Tag: green new deal

The president challenges 2020 Democrats on their climate change warnings and the Green New Deal while addressing supporters in Grand Rapids; Peter Doocy reports. FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX…

It was not hard for Beto O’Rourke to seem like a champion of green issues during his eye-catching Senate campaign in America’s 2018 midterm elections – after all, he was up against Ted Cruz, a climate change denier. Now, as the former US congressman vies to be the Democratic candidate to run against Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House, he faces much closer scrutiny on the subject. Environmental advocates and experts wait to see if – as O’Rourke pivots from an election in a conservative-led oil state to a national primary race heavily influenced by left-leaning Democratic candidates – he will have more latitude and desire to put progressive green policies at the heart of his strategy. “He’s going to have to take a pretty strong stand.” The seeds of a decisive and urgent approach were visible in his first campaign visits to Iowa in March, when O’Rourke praised the radical climate change-led proposals in the Green New Deal, citing his home state’s struggles with extreme weather such as droughts and hurricanes. “Already, five declared presidential candidates have officially signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, meaning more than a third of declared Democratic candidates have done so,” said David Turnbull, strategic communications director of Oil Change US, a group that urges politicians to commit to clean energy. “We look forward to the sixth candidate signing the full No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, and we’re hopeful that Beto might be that candidate.” O’Rourke’s campaign did not respond to questions about whether he plans to sign the pledge or how his qualified support for natural gas is compatible with the Green New Deal. “We have seen the result, which is an emergency of booming fossil fuel production here in the United States at precisely the time we need to be urgently moving away from those dirty fuels,” Turnbull said. “Similarly problematic, Beto has pointed to fracked natural gas as a potential part of the solution to the climate crisis when the reality is that there is simply no room for new fossil fuel development of any sort, including fracked gas. Like with his support for the removal of the crude export ban, we hope that when Beto lays out his full climate policies it will reflect the fact that we can’t afford any new fossil fuels of any sort, including gas.” Given Texas’s critical importance to the environmental and economic future of the country, a Texas presidential candidate can deliver a powerful green narrative, said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, an advocacy group. “I think Texas has a real interesting story to tell in terms of our both being number one in the country for global warming pollution but also being number one for renewable energy,” he said.

Labour members have launched a grassroots campaign to push the party to adopt a radical Green New Deal to transform the UK economy, tackle inequality and address the escalating climate crisis. The group, inspired by the success of the Sunrise Movement and the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US, is calling on Labour to commit to radical action to decarbonise the UK economy within a decade. A spokesperson for the group, called Labour for a Green New Deal, said: “Climate change is fundamentally about class, because it means chaos for the many while the few profit. “We’re starting a campaign to put the labour movement at the forefront of a green transformation in Britain, and to build grassroots support for a Green New Deal within the Labour party.” The campaign is calling for 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. The group intends to put pressure on the party to fulfil those pledges in the run-up to the Labourconference in September. Leading members of the group recently met Zack Exley, an adviser to Ocasio-Cortez and a co-founder of the progressive group the Justice Democrats, to learn from the success of the Green New Deal campaign in the US. They are also in discussions with founding members of the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led group linked with Ocasio-Cortez that has been at the forefront of the US campaign for a Green New Deal. The spokesperson said: “As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement have argued in the US, a Green New Deal shouldn’t just be about decarbonising our economy; it should be a radical vision for a healthier, happier and more prosperous society. “According to the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], we may only have 11 years left to limit the worst of the climate crisis. But that’s 11 years in which we could change everything.”

Neutralize industry opposition At the start of the health care fight, Obamacare architects faced challenges from across the political spectrum. The Green New Deal faces a steeper challenge, and some energy companies will fight it hard. Control the narrative One early challenge for the Obama administration was dealing with the false claim that its health care plan would lead to "death panels." One is finding out "who in the climate debate people trust the most" and putting them out front, she said. It's a vacuum that some of ACA's designers regret. The Green New Deal includes several far-reaching pillars that might take time to get working, like a jobs guarantee or 100 percent renewable energy generation. Quickly getting those checks into people's hands could make it harder for opposition lawmakers to dislodge the program, Spiro said. Design a backdoor plan to fix mistakes Democrats had planned to polish their health care bill until the final roll calls, but then-Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) "It was one-and-done because Republicans weren't going to do anything," Slavitt said. The Green New Deal might benefit from building in a way to fix those kinds of hiccups without going back to Congress, he said.

