The Largest Green Plan To Date – The “Green New Deal”

The Green Economy Initiative, which will be spearheaded by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), draws its inspiration from Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which ended the 1930s depression and helped set up the world economy for the unprecedented growth of the second half of the 20th century.

For a while now, people have been saying that in order to get out of this environmental mess that we have created for ourselves, we need to do something on the scope of putting a man on the moon. When JFK said that he wanted to put a man on the moon, people laughed at him, but then got behind him, and together, people made it happen. That idea became what was known as “The Space Race”, and our Pride, our Might, and our Never Give UP Attitude put us there first. Boots in the dirt, before the Russians.

My Father in law, was the first one that I heard mention this idea, and through my environmental learning curve, I have heard it repeated in different media venues and forms. I think that Al Gore may have been the first to mention the idea in his book “Earth in the Balance.”

Well, you know the old saying that if something is repeated often enough, and loud enough, people will believe it? People are starting to believe it.

The Independent writes that top economists and United Nations leaders are working on a “Green New Deal” to create millions of jobs, revive the world economy, slash poverty and avert environmental disaster, as the financial markets plunge into their deepest crisis since the Great Depression.

The ambitious plan will call for a massive redirection of investment away from the speculation that has caused the bursting financial and housing bubbles and into job-creating programs to restore the natural systems that underpin the world economy. Far from restricting growth, healing the global environment will be a desperately needed driving force behind it.

It, too, envisages basing recovery on providing work for the poor, as well as reform of financial practices, after a crash brought on by unregulated excesses of the free market and the banking system.

The new multimillion dollar initiative – which is being already funded by the German and Norwegian Governments and the European Commission – arises out of a study commissioned by world leaders at the 2006 G8 summit into the economic value of ecosystems (previous post: Green Economy could create tens of millions of jobs). It is backed up by a report by the New Economics Foundation, titled: A Green New Deal: Joined-up policies to solve the triple crunch of the credit crisis, climate change and high oil prices.

Over the last quarter of a century, says UNEP, world growth has doubled, but 60 per cent of the natural resources that provide food, water, energy and clean air have been seriously degraded. Restoring these ecosystem services can become the engine of the Green New Deal.

All over the world, we have stood up and said “We refuse to accept the business as usual attitude that is ravaging our planet through Petro-Politicians, Greed and Waste.” We have stood up and said “The days of ear-marking billions for lobbyists pet projects needs to be over.” We have stood up and said “We refuse to be under the control of foreign governments who provide us with damaging fuel, while they build golden palaces and build beautiful cities like Dubia, while funding terrorists who want to kill us, teach their children that we are the enemy and treat women like slaves.

We have stood up and said “I care about the this place we all call home, and it’s time to make some changes.” And it’s because of people like you, that changes are being made.

As always, keep up the good fight and Alter the Eco!

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References:
Biopact: UN report: green economy could create tens of millions of new jobs – September 25, 2008

UNEP: Green Jobs: Towards Decent work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World – September 2008.

UNEP: Green jobs initiative.

New Economics Foundation: A Green New Deal: Joined-up policies to solve the triple crunch of the credit crisis, climate change and high oil prices [*.pdf] – October 2008.A