages to strike a hopeful note as she calls for a radical commitment to the Green New Deal, the kind of collective mobilization that saved us from the brink in WWII, and might be our only hope now."--Lit Hub

"Masterful. . .What separates Klein from many other advocates for a Green New Deal is her balanced combination of idealism and politics-based realism. . .Another important addition to the literature on the most essential issue of our day."--Kirkus Reviews

"Naomi is like a great doctor--she can diagnose problems nobody else sees."--Alfonso Cuarón, Academy Award-winning director of Roma

"Naomi Klein applies her fine, fierce and meticulous mind to the greatest, most urgent questions of our times. . . . I count her among the most inspirational political thinkers in the world today."--Arundhati Roy, Man Booker Prize-winng author of The God of Small Things

"Naomi Klein is a precious gift: every time I read her words, my heart leaps from sadness and anger to action. She takes us deep, down to the roots of what is wrong--and then up, up to a height from which we can see what must be done. Everything we love is at stake now: these writings are our best and brightest hope."--Emma Thompson

"Naomi Klein's work has always moved and guided me. She is the great chronicler of our age of climate emergency, an inspirer of generations."--Greta Thunberg, climate activist --This text refers to the paperback edition.
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Product details
ASIN : B07P32FHMD
Publisher : Allen Lane; 1st edition (17 September 2019)
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Print length : 310 pages
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Customer Reviews: 4.6 out of 5 stars    399 ratings
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Top reviews from Australia
Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars It's not about a Green New Deal
Reviewed in Australia on 31 October 2019
Verified Purchase
I tried to read this, but it doesn't live up to the title. Whilst there is some good work in it about a Green New Deal, it is superficial and I wish the whole book had been dedicated to this much needed topic. It makes random and at times ethically questionable connections to current affairs like the Christchurch massacre, to support what is largely a rhetorical argument of stirring prose but little else. It's a long way from the seminal No Logo written 20 years ago.
--
Christopher Meder
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of the year!
Reviewed in Australia on 30 December 2019
Best book I've read in years! What a refreshing read, free of cognitive biases, deflections and excuses. Very apt analogies and social commentaries that cuts through layers of misinformation and conservatives posturing. Not just a sobering book but also one offering possible path forward.
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Top reviews from other countries
satisficer
3.0 out of 5 stars Good read but lacking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2019
Verified Purchase
I enjoy reading Naomi Klein but I know I will be getting into something invariably polemical. It is true that current economic growth paradigm is not sustainable, but I do not believe the current model is best described as ‘neoliberal’, certainly not outside America. nor is there much evidence that the government is the leading light for change. Most of the world is already some kind of mixed economy. And the ‘corporations bad, government good’ line (also 'globalism bad, localism good') doesn’t bare basic scrutiny. Of the top 100 CO2 polluting organisations in the world (responsible for 70% co2 emissions), the majority are state owned. This suggests ownership structures (private vs public) is not the crux of the issue.

Her praise of Germany's energy transition policy shows a blatant disregard for facts. Germany committed to shutting down nuclear following Fukushima (again this fits with her ideological opposition to nuclear), and 'localism' (which she favours) has put meant no onshore wind is currently being built because the NIMBYs do not want it. Germany has contributed nothing to decarbonisation since 2010. She glosses over the slow pace of coal shutdowns in Germany as if it's a minor footnote with only passing relevance to her main point. It is not. Further, the reason coal is being shutdown slowly is to support employment in the coal sectors, and to manage the socio-economic implications of the transition for real people. In her world, this conflict simply does not exist.

Compare Germany with the UK strategy, which barely gets a mention. This is largely private sector and markets based (with highly successful auction based subsidy regime for renewables), and with legally enshrined decarbonisation targets. UK (and other European) offshore wind subsidies have largely paid for development of the technology, now being developed globally. Again, the innovation is being delivered by large, profit-seeking corporations. The government is providing market structure but it is not delivering the investment or the change.

I guess the biggest question for me is what political structure she is actually advocating. What if there is no democratic mandate for the kind of change she thinks is required?
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17 people found this helpful
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papapownall
5.0 out of 5 stars The case for a Green New Deal is compelling
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2019
Verified Purchase
Astonishingly it is 20 years since Naomi Klein wrote No Logo which focused on the how big brands simultaneously control the lives of consumers in the developed world and exploit workforces in the poorer countries who manufacture their products. This shook many people into action and affected the public profile of at least some of the global companies who adjusted their ways as a result.

Naomi Klein is now focused on wider issues associated with the climate change emergency and, in this book, she echoes the voice of Greta Thunberg (who was not even born when No Logo came out), to appeal for us all to act as if this was an emergency. Klien calls for a Green New Deal similar to FD Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930's that turned the United States from the depths of economic depression to a global superpower in less than a generation. The book consists of a series of essays that Klein has written between 2016 and 2019 in response to the current issues and, in particular, the obvious candidates who are the non believers who continue to plough on with destructive fossil fuels.

The case for a Green New Deal is compelling and this book is as relevant as anything written on the subject of the climate emergency. If this book is as successful as No Logo in changing both public perception and that of those in power then there might just be a chance. We live in hope.
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10 people found this helpful
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strangefruit
5.0 out of 5 stars An important book about climate Crisis
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2019
Verified Purchase
Why is Climate Crisis happening, what can we do, what are the options? Why the systems of the western world have to change for the sake of our very existence on the planet. Why the Crisis is as much a crisis of capitalism as of Climate, the two intertwined. Klein's clear and un-fussy language gives you the information up to the date the book was published.
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2019
Verified Purchase
This seems to be a collection of transcriptions of talks Naomi Klein has given over the past few years. She addresses the many causes for our current climate crisis and outlines some solid ways we can pull ourselves back from the brink. If only everyone would read this book maybe we could all pull together because that's what's needed.
6 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A layman's argument for A Green New Deal
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 October 2020
Verified Purchase
If the climate action, the climate emergency and the idea of a green new deal are still subjects on which you feel shaky, then this book isn't a bad place to start, in looking at the politics of climate change. There are other books which go deeper into the scientific basis for various scenarios or which go into the technological options for mitigation and for a more sustainable future. This book, does what it says on the cover: it makes the case for a green new deal - in essence, pointing the way to the politics and economics of the future, in a way which will leave you excited and curious to learn more - rather than in a way that gives all the answers in great detail. It's an effective argument, not a manual.
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On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal
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On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal
by Naomi Klein
 4.22  ·   Rating details ·  3,720 ratings  ·  505 reviews
#1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author Naomi Klein makes the case for a Green New Deal in this “keenly argued, well-researched, and impassioned” manifesto (The Washington Post).

An instant bestseller, On Fire shows Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but also as a spiritual and imaginative one. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink.

An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.