How did the GND manage to change climate politics? This means that advocates should have a clear narrative on “what” needs to change (goals) and “why” this change should happen (rationale). But, importantly, they should also have a clear political strategy on “how” they will bring about this change. Armed with scientific reports, the movement also showed why climate action was needed. However, the movement did not do well on the “how” issue. But at the same time, the violent “yellow vests” protests, ironically in Paris, showed that French farmers and workers opposed a climate levy on fossil fuel. But from the perspective of a “yellow vest” protester: Macron’s government “talks about the end of the world while we are talking about the end of the month.” The GND is an attempt to address climate issues while paying attention to political and social underpinnings. No IPCC report or COP summit can douse the street revolt if climate policy is perceived to be unfair. The climate movement has got its science right. Now the challenge is to get the politics right.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest US congresswoman ever and has quickly become a household name. Renowned for bold challenges in Congress and radical policies such as her “Green New Deal” focusing on climate change, Ocasio-Cortez is not afraid of being heard – or of the backlash that might bring. There is a lot of excitement around her but, as Democrats start gearing up for the 2020 presidential elections, some are concerned about her brand of politics. She has become a clear target for the far right in America, and for anyone seeking to portray the Democrats as radicals, or even communists. Lauren Gambino, political correspondent for Guardian US, talks to Anushka Asthana about whether Ocasio-Cortez and her ambitious ideas will help the Democrats to power, or become an albatross around their necks. Also today: the Guardian’s Rupert Jones on the rise of the microflat. There’s been a boom in office buildings being turned into housing without a proper planning process, creating spaces so small that there are no windows or proper ventilation. In the middle of a housing crisis, can shoebox studio flats really be the answer?

The environmental activist group, Sunrise Movement, released the video of the confrontation and tweeted that the California senator treated the group of about 15 young people with “smugness” and “disrespect.” In the 15-minute version of the video, the children tell Feinstein that they’ve come to her to express their support for the Green New Deal. Feinstein repeatedly tells the children that there is “no way to pay” for the plan, and tells the children that she is supporting her own resolution. I know what I’m doing,” Feinstein says. I’ve gotten elected. So maybe people should listen a little bit.” When a teen tells Feinstein that she should listen to them, because they are her voters, Feinstein responds by asking the girl how old she is. When the girl responds that she is 16, Feinstein says, “Well you didn’t vote for me.” She says to the group, “You know better than I do, so maybe one day you should run for the Senate and then you do it your way. Feinstein responded to the incident later on Friday in a statement, which she released on Twitter. “This morning I spoke with a small group of children, young adults and parents from the Sunrise Movement, who were delivering a letter in support of the Green New Deal resolution. The Sunrise Movement released their own statement on Twitter, writing that Feinstein showed “stale, establishment thinking.” “Sen. But we are going forward, one way or another,” the group wrote.

The environmental activist group, Sunrise Movement, released the video of the confrontation and tweeted that the California senator treated the group of about 15 young people with “smugness” and “disrespect.” In the 15-minute version of the video, the children tell Feinstein that they’ve come to her to express their support for the Green New Deal. Feinstein repeatedly tells the children that there is “no way to pay” for the plan, and tells the children that she is supporting her own resolution. I know what I’m doing,” Feinstein says. I’ve gotten elected. So maybe people should listen a little bit.” When a teen tells Feinstein that she should listen to them, because they are her voters, Feinstein responds by asking the girl how old she is. When the girl responds that she is 16, Feinstein says, “Well you didn’t vote for me.” She says to the group, “You know better than I do, so maybe one day you should run for the Senate and then you do it your way. Feinstein responded to the incident later on Friday in a statement, which she released on Twitter. “This morning I spoke with a small group of children, young adults and parents from the Sunrise Movement, who were delivering a letter in support of the Green New Deal resolution. The Sunrise Movement released their own statement on Twitter, writing that Feinstein showed “stale, establishment thinking.” “Sen. But we are going forward, one way or another,” the group wrote.

U.S. Sen Dianne Feinstein, D-California, isn't backing the Green New Deal, and she wasn't shy about letting a group who does support it know it — even if they are children. A group of schoolchildren visited the senator at her San Francisco office Friday and urged her to get on board with the renewable energy legislation. "I've been doing this for 30 years," Feinstein said. You come in here and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don’t respond to that." "Unfortunately, it was a brief meeting but I want the children to know they were heard loud and clear," she said. Her supporters said a longer video of the confrontation depicts Feinstein in a kinder light. In that clip, she sends aides off to get copies of an environmental bill she's backing in the U.S. Senate. The House legislation aims for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100 percent renewable energy sources in the United States by 2030. "That resolution will not pass the senate," Feinstein told the children.

A friend in a very blue part of the country recently sent me an email describing his experience with much younger progressives singing the praises of rising political stars Beto O’Rourke and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. What matters is who they are — young, hip, fresh, unencumbered – and how they talk. Reminds me of a dinner party my wife and I attended in 2008 after Barack Obama announced his presidential candidacy. I listened to them and then asked if anyone had actually met Obama or dealt with him. I had known Obama, though, for many years and had helped conduct a training course that he attended before he began a short, uninspired few years in organizing. I said that he was smart, reflective, and skilled at speaking, just as he appeared to be. I described to my dinner companions how several of my colleagues from Chicago met with then-Sen. Obama in Washington about local issues and asked if he would consider returning and running for mayor. The left’s tendency to latch on to the next charismatic persona, even if he or she has little or no track record of accomplishment, is again in full bloom. When I’m asked who I prefer for president, I always say “Lincoln” and then explain that I want someone like Lincoln, who has proven that he or she can succeed in something other than politics and has demonstrated effective action in politics. She responded by affording them “an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.” We don’t need another charismatic Democrat or plutocratic Republican or politically naïve corporate titan to run for president.