Issue Position: Mobilizing Against Climate Change

Issue Position

"Unemployment numbers and global temperatures are at record highs. Now is the right time to create millions of jobs transitioning to renewable and clean energy."

With our country facing the greatest levels of unemployment since the Great Depression, the plan to create millions of quality, high-wage jobs has never been more important. We must take action to stave off another global crisis and address unemployment, now.
JOBS

With over 30 million people unemployed, we need an economic program on the level of the New Deal. Alexandria's Green New Deal would provide a living-wage union job to every worker who wants one. These jobs would also provide adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security. Much like the original New Deal, these jobs would exist across a wide variety of fields - but they would all be in service of preventing yet another global crisis - climate change.

The Green New Deal has the potential to create millions of jobs. The Green New Deal for Public Housing - a bill Alexandria introduced last year to improve public housing stock in the U.S. - would create over 240,000 jobs per year across the United States, while improving living conditions for 2 million residents. This is the kind of stimulus that will revitalize our economy and uplift our neighbors.

JUSTICE FOR WORKERS IN FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRIES

In our mission to defeat climate change, Alexandria refuses to leave anyone behind. This is why the Green New Deal calls for a just transition for the millions of workers currently employed in the fossil fuel, automotive and manufacturing industries, among other sectors that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases. The Green New Deal will offer these workers "first-dibs' on union jobs in developing green industries, as well as benefits and pay equal to those they received in their old jobs.

JUSTICE FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

A "just approach' to climate change also requires us to address its disproportionate impact on communities of colors. In areas of The Bronx, air pollution is so high that residents are hospitalized for asthma at a rate 21 times higher than the rest of New York City.

In 2017, climate change gave additional strength to Hurricane Maria as it killed 3,000 people in Puerto Rico, including Alexandria's grandfather. And here in NY-14, areas like Throggs Neck, College Point and City Island are threatened by erosion and rising sea levels. Through the Green New Deal principle of democratic and participatory processes that are inclusive of and led by frontline and vulnerable communities and workers, we will finally guarantee clean air and water, healthy food, quality healthcare and affordable housing, so that the nightmares experienced in vulnerable communities may never be experienced again.

deCARBONIZATION

At our current rate of global greenhouse gas emissions, we are on pace for the atmosphere to warm by as much as 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2040, according to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. When we reach that point, scientists say we will face rapid increases in coastal flooding, droughts, wildfires and food shortages, as well as more than $54 trillion in global economic damages.

In order to avoid these horrors and stay below 1.5 degrees of warming, our 2030 emissions must be 40-to-60% lower than they were in 2010. The Green New Deal aims to reach this target by bringing the U.S. to net-zero emissions by 2030, through a large-scale government investment program that allows us to meet 100% of our power demand with zero-emission energy sources.

As part of the Green New Deal, we will dramatically expand and upgrade our renewable power sources, build energy-efficient power grids, retrofit our buildings for energy efficiency and invest heavily in zero-emission manufacturing and infrastructure. In addition, we will build clean, affordable transit systems connected by high-speed rail.

Alexandria is proud to be a part of this movement for:

A Green New Deal that creates millions of high-wage jobs, and forestalls another major economic, public health and safety crisis
A Just Transition that commits to providing generous transitional support for workers and communities tied to the fossil-fuel industry;
H.Res.109 - Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal;
H.R.5185 - Green New Deal for Public Housing Act

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