“Naomi Klein’s work has always moved and guided me. She is the great chronicler of our age of climate emergency, an inspirer of generations.” —Greta Thunberg, climate activist

"If I were a rich man, I’d buy 245 million copies of Naomi Klein’s 'On Fire' and hand-deliver them to every eligible voter in America…Klein is a skilled writer." —Jeff Goodell, The New York Times (less)

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Mario the lone bookwolf
Sep 30, 2019Mario the lone bookwolf rated it it was amazing
Shelves: klein-naomi, 0-social-criticism
We can create heaven or hell on earth, change the system or drive it against the wall, go towards a real utopia or a dystopia. With the climate as a cruel tyrant, wiping many of us from the planet.

Klein presents a collection of essays and concrete ideas towards an ecosocial change. As living examples, the Scandinavian states with their Nordic model can be seen as proof of functioning of a fairer society. Because critics like to say that humans aren´t philanthropic and altruistic and won´t work together and that there is only one working, economic system. Interestingly Sweden, Norway, Finnland, Iceland and Denmark are highest rated in the Human Development Index. The Swiss and The Netherlands, are, to a certain extent, similar too.

It seems as if the state is highly regulated and the humans live in prosperity, security and peace, they are friendly to each other.
And if the state is unregulated and the full carnivore potential for cruelty is unleashed, they shoot and extort each other. I mean, just look at the prisons and the educational system of the US and those countries. Mass incarceration with people becoming real criminals in prison or real resocialization and amnesty. Stupid frontal education with a lot of dropouts or an education based on the child-friendly standards of Montessori and Waldorf. And so on.
But what do I know, I am no economist.

In astronomy, one can take a look in the future. On planets that went different ways of runaway greenhouse effects. Venus, Mars, etc. Certainly, the whole progresses are still not nearly understood, but the facts are on the table. And even the melting of all ice on the planet won´t be such a big deal in contrast to possible catastrophes. Superstorms, the size of continents, that won´t ever stop, milling the surface and making life impossible in many regions. Probably a skip to global cooling, so that Snowball earth is there again and all freezes to death. We don´t understand the sun, so if it´s activity level suddenly drops, that could get nasty. A supervolcano that strengthens the effects. Combine astronomy with geology and meteorology and one gets many possible outcomes. Not in decades or centuries, but in millenniums, much can happen, started by our today's actions. And we see proofs of it everywhere in the night's sky.

A completely subjective standpoint: Got me, I am biased. I believe in wisdom and education that lead to a technological singularity. Or, in shorter terms, I am a friendly technocrat. Technology will certainly save us and enable space colonization, the solving of many problems, yada yada yada. The critical factor is time and I don´t believe that we will have sufficient possibilities to manipulate weather and climate in adequate quantities if we mess up everything with such a speed. Just imagine the number of machines needed to change global weather systems. If we don´t stop right enough in front of the abyss, the green planet probably won´t change its colour, cause global greening is just one of the possibilities.

But it will have lost its unique habitability and up to 99 percent of all species on it. Just extremophiles, cockroaches and us in underground bunkers, dealing with the problem of avoiding or at least minimizing incest because so few of us survived or were privileged enough to enter the underground facilities. Could also be that even that isn´t the worst problem, but avoiding epidemics and turning towards cannibalism to survive.

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this overrated real-life outside books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_D...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planeta... (less)
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Michael
Oct 04, 2019Michael rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: 2019, recs
Propulsive and inspirational, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal lays out a lucid roadmap for building a carbon-free, just society. Across several succinct speeches, think pieces, and long-form articles, Klein makes clear how a swift transition to clean energy has the potential to create a fair economy, right historical injustice, and repair the worn fabric of civil society. The standout intro and epilogue highlight how youth-led organizations like the Sunrise Movement, progressive politicians of color, and Indigenous communities are leading the fight for a sustainable future, while visionary pieces such as “The Leap Years” and “The Stakes of Our Historical Moment” stress that anything short of radical action on climate change now will result in unfathomable devastation in mere decades. Klein smartly ties climate catastrophe to both the resurgence of white supremacy across the West as well as the rebirth of democratic socialism; she convincingly argues that only robust social movements, leftist electoral victories, and a collective embrace of empathy will save the world from imminent ruin and climate barbarism. (less)
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Lyn Elliott
Jan 04, 2020Lyn Elliott rated it liked it
Shelves: environment, apocalypse-now
Naomi Klein’s book of essays roils with indignation at the consequences of stretching the limits of the environment, as in deep sea oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and of ignoring the actuality, let alone the implications, of climate change.

If you’re not familiar with these issues, this is a lively place to acquaint yourself. If you are, it’s useful to be reminded of the need for all of us to play as active a role as we can to influence governments and corporations to change their decision making models. And, of course, to do our own tiny bits to think global, act local.

As GR friend Jan-Maat pointed out, the title is horrifyingly accurate as Australia burns in this apocalyptic summer, still with a long way to go. The consequences of these fires are unimaginable. Estimates several days ago were that 4 million hectares (nearly 10 million acres) of forest and farmland had been burned in the state of New South Wales alone. New areas have since gone up in flames, nearly half of the pristine environment of Kangaroo Island is burned. Over 500 million native animals are estimated to have died, and that doesn’t include insects.
With the continued lowering of rainfall, the plant species that have burned can’t necessarily be replaced. What should we plant instead? Goodness knows.

And then there are the thousands of people who have lost their homes and their animals. Communities razed to the ground, holiday makers rescued by the navy from coastal areas where the skies are red and black from fire.
Our capital, Canberra, has the worst air quality amongst world cities at the moment as it is enveloped with smoke from fires on three sides, 60 km and more away,

We live in a beautiful part of the Adelaide Hills that so far has escaped, but we know that we are living in a precarious space.

Our incompetent and slippery government still denies climate change, recently negotiated the carry over of carbon credits so it wouldn’t have to do anything to reduce emissions, let alone impede the extraction and burning of coal.
And we have nothing approaching a water policy.
As inland towns run out of water and rivers run dry, we have huge irrigation franchises for foreign-owned companies to grow cotton in the desert (Cubbie Station is the worst).
A Chinese company has been given approval to mine underground water in Queensland:
https://www.theguardian.com/environme...

A Norwegian oil company is planning to drill for deep sea oil, not in its own waters, but in the remarkable marine environment of the Great Australian Bight.

I could go on, but you get the picture. My own head of indignation is running very high! (less)
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Kevin
Feb 16, 2020Kevin rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: 1-how-the-world-works, econ-environment
Beyond “No!” protests: building a future.

