As we draw closer and closer to the 2020 election, there are some phrases that have become so common in recent politics that they are a part of our language now.  One of these phrases that has come up a lot in debates across the country is “Green New Deal”.  And while many people have an idea of the connotation associated with the term, a lot of them either have no idea what the term actually means or have been fed false information about it.  What’s even more interesting is how the phrase is being used by both the Republican and Democratic Party, as a way to strategically manipulate their opponents and the American people into fear-driven views on who should have political power.

​

So, what is the Green New Deal, and where does the term come from? The Green New Deal is a bill proposed to Congress by Senator Edward Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on March 25, 2019. It offers a vigorous strategy to transition the U.S. from using fossil fuels that cause greenhouse gas emissions as its primary energy source, to using renewable sources of energy instead, like wind and solar power.  On October 22, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “I am so deeply proud of & grateful for each + every one of my House and Senate colleagues who stand for our future & champion the #GreenNewDeal, the boldest climate plan in US history.”  The bill intends for energy transition to be done over the course of ten years, the process of which is referred to in the proposal as the “Green New Deal mobilization.”  This mobilization is intended to simultaneously create millions of profitable jobs in renewable energy sectors.  But that is just the beginning.  The proponents of the bill believe that in order to achieve a successful and lasting transformation, they must address action on not just climate change but also on other factors, such as job growth, economic equality, ensuring access to clean air, food and water for the entire population, and social justice.  The bill also goes into detail about changes that should be made in manufacturing, transportation and infrastructure to comply with these goals for clean energy.

​

While the Green New Deal bill was introduced last year, the actual terminology goes back much further.  To start, the bill is meant to be something of a 21st century version of President Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, an extensive plan to restore and reshape the United States following the Great Depression in the 1930s.  Roosevelt’s New Deal was a set of government regulations, public works projects and financial reforms, and some of the programs it created are still in effect today, including The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Social Security.  And likewise, the 21st century version is also not a single project or legislative bill, but a full-fledged government overhaul. 

​

The first person known to coin the phrase “Green New Deal” was New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman in 2007, as a plea for the country to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies, tax carbon dioxide emissions, and implement long-term incentives for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.  Around that same time a somewhat similar movement began in England, led by a group of newspaper reporters, economists and environmentalists known as the Green New Deal Group.  The person that came up with that name was British tax scholar Richard Murphy, who had no knowledge of Thomas Friedman’s idea.  Those three words stuck around and made it into the 2008 presidential campaigns of candidates Barack Obama and Jill Stein.  The phrase died down a bit in the mainstream for a few years, only to come back full force in 2016, at the time of Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.  While Sanders did not end up taking over the White House, his movement helped lead to an influx of progressive political candidates, such as Ocasio-Cortez and Markey.

​

Where does the country stand on the Green New Deal? In July of 2019, a poll was conducted by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation to find out how many people actually knew what the Green New Deal was, and who does and doesn’t support it.  At that time, more than 3 out of 4 Americans either knew nothing or very little about the proposal.  Of those who knew about it, 6 out of 10 opposed it.  Overall, 20 percent of Americans supported it, 20 percent opposed it and the remaining 60 percent didn’t know enough about it to form an opinion. 

​

The bill hasn’t received widespread support from Congress, even for the Democrats.  In March 2019 when the bill was proposed, the Senate rejected it 57-0.  All the Republicans voted against it, along with three Democrats and one Independent.  Forty-three Democrats voted “present”.  But that doesn’t mean the proposal hasn’t made a political impact, especially during this election. According to E&E News, “In races from Alaska to South Carolina, Ohio and Colorado, the GOP is trying to weaponize the aggressive decarbonization plan pushed by progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), often saying incorrectly that it would outlaw cheeseburgers and air travel.”  On October 23, Minnesota GOP Senate candidate Jason Lewis tweeted about his opponent Tina Smith’s (D) avoidance of the issue, saying she “didn't vote YEA or NAY on the Green New Deal, she voted present and refuses to tell us where she stands on abolishing fossil fuels (which I also mentioned on the call).”  We also saw this with the October 22nd presidential debate, in which Democratic candidate Biden made headlines when he stated he would “transition away from the oil industry.”

​

President Trump had already accused Biden of supporting the Green New Deal at the previous debate, which Biden vehemently denied, though his $2 trillion green stimulus plan to combat climate change does embrace parts of the proposal.  Supporters of the proposal see climate change as a serious danger to our planet and its people, associating it with the recent wildfires, hurricanes and high sea levels.  According to a Marketwatch press release, analysts have also expressed concerns that “other major economies, including China, have advanced a climate-change blueprint that may leave the U.S., without its own proposal, flat-footed on trade, security and more in the years to come.”  Trump and others who oppose the Green New Deal and want to hold onto the fossil fuel industry feel this is necessary because it will allow businesses and households to afford the prices of operations and transportation costs, and feel the U.S. cannot give up its place as a prominent oil and natural gas exporter.  The press release also states that “the administration and its supporters are concerned that the U.S. effort to curb its own polluting is not matched in the developing world; this was cited as a factor when Trump moved to pull the U.S. from the Paris Climate accord.”  However, as support for the Green New Deal grows, especially among millennials, even some Republicans are finding the need to address climate change in some way.  Some of the Republican-supported proposals for climate change include the Trillion Trees Act, Blue Carbon for our Planet Act and the Growing Climate Solutions Act. 

​

Republicans aren’t the only ones who have found a way to use the Green New Deal to paint their Democratic opponents as radicals.  Democrats are also using the phrase strategically within their own party, as a way to mark those that don’t support it as not liberal enough.  The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists referred to it as a “litmus test in the Democratic presidential primary.”  Even if the full proposal never goes into effect, the Green New Deal has certainly changed the way Americans talk about climate change.  At the very least, it could prompt Congress to make a possible compromise on policy in the future.