The Green Party US EcoAction Committee condemns President Biden’s year of climate neglect and renews the call to pressure the President to declare a climate emergency and issue a comprehensive set of related executive orders, as described on ClimatePresident.org.
Biden and congressional Democrats must also immediately replace the increasingly shrinking “Build Back Better” (BBB) social and climate spending bill with a public vote on strong Green New Deal legislation. The Green New Deal must be implemented immediately to address:
- social and economic suffering
- health apartheid
- the existential threats of climate change, the loss of biodiversity, the degradation of ecosystems, the erosion of democracy, the nuclear threat and gross inequalities
In the 2020 election, Green presidential candidate Howie Hawkins called for an annual investment of $2.7 trillion in climate initiatives to reduce emissions to zero within a decade. The Greens have also called for a $1.4 trillion annual investment in an Economic Bill of Rights and COVID relief, focused on guaranteed living wage jobs, guaranteed income above poverty, enlargement and improving Medicare-For-All, housing, and education.
The Green Party advocates for a just transition, ensuring good jobs and compensation for workers and others dependent on the current fossil fuel industry. Greens support directing the majority of this funding to low-income and communities of color, which face the worst consequences of climate change.
Quote from Mark Dunlea, Co-Chair of the US Green Party’s EcoAction Committee:
“Biden and the Democrats have squandered the first year of what will likely only be a two-year window where they have majority votes in both houses of Congress. Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a “Red Code for the Planet”, saying the promises made by elected officials since the Paris agreements were far too weak to avoid a climate collapse. It is high time for Senator Schumer to ask senators to vote publicly on whether they will sacrifice the well-being of their constituents and future generations to maintain campaign donations and fossil fuel company profits.
The Democrats’ failure to strip Senator Manchin, with his infamous coal investments, of his position as chairman of the Senate Energy Committee is unconscionable. Lawmakers must find a way to end the overuse and misuse of fossil fuels, including natural gas. And yet, while Biden promised to suspend new fossil fuel permits on federal lands if elected, he did the opposite.
As Democrats argue over the size of the ever-smaller (BBB) plan, they recently passed the biggest military budget in the world; the Green Party supports redirecting at least half of Pentagon spending to invest in a Green New Deal. A carbon fee and dividend program could make polluters pay for the massive damage they cause while generating revenue for climate action.
Quote from DawnMarie Cronen, Co-Chair of the US Green Party EcoAction Committee:
“During World War II, President Roosevelt took control of the American economy to respond to the emergency. He redirected the country’s productive power to build what was needed to protect the American people. I think Biden must take a similar approach, redirecting our productive capacity today from building weapons for oil wars to defeating the urgent existential threat of climate change. We need public ownership and democratic control of our energy and economic systems to ensure that we build renewable energy not only quickly, but in the places that best meet the needs of the public to find ways to continue to provide heat, electricity and the needs of basis to our nation and for the good of our planet.
The Democrats’ plan to increase energy subsidies for private businesses is both more costly and far less effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than employing public works projects and Democratic planning. The Green Party opposes congressional support for bogus solutions such as nuclear, biomass, garbage incineration and “carbon capture” technology designed to enable the continuous burning of fossil fuels.
We urge Biden and Congress to invest in nature-based climate solutions instead, such as protecting forests, restoring wetlands, and promoting regenerative agriculture. We also support requiring homes to be more energy-efficient and carbon-free, reducing overconsumption and overproduction, and promoting public transit and other greener public transit approaches, such as bicycles and pedestrian communities.
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Green Party EcoAction Committee calls for Biden executive action on climate
October 26, 2021
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