The Good:
--Accessibility: unlike academic social science hieroglyphs, I take the time to read Klein’s works to experience how she engages with the wider public.
--This book is a collection of her articles/lectures on one of the great ideas in the age of runaway capitalist climate destruction. Highlights:

1) Beyond denial: the greater threats of hopelessness and climate barbarism.
--US fossil fuel companies have been planning for climate change for over 40 years now. For the past decade, the US military has been (openly) planning too. Those in power only use denialism as a tool, as they fortify their own properties and build contingency plans.
-Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
-Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence
--While I won’t miss those convoluted "debates" with denialists who live in an alternate universe with inverse power structures (as they try to apply common notions of “follow the money”, “propaganda”, “science”, etc.), we must focus on the greater threats of:
a) Hopelessness: as Klein emphasizes, climate change became an issue at a catastrophic time, during the peak of Neoliberalism where governments gave way to the divine right of capital (and austerity for the rest), and social imagination for collective action dissipated into there-is-no-alternative individualism.
b) Climate barbarism: societies gutted of solidarity and empathy breed monsters during crises. Thus, the rise of the Far Right (including Eco-fascism) as a backlash to rampant austerity, triggered and diverted by more visible perceived threats like refugees (in part climate refugees). Vijay Prashad on the rise of the Right: https://youtu.be/z11ohWnuwa0
-Too Many People?: Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis

2) The Necessity of the Green New Deal:
--Hopelessness (with the #1 concern of “jobs”) is directly tackled by the Green New Deal, which is at its core a jobs program. The “New Deal” part revives and builds on the social imagination of previous New Deals government programs to combat the Great Depression, as well as the Marshall Plan to reconstruct Western Europe after WWII.
--Climate barbarism is directly tackled by providing relief as we ready for more climate disasters. Centrist plans to narrowly focus on climate change fail especially during economic trouble; this was made most vivid by the Yellow vests protests against Macron. Economic justice slays monsters before they can fester.

3) Deeper maladies: capitalism’s colonialism:
--Klein considers how national narratives influence social values when analyzing why countries like the US, Canada, and Australia are behind Europe in climate action. Settler colonialism was built on narratives of the endlessness of the "New World", as Europe had ran into exhaustion.
-The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America
-Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming

The Missing:
--While this book is a compelling intro for the general public and a useful refresher for activists, numerous sub-topics demand further explorations:
1) Capitalism’s logic of cancerous growth and profit, as well as the current situation of a mountain of idle savings despite the urgent need for green investments.
2) Global implications of the Green New Deal, and the Global South origins of environmental/economic justice.
3) The political economy of divestment as a strategy.
4) More details on the ideas within various Green New Deals/ the Leap Manifesto, particularly tying them with:
a) economic democracy, public banking:
-Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism
-The Public Bank Solution: From Austerity to Prosperity
b) revaluing care-work:
-The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values
-Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
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Quirkyreader
Sep 17, 2019Quirkyreader rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
First off, I got this book from the publisher sponsored by LitHub.com.

I have read other books by Klein that were though provoking and moving. I expected no less from this book.

This book is a collection of essays that Klein has written over the years about the Earth heating up and what individuals and groups are doing to “turn down the thermostat”. It also focuses on groups that don’t want to hear about it and want to keep on as business as usual.

I will admit I came to this book with a bit of a bias, I am a long time recycler and I try to find ways to encourage everyone to do it in a way that works best for them.

With this book it shows that little things are not in vain. It’s the small things that can inspire a movement.

I am using this book as a tool to inspire me even more with my work and I hope it inspires everyone who reads it to do better for the planet. (less)
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Candie
Dec 15, 2019Candie rated it it was amazing
I really enjoy Naomi Klein's books and I would not say that this one is any different. It is a very interesting book on some very important topics of today; such as climate change and it's disastrous effects, systemic racism, capitalism, economic inequality within countries and between countries and the dismal outlook on our future if immediate and drastic changes are not made.

I genuinely think that this is a book for everybody and that at the very least, even if you do not agree with all of the things that she says, the topics, news and ideas alone would make for a very interesting read and good topics of conversation. (less)
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Malcolm
Sep 24, 2019Malcolm rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: activism
One of the many things that has intrigued me about the long run emergence of the climate emergency we now live in has been the shifting language we use to describe it. Leave aside the outright deniers, although in recent years many of them have shifted from denial of global warming to denial of it human causes; the rest of us have gone from talking of a build-up of greenhouse gasses (this is after the hydrofluorocarbon focus of the 1970s, and the hole in the ozone layer) to global warming to climate change. We’ve shifted from a technical description (complete with potent, comprehensible, metaphor) to (scary) literal description to (less scary) vaguely generic label, almost as if we’ve sought to downplay the extent of the crisis. Yet the message I seem to have taken from this ever shifting language is one of deferral, that we’ve called it something less scary and although the collective efforts of a global environmental movement have brought about less change than necessary the issue seems to have been left in the we’ll get to it soon basket.

Reading this collection of Naomi Klein’s essays from over the last decade reminds me how dangerous that deferral has been but also how language and practice have changed in important ways and that we’ve come a lot further than it might seem, amid the incremental tweaks and failures of state policy. Of the 18 essays, 15 are previously published – some presented here in a largely unchanged form with notes or an epilogue to adjust and update key points – while some of the more recent pieces, from the last two years, have been reworked and in some aspects extended or deepened. There is a long scene-setting introduction, and a shorter final essay making the case for a Green New Deal.

The overall sense is clear; we are in a state of climate emergency. If the advice from scientists is right (and increasingly it looks as if they might have been conservative, at least in respect of melting ice caps and high mountain areas) then we’re edging towards the last decade where meaningful action is possible. We know that tipping points can be abrupt, that we might incrementally move towards a moment of change, and when that moment arrives change is rapid, intense and profound – that’s why it is called a tipping point, but that’s also what makes the Green New Deal inspiring: the state of emergency Klein outlines can only be addressed by comprehensive, coordinated action tailored to local/national/regional policy, social, economic and cultural situations. It is a compelling case. She looks at wild fires and rising sea temperatures, at the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico made worse by the economic evisceration of the territory; she explores emerging social movements and unexpected institutional changes to remind us that amid the crisis there is not only a long-standing network of activists an organisations, but that there are also unexpected allies and the dangers of hanging on to the gradualism that has infected policy responses in the last 25 or more years. Throughout it all, there is powerful case for a global response based in the principles of justice, and a reminder that around 250 years of economic development and practice has been based on the extraction of value – of land and labour – from colonised and otherwise occupied parts of the world, many of which are bearing the brunt of climate change….. there I go, euphemising again – global warming!

It is, however, a collection of essays so while there is an overarching argument in support of the Green New Deal the book lacks the coherence of This Changes Everything , as it should – such is the nature of the essay; so this could be considered an appendix to the earlier book, even as it overlaps both in time and issues traversed. As an appendix, it raises the stakes, from the analysis of extractivism to the need for comprehensive action; in that it is a vital extension and intensification of the earlier book, but also stands independently – such is the virtue of the essay form.

There is a lot of hoo-ha about the Green New Deal – those who see it as a plot and those who see it as the solution to all. Both are wrong: it is however, it seems to me, on the basis of Klein’s demystification of much of it here and other readings, a valuable frame to work within – and as I hear the deniers (who we now call sceptics, which gives then undeserved credibility) deny, I am reminded of that cartoon that used to do the rounds suggesting that even if the science is wrong, we’ve finished up making the world a better place – but then I’ve been convinced since the late 1970s that the science is right, so I would say that….

On Fire is engaging, accessible and a compelling foray into the basic question of our times and timely reminder of the state we’re in. What’s more, despite the sense of crisis, it’s an inspiring read. (less)
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Erik
Sep 29, 2019Erik rated it liked it
If you haven't read much else by Klein, this is a good intro to her take on the climate movement. But since I had just read her earlier book on the movement, "This Changes Everything," I found the new book less interesting. "On Fire" reprints two chapters from the earlier book, perhaps with some minor changes, though if so, not immediately apparent ones. Other essays are speeches given in various countries including Britain and Australia with less appeal outside of those particular nations.

What I did like was her take on the Green New Deal at the very end. She makes a good case for why a serious effort to fight climate change is needed and why it needs to include everyone in society, from the government on down. However, I'm still not convinced that we require "democratic" socialism to fight climate change and that conservatives need to be excluded from solutions. No major policy changes will be long lasting if the left just shoves them down the throat of everyone else. It's too easy for the opposing party to reverse them in the future.

Finally, it's helpful that she refers back to the history of FDR's original New Deal. But she doesn't seem to see much role for national feeling or patriotism, which was a huge selling point of Roosevelt's approach. Instead, Klein seems to imagine a series of GNDs that happen in various countries but are driven by cosmopolitan elites and the "woke" masses, much like an international socialist revolution. This is idealistic but I'm not sure how realistic it is, given that successful movements in the past combined an international outlook with one that was also national.

I'd love to see Klein find a place in the climate movement for people who love their country as much as they care about the world and also for people who are inspired by the past accomplishments and philosophies of our own Western countries as much as they are by the traditions of the indigenous peoples that Klein so admires.

But this book is worth reading alone for Klein's skillful critique of the doomerism of Nathaniel Rich's book "Losing Earth." Rich wrongly asserts that the late 1980s were the best time to fight climate change, ignoring the ascendance of extreme capitalism and a culture of greed-is-good driven by globalization and deregulation whose beau ideal was Ayn Rand. Rich claims that "we" (meaning you and me, not Exxon and the US govt) missed this once-in-a-lifetime chance to save the climate in 1988-89 because we were too selfish or shortsighted to make major changes in our consumer lives. He's wrong and Klein places the blame where it belongs, with oil companies and the governments they control, and offers hope that ordinary people can and will mobilize for an economy that's both clean and fair. (less)
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Randall Wallace
Sep 14, 2019Randall Wallace rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
As both parties happily drift to the right, we should not be surprised that the number of Americans who believe climate change is real has plummeted from 71% in 2007 to 51% in 2009, and 44% in 2011. If the trend continues, the Simpson’s character Cletus will become the fount of all wisdom while Americans report to work in Snuggies. Republicans are opposed to recognizing the climate crisis simply because they know its solution would mean wealth distribution, resource sharing and reparations. As Naomi says, “climate change detonates the ideological scaffolding on which contemporary conservatism rests.” It’s hard to keep vilifying collective action when it’s the only workable solution.

As Greta Thunberg said, “We have to stop competing with each other. We need to start cooperating and sharing the remaining resources of this planet in a fair way.” One of the advantages of autism, Greta Thunberg says, is that you are less apt to repeat the social behaviors of your peers which helps to forge a unique path. This allows you to focus with great intensity, removes the need for deception and lying, while seeing things more in black and white. As a result, Greta’s public comments are often, “short, unadorned and scathing”. Naomi shows how FDR’s New Deal showed us how the Green New Deal could easily help the people, infrastructure, economy, common spaces, air and water. The IPCC report shows that every half degree of warming involves the death of hundreds of millions of people. The Union of Concerned Scientists has shown us that, “the U.S. Military is the largest institutional consumer of oil in the world.” The current immigration logic is to treat immigrants with such “callousness and cruelty” that no one would want to enter the country unless they looked like Melania. The Great Depression only caused a 10% reduction in CO2 for a few years. A recent discovery is that the genocide of indigenous Americans factored into the Little Ice Age of the 1500 to 1600’s which was caused by so much land being removed from production (which led to more sequestering of carbon). The great Auks were killed off to keep the pillows and mattresses in Europe stuffed.

In the United States, we are taught to hate “the other” – we hate migrants (comically forgetting most of us are technically migrants – Jared Diamond said the American people move, on average, once every five years), we hate Muslims (because they gave us the concept of bathing and washing), hate Blacks (because for centuries we’ve owed them reparations) and hate women (to better pretend we rank higher or we’re the Lord of the trailer). In the end Naomi sees the solution is Kimberle Crenshaw’s Intersectionality, where all paths converge with low-carbon policies. Changing our lifestyle and maybe our neighborhood must go hand in hand with demanding structural changes in insure a future. And mass uprisings of the people are the way to create the necessary “friction” to slow the capitalist machine. What we need is “an intersectional approach to social and political change.” For Naomi, Socialism has made many mistakes with the environment which is why the answer is Eco-Socialism. (less)
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David Jordan
Sep 13, 2019David Jordan rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
It's exciting to have the opportunity to read a book that feels so important. Our rapidly advancing climate crisis has advanced beyond the worrisome stage and we are faced with the possibility of catastrophic disaster if we continue on the destructive path that has brought us to this place. Naomi Klein shares her considerable expertise and formidable knowledge concerning climate change, environmental disaster, and the intersectionality of economic inequality, systemic racism, the dangerous excesses of unregulated capitalism, the immigration crisis, declining health outcomes, and more. That might make it sound like an enormously depressing read, but the good news here is that Ms. Klein has created a compelling case for a comprehensive Green New Deal that would create the potential for improving and even alleviating most or all of these problems. She exhaustively documents the need for such a program and convincingly lays out her case for adopting a Green New Deal now.
This very moment.
I was tempted to despair as I read her account of the many climate disasters our world is currently subject to, some of which I did not even know about. Thankfully though, I found reason for hope in the pages of this book. "On Fire" is certainly one of the most important and inspiring books that I have read in a very long time, and I am enthusiastically recommending it to everyone who lives on this planet, and wants to keep doing so.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and LitHub.com for the complimentary advance review copy. (less)
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Minjung Kim 나오미 클라인과 그레타 툰베리의 대담!

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Minjung Kim
r12t SSeuplpontnfucsgegmcomberS ur20oe1o9ordi ·





그레타 툰베리와 함께
r12t SSeuplpontnfucsgegmcomberS ur20oe1o9ordi ·

그레타 툰베리 한국 팬 페이지에서 기후 활동가들을 위해 준비한 추석 선물입니다.
나오미 클라인과 그레타 툰베리의 대담!
9월 9일 뉴욕에서 열린 <The Right to a Future, With Naomi Klein and Greta Thunberg> 행사중 30여분에 걸친 두 사람의 대화를 몽땅 우리말로 옮겼습니다.


이런 만남을 기다렸습니다. 나오미 클라인 말고 또 누가 그레타와 이런 대화를 할 수 있을까요! 언젠가 나오미 클라인은 그레타가 자신의 책에서 큰 영향을 받았다는 것을 알고 있지만, 그레타 스스로 뛰어난 직관을 갖고 있기 때문에 본인이 나아가야 할 바를 잘 알고 있다고도 했는데요, 9일의 행사에서 그레타를 소개하는 나오미 클라인의 말 중 일부를 소개하며 이 포스팅을 시작합니다.
“다보스 포럼에 참석한 부자들과 권력자들이 그레타가 희망을 준다고 찬사를 보내자, 그레타는 이렇게 대답했죠.
‘저는 여러분의 희망은 필요치 않습니다. 저는 여러분들이 패닉에 빠지길 바랍니다. 제가 매일 매일 느끼는 공포를 함께 느끼길 바랍니다. 진짜로 위기상황에 있는 것처럼 행동하길 바랍니다. 집에 불이난 것처럼 행동하길 바랍니다. 왜냐하면 진짜로 불이 났으니까요.’
그레타는 말했습니다. 기후위기를 초래한 것은 우리 모두의 탓이 아니라구요. 우리는 정말 자주 ‘우리 모두의 잘못’이라는 말을 듣는데 말이죠. 그레타는 그렇지 않다고 했어요. 대신 부자들과 권력자들의 눈을 바라보면서 말했죠. 비난 받아야 할 사람들은 바로 당신들이라구요. 당신들 책임이라구요. 그런 용감한 말을 할 수 있었던 그레타를 우리는 언제나 사랑할겁니다.”
나오미 클라인 : 그레타, 지금 어두워서 청중들이 잘 보이지 않지만, 모두 일어서서 환호하고 있는다는 거 알겠죠? 저에게는 정말로 영광스러운 일이에요. 지금 여기에서 그레타와 함께 하고 있다는 것이요. 우리가 만난 건 처음이지만 서로 알고 지낸 사이처럼 느껴져요. 먼저, 여기까지 온 길에 대한 이야기를 듣고 싶은데요, 우리 모두는 그레타가 매우 작은 보트를 타고 왔다는 걸 알고 있어요. 순전히 바람으로만 가는 배를 타구요.
그레타 : 우리 배에 타고 있는 사람들 중 한명이 아내와 위성 전화로 통화를 하다가 아마존에 큰 불이 났다는 이야기를 듣게 되었어요. 통화가 끝난 후에 그는 배에 타고 있는 사람들을 불러서 말했어요. ‘아마존이 불타고 있대.’ 매우 심각하고 충격적인 소식이었어요. 실감하기 어려웠어요. 바다 위에 있으면 할 수 있는 게 별로 없거든요. 어떻게든 영향을 미칠 수 있는 행동을 할 수도 없고, 그냥 앉아 있을 수밖에 없어요. 그래서 아무것도 할 수 없는데 (아마존에 불이 났다는 걸) 알게 되었다는 건, 끔찍했어요. 육지에 도착하고 나서야 처음으로 아마존이 불타는 사진을 보게 되었고, 좀 더 자세히 알게 되었어요. 그게 제가 도착하고 나서 제일 처음 했던 일중에 하나였던 걸로 기억해요.
나오미 클라인 : 지금 이곳에 온지 일주일 좀 넘었는데요, 미국에 온 게 처음인가요?
그레타 : 아니요. 예전에 온 적이 있어요. 그러나 기억은 나지 않아요. 세 살 때 쯤이었거든요. 사진은 있는데, 기억에는 없어요.
나오미 클라인 : 미국에 도착한 이후에 발견한 차이 같은 것들이 있나요?
그레타 툰베리 : 기후 논의에 관한 것 말인가요, 아니면?
나오미 클라인 : 일반적인 것도 포함해서요. 뉴욕 지하철에 대해서 있는 그대로 솔직하게 말해도 돼요. 하고 싶다면요.
그레타 툰베리 : 여기는 에어콘을 너무 많이 틀어요.
(청중 웃음, 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 하하 오늘은 아닙니다.
그레타 툰베리 : 여기 말구요. 무대 뒤에는 추워요. (청중 웃음) 그리고, 정말 인상적인게 많았어요. 왜냐하면 아무것도 없는 보트를 2주나 타고 온 후였으니까요. 기억나는 건, 도착하고 나서 첫날 아침 일어났을 때 어떤 냄새가 나는데.. 뭔가가 오염된 냄새 같았어요. (청중 웃음) 보트에서의 2주라는 어떤 한 극단적인 삶에서 뉴욕이라는 대도시로 온 건, 완전히 극과극의 체험이었어요. 그래서 적응하는데 며칠이 걸렸어요. 특히 한밤중에 일어나서 화장실에 갈 때 넘어질 뻔하기도 했어요. 여전히 바닥이 흔들리는 것 같았거든요. 그리고 항해가 끝나고 처음 샤워를 했을 때 진짜 좋았어요. (청중 웃음) 정말 다른 점이 많은데, 기후 위기를 이야기할 때, 여기서는 기후위기를 믿느냐 마느냐의 문제로 여기는 것 같아요. 스웨덴에서는 사실로 받아들이는데. (청중 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 사실에 대해서 이야기해보자면, 그레타가 일관적으로 이야기해온 것 중 하나는, 정치인들에게 무엇을 해야하는지에 대해 말하는 것이 아니라, 과학자들이 하는 말을 들어야 한다는 거였어요. 기후변화에 대해 연구하고 글을 쓰는 제가 보기에, 언제나 놀라운 것은, 그레타의 연설은 아주 신중하고, 최고의 과학적 보고서들이 알아보기 쉽게 인용되어 있다는 거예요. 궁금한 건, 어떻게 과학자들이랑 협업하고 있는지에요.
그레타 툰베리 : 많은 기후 과학자들과 매우 가까이 지내고 있어요. 그럴 필요가 있다고 생각해요. 정말 많은 사람들이 제가 하는 말을 듣게 될 때는요. 특히 대중들 앞에서 연설을 할때는 전달하는 사실에 대해서 정말 잘 알고 있어야 해요. 그냥 추측하는 걸 말하면 안 되거든요. 모든 것에 대해 사실을 알고 있어야 하죠. 말하는 것의 출처가 어디인지도요. 그래서 연설문을 거의 다 쓰고 나면 과학자들에게 보내요. 한명한테 보낼 때도 있고, 어떨 때는 5~6명한테 보내기도 해요. 그 분들이 보시고 틀린 사실이 없는지 확인을 받아요. 오해의 소지도 없도록 하구요. 때로는 과학자들에게 개인적으로 궁금한 것이 있으면 물어보기도 해요. ‘이게 무슨 뜻인가요’, ‘왜 저것에 대해서 이야기하고 있죠?’ 이렇게. 그러면 그 분들이 제게 설명을 해 주세요. 정말 큰 도움이 되어요.
나오미 클라인 : 놀라운게, 그레타가 학교를 가지 않기로 한 결정이 저에게는 정말 낯설게 느껴졌거든요, 그런데 지금 엄청나게 높은 레벨의 공부를 스스로 하고 있는 거네요.
그레타는 매우 단기간에 기후 행동에 있어서 가장 중요한 인물이 되었는데요, 그건 정말 무거운 책임감을 동반하는 일이거든요. 그레타는 정말 신중해요. 그레타가 지고 있는 다른 책임감에 대해서 물어보고 싶은데요, 활동 초기부터 자신이 자폐 스펙트럼에 있다는 것을 대중에 공개했어요. 트위터 프로필에 ‘아스퍼거 증후군이 있는 기후 활동가’라고 썼거든요. 그건 정말 다른 차원의 책임감이 부여되는 일이에요. 아마도 그레타는 스스로를 자폐 스펙트럼에 있다고 정체화하는 사람들 중에서 이 세상에서 가장 유명한 사람일 거에요. (청중 환호) 그건 자신이 자폐 스펙트럼에 있다고 정의하는 사람들에게 정말 중요한 일이에요.
제가 개인적으로 이렇게 말할 수 있는게, 제게는 특별한 도움이 필요한 7살 아들이 있는데, 우리 아들에게 그레타는 영웅이에요. 우리가 좀전에 행사에 앞서 함께 본 영상에서 알렉산드리아 오카시오 코테즈가 말한대로, 볼 수 없다면 될 수도 없거든요. 그레타는 아주 훌륭한 롤모델로 거기 있는 거예요. 저에게 그레타는 ‘차이는 힘이다’라는 슬로건을 몸으로 보여주는 사람이에요. 그레타는 아스퍼거 증후군이 있는 사람들의 마음이 어떻게 작동하는지 정말 아름다운 방식으로 이야기해 줘요. 어떤것에는 온전히 집중하게 되고, 또 어떤 면에서는 다른 사람들이 관심을 갖는 것에는 크게 신경을 쓰지 않기도 하구요. 그게 인스타그램에서 스타를 따라하는 것이든 뭐든 간에요. 그레타는 중요한 것이 무엇인지 알아요. 어떻게 아스퍼거 증후군이 있다는 사실을 대중에게 알릴 결정을 하게 되었나요? 그게 정말 끔찍한 공격에 자신을 노출시키는 일이기도 한데요. 어떻게 이런 결정을 내렸나요?
그레타 툰베리 : 저는 대중에게 공개하는 것에 대해 그다지 특별하게 생각하지 않았어요. 그게 그냥 제 소셜미디어 프로필에 있었고, 저는 별 생각이 없었는데, 공개하지 않아야 할 이유도 없고, 그게 왜 숨겨야하는 것인가 싶었는데, 좀 지나니 큰 일이라는 걸 알게 되었어요. 많은 사람들이 자기들이 받은 진단에 대해서 공개적이지 않더라구요. 그런데 저는 그게 중요하다고 생각했어요. 여전히 많은 사람들이 신경적으로 다원화된(neurodiverse) 진단을 받는 것을 부정적으로 생각하고 있더라구요. 그걸 필요가 없는데도요. 물론 많은면에서 그건 사람들에게 한계로 작용해요. 저에게도 많은 한계를 주지요. 그렇지만 그 한계를 어떤 좋은 것, 긍정적인 것으로 바꾸어낼 수 있거든요. 그게 제가 해낸 것이고, 더 많은 사람들이 그럴 수 있도록 용기를 불어넣어 줘야한다고 생각해요. 왜냐하면 저는 다른 모든 사람들과 다르고, 그건 저의 아스퍼거 증후군 덕분이에요. 아스퍼거 증후군이 아니었다면 저는 기후위기를 인식할 수 없었을 거예요.
제 기억에 우리 모두는 같은 사진과 영화를 보았는데, 파괴되고 있는 자연과 지금 일어나고 있는 기후위기를 다룬 같은 영화를 보았는데, 제 인생은 뒤집어 졌는데 다른 사람들의 인생은 그렇지 않았어요. 저는 그게 이해가 되지 않았어요. 기후를 위해 함께 행동하고 있는 사람들 중에는 자폐 스펙트럼에 있는 사람이 정말 많아요. 그건 당연히 우연이 아닐 거예요. 그건 우리가 말로만 하지않고 꼭 행동으로 옮기고 마는 특성이 있는 것과 상관이 있다고 생각해요. 우리에겐 아는 것과 말하는 것, 행동하는 것의 사이가 멀지 않아요. 알고 말한 것은 행동으로 옮기죠. 하지만 보통 사람들은 그렇지 않아요. 인지부조화가 있죠. 그래서 예를들면 저는 이해가 되지 않는게, ‘그래, 기후변화는 정말 중요한 문제야’하고 말해놓고 아무것도 하지 않는 사람들 말이에요. 기후위기가 얼마나 중요한 문제인지 안다면, 당신 역시도 무언가를 해야하거든요. 그래야할 책임이 있어요. (청중 박수) 그리고 만약 아스퍼거 증후군이 아니었으면, 저는 이렇게 괴짜(nerd)가 되지도 않았을 거예요. 그 지루한 사실들을 들여다볼 시간과 에너지를 내지도 못했을 거예요. (청중 웃음) 그러면서 여전히 재미있어하면서요. (청중 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 제 생각에 정말 파워풀한 것을 이야기해보자면요, 수많은 일반적인(neurotypical) 사람들이 이 견딜 수 없을 정도의 인지부조화를 어느 정도는 허용하면서 사는데요, 우리는 서로 사회적 신호를 주고 받거든요. 우리는 수백만종의 생물이 멸종 위기에 있다는 사실을 알게 되면 무척 놀라서 겁에 질려요. 그것이 우리의 처음 반응이에요. 그런데 주위를 둘러보니 사람들은 아무일도 일어나지 않은 것처럼 하던 일을 계속하는 거죠. 넷플릭스에서 재난에 관한 드라마를 보구요. 그러면 음, 그렇게 나쁜 상황은 아니군, 하고 추측하게 되고, 그 첫 번째 감각을 억눌러요. 그런데 그레타는 그 첫 번째 감각을 억누를 수 없었어요. 그래서 ‘아니야, 우리집에 불이 났어.’라고 말한 거죠. 흥미로운 점은, 처음에 그레타처럼 느꼈지만 억눌렀던 사람들이, 그레타를 보고 이제 자신들의 그 첫 번째 감각을 믿게 된거에요. 그 점에서 그레타는 사람들을 도와주고 있어요. 정말 아름다운 일이죠. (청중 환호)
이제 제가 하고 싶은 이야기는요, 그레타에 대해 정말 안좋은 이야기를 인터넷에 퍼뜨리는 나쁜 사람들과 관련된 것인데요, 어떻게하면 우리가 그레타를 도울 수 있을까요? 저는 캐나다 사람인데, 캐나다에는 그레타에 대해서 정말 끔찍한 말을 한 정치인이 있어요. 우익 정당의 리더에요. 무시할 수 있는 하찮은 인물이 아니에요. 그레타는 어떤 느낌이 드나요? 이런 사람들을 무시해야 할까요? 고발을 해야할까요? 이 사람들을 어찌해야 한다고 생각해요?
그레타 툰베리 : 제가 할 수 있는 일이 없다는 게 명백하구요. 솔직히 웃기다고 생각해요. (청중 박수) 얼마나 많은 공격을 받았는지 몰라요. 어떨 때는 가장 말도 안되는 음모론은 뭐가 있나 찾아보기도 해요. 때로는 힘들어요. 그 사람들은 제 성격을 가지고 뭐라 그러거든요. 제가 어떤지, 어떻게 생겼는지, 어떻게 행동하는지. 사실 그건 제가 이기고 있는 신호라고 생각해요. 왜냐하면 다른 건 흠 잡을 게 없기 때문에 외모나 행동을 갖고 그러는 거 거든요. (청중 박수) 왜냐하면 저는 적이 아니에요. 최소한 아니기를 바래요. (청중 웃음) 그런데 많은 사람들은 제가 적이라고 생각하는 것 같아요. 그 사람들은 제가 하는 말에 대해서는 반박할 게 없어요. 왜냐하면 저는 과학자들이 하는 말만 하거든요. 물리학에 대해서 반박할 수 없잖아요. 그래서 그 과학적 사실을 전하려고 하는 저와 다른 활동가들한테 그러는 거거든요. 만약 저기에 불이나서, 제가 불을 보고, ‘불을 꺼야해요.’ 라고 말했는데, 그러면 가장 이성적인 반응은 불을 쳐다보고 끄는 거잖아요. 그런데 그 사람들은 불을 한번 보고, 저를 보고는, 저한테 이러는 거죠. ‘너 입고 있는 옷이 뭐 그러니?’ (청중 환호)
나오미 클라인 : 이제 무척 중요한 이야기를 해보죠. 9월 20일 행동이요. 어떤 것을 희망하나요. 9월 20일에 어떤 일이 생기기를 바라고 있어요?
그레타 툰베리 : 저는 9월 20일이 사회적 티핑 포인트가 되기를 바라요. 사람들이 이 위기의 긴급성을 깨닫고, 더 이상 외면할 수 없다는 걸 알고, 모든 세대와 사회 곳곳의 모든 사람들이 함께 같은 목적을 위해 싸우기를 바라요. 그건 무척 파워풀한 일이 될 거예요. 그리고 큰 파급력이 있을 거구요. 특히 23일부터 유엔 정상회담이 있으니까요. 9월 20일의 행동이 정상회담에 변화를 가져다주기를 바라요. 우리가 이렇게 많다는 것을 보여주고, 세계정상들에게 과학이 하는 말을 들으라고 요구하고, 책임을 지고 해야할 일을 다하라고 하는 거예요. 그래서 9월 20일이 확실히 어떤 전환점이 되기를 바라요. 많은 사람들이 이 문제에 대해 눈을 뜨게 되고, 정상회담에서 세계 정상들이 많은 사람들의 눈이 그들을 바라보고 있다는 것을 확실히 알게 되기를 바라요. 이렇게 많은 사람들이 바라보고 있으니, 스스로 창피하면 안되겠구나, 하는 느낌을 세계 정상들이 갖길 바라요. 제가 바라는 건 그거에요. (청중 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 학교로 돌아가지 않고 대서양 이쪽에 좀 더 있기로 결정했는데요, 그 계획에 대해서 이야기해 줄래요? 9월 기후파업 이후에는 무엇을 할 건지, 칠레에 가는 계획이 있는 걸로 아는데, 왜 그게 중요한지 이야기해 줄래요?
그레타 툰베리 : 9월 기후파업과 유엔 정상회담 주간 이후에 무얼할지 100% 확실하진 않은데, 미국 서부로 갈 생각이구요, 그리고 북 아메리카 대륙을 여행하려고 해요, 그 이후에는 남아메리카로 갈 거에요. 칠레 산티아고에서 열리는 COP25(제25차 기후변화당사국총회)에 참여하러요. 왜냐하면 대서양 이쪽에 있는 동안에 거기 가는게 낫거든요.(청중 웃음) 그것보다 더 좋은 계획이 없어서요. (청중 웃음) 많은 사람들이 이번 COP(기후변화 당사국 총회)은 중요한 COP들 중간에 끼어 있어서 그다지 안 중요하다고 하는데, 중요하지 않은 COP은 없다고 생각해요. 지금은 아주 중요한 시기에요. 우리는 최대한 빠른 시간 안에 변화를 만들어내야 해요. 지금은 말로 표현할 수 없이 결정적인 순간이에요. 우리는 지금 시작해야 해요. 내년 COP까지 기다릴 수 없어요. 다음 유엔정상회담을 기다릴 수 없어요. 지금 해야만 해요. 저는 우리가 실패하지 않기를 바라요. 세계정상들이 실패하지 않기를 바라요. 우리는 최악의 상황을 준비해야 하구요, 결과가 아무것도 안 나오더라도, 계속해야만 해요. 계속하지 않을 아무런 이유가 없어요. 어떤 상황에서도 우리는 앞으로 나아가고 행동해야만 합니다. (청중 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 고맙습니다. 제 생각에 사람들이 기후변화에 집중하지 못하는 이유 중 일부는, 우리는 수많은 위기가 한꺼번에 겹치는 상황을 살고 있기 때문이 아닌가 싶어요. 그리고 기후변화에 가장 취약한 사람들은 매일 매일의 배고픔과 강제이주, 경찰의 폭력 등에 긴급하게 대응해야 하는 삶을 살고 있어요. 그레타와 함께 하고 있는 청년 기후 활동가들은, 우리가 경제 시스템을 전환하는데 있어서, 인종차별과 경제적 불평등, 사회적 배제를 타파하기위한 싸움의 중요성을 강조했습니다.
우리가 선명하게 알 수 있는 것 중 하나는, 세상에 불을 놓고 있는 사람들, 브라질의 볼소나로 대통령과 트럼프가 가장 큰 혐오를 퍼트리는 사람들이라는 겁니다. 지구상에서 자기 종족이 가장 우월하다고 믿는 범죄자들을 부치기고 있다는 겁니다. 올해 일어난 가장 끔찍한 일중의 하나는 뉴질랜드에서 일어난 테러인데, 그레타와 동료들이 아름다운 기후행동을 한 바로 그 3월 15일이, 뉴질랜드 크라이스트처치에서 살인자가 모스크로 들어간 날과 같은 날이에요. 50명을 죽였고, 그는 스스로를 에코 파시스트라고 불렀죠. 그레타의 생각에는 어떻게 이런 움직임을 함께 풀어나갈 수 있다고 생각하나요? 어떻게 우리는 이 많은 위기를 해결해낼 수 있을까요? 이 모든 것을 그레타가 해결해야하는 것은 아니지만, 제가 관심있는건, 이런 현상들이 연결되어 있는 걸 그레타가 어떻게 보고 있는지에요. 기후행동의 불길과 혐오의 불길, 스칸디나비아를 포함해서 유럽에서도 아주 강하게 표출되고 있는데요.
그레타 : 네, 우리는 여러 가지 면에서 매우 어두운 시대를 살고 있어요. 우리의 상태는 점점 나빠지고, 사회적 상황도 나빠지는 것처럼 느껴져요. 동시에 지구도 점점 나빠지구요. 모든 것들이 옳지 않은 방향으로 움직이고 있어요. 다른 모든 이슈를 해결하지 않으면, 기후위기도 해결 할 수 없어요. 결합되어야만 합니다. 환경적 인종차별주의는 모든 곳에서 일어나고 있어요. 우리는 그것을 직시해야 합니다. 기후위기의 중심에는, 기후, 생태, 환경 정의가 있어야 해요. 물론 제가 어떻게 풀어나가야 할지는 몰라요. 그러나 우리는 함께 힘을 합해야 해요. 결국 우리는 모두 한 배를 타고 있으니까요.
나오미 클라인 : 우리가 지금 알아야할 것 중 하나는 바하마에서 허리케인으로 황폐해진 섬에서 대피해 미국으로 오려했던 사람들이 다시 돌려보내졌다는 거예요. 우리는 지금 이런 일들이 실시간으로 벌어지고 있는 것을 보고 있습니다. 이건 결코 추상적인 질문이 아니에요. 이제 끝내야 할 때가 되어가는데요, 한 두 질문 정도를 더 하려고 해요. 미국에서는 지금 선거캠페인이 진행중이에요. 그레타는 트럼프 대통령을 만날 의사가 없다고 했는데요, 제 생각에 아주 현명한 선택이구요. (청중 박수) 그레타는 지금껏 정치인들과 거리를 유지해오고 있어요. 정치적으로 이용되지 않기 위해 신중하게 행동하고 있다는 것을 알고 있어요. 그 역시 아주 현명한 거라고 생각해요.
그런데 민주당 내에서 이런 논의가 계속되고 있어요. 트럼프에 대항에서 누가 출마할 것인지를 결정하는데 있어서, 매우 대담하고 돈이 많이 드는 기후변화에 대한 대응(그린 뉴딜을 말하는 듯함_옮긴이)을 할 것인가 말 것인가, 반대하는 의견은 그러한 대응이 너무 지나치고, 너무 거대하고, 너무 비싸다는 거예요. 이 논의에 덧붙이고 싶은 말이 있나요? 특히 기후변화 대응 비용이 너무 비싸다는 생각에요.
그레타 툰베리 : 은행을 구하기 위한 돈이 있다면, 그렇다면 우리는 그 돈으로 세계를 구할 수도 있잖아요. (청중 박수) 우리에게 부족한 건 돈이 아니에요. 물론 돈이 없는 사람들도 많아요. 하지만 정부와 힘있는 위치에 있는 사람들은 돈이 없지 않아요. 그리고 오염시킨 사람들이 돈을 내야해요. 그 사람들이 초래한 피해에 대해. (청중 박수) 돈이 많이 든다는 논쟁에 대해서는, 저는 대응조차하지 않을 거예요. 왜냐하면 진짜 많이 말했거든요. 돈은 있고, 우리에게 부족한 것은 정치적인 의지와 사회적인 의지라구요. 그래서 저는 대답하지 않을거예요. (청중 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 미국에서 일어나고 있는 움직임, 특히 청년들의 행동 Intervening과 Sun Rise movement같은 운동들은, 의심의 여지없이 이 나라의 정치적 논쟁의 지형을 완전히 새롭게 쓰고 있습니다. 그리고 여러 어려움을 넘어서는 정말 많은 대담한 정책을 만들도록 힘을 불어넣고 있습니다. 우리는 아직 투표권이 없는 많은 사람들이 사실상 정치적 지도를 바꿀 수 있는 힘이 있다는 것을 보고 있습니다. 바로 지금 이 순간에도 보고 있지요. 이 대화를 마치며 제가 묻고 싶은 것은, 9월 20일 기후파업을 조직하기 위해 힘쓰고 있는 젊은 운동가들, 정말 열심히 일하고 있는데, 스트레스도 많이 받지요. 숙제도 해야하고 다른 할 일도 많아요. 운동을 만들어나가는 건 정말 쉬운 일이 아닌데, 그들에게 전해줄 말이 있다면요? 아직 만나지 못한 친구들에게요. 기후파업까지 일주일 남았는데, 어떻게 힘을 계속 유지할 수 있을지.
그레타 툰베리 : 정말 어려운 일이에요. 해야할 일이 진짜 많은데, 쉬어야 할 때 시간을 내서 해내고 있거든요. 아무런 대가도 받지 않구요. 정말 존경스러운 사람들입니다. 저는 이 친구들이 알았으면 좋겠어요. 이 세상의 모든 지지를 다 받고 있다는 걸. 바로 우리가 뒤에 서 있다는 걸. (청중 박수) 어려울 거예요. 많은 순간, ‘이제 더 못하겠어’ 라고 느끼는 때가 올거예요. 왜냐하면 아무것도 변하지 않거든요. 아무도, 아무것도 하지 않거든요. 언제나 항상 ‘내가 지금 충분히 열심히 하고 있지 않구나’라고 느껴질 거예요. 그건 매우 위험한 감정이에요. 특히 실제로는 할 수 있는 모든 것을 하고 있을때는요. 그래서 알고 있어야 해요. 사람들로부터 도움을 받아야 함을. 그리고 자신이 사람임을 허락해야 해요. 쉴 수 있어야 해요. 왜냐하면 우리는 불가능한 일을 해내려 하고 있는 거거든요. 그래서 저는 이분들에게 영원히 감사합니다. 그리고 저는 미래세대를 대표해서 말하고도 있다고 생각하는데, 우리는 여러분들에게 말로 표현할 수 없을만큼의 감사를 느낍니다. 결코 그 사실을 잊지 않으셨으면 해요. 무엇도 우리를 나누거나 분열시키게 내버려두지 않아야해요. 왜냐하면 우리는 결국 같은 동기로 일을 하고 있으니까요. 우리는 기억하고 있어야해요, 우리가 대항하는 사람들이 누구이고, 우리편에 있는 사람들은 누구인지. (청중 박수)
나오미 클라인 : 고마워요, 그레타. 그레타도 그러기를요. 쉬고, 스스로를 돌보고, 함께하는 서로를 돌보기를요. (청중 박수) 우리는 갈길이 멀어요. 우리는 서로를 정말 잘 돌보아야 합니다. 그레타, 여기에 있어줘서 정말 고맙습니다. 우리가 함께하는 것이 얼마나 큰 영광인지요. (청중 박수)
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