With Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fighting to win back her position as House Speaker in the coming congressional term, climate action groups and the new contingent of progressives on Capitol Hill are arguing that with their new power in Congress, Pelosi and other Democrats must make clear whether they will decide to boldly push for visionary climate solutions like the Green New Deal or fail humanity and the planet by continuing their servitude to the fossil fuel industry.
Weeks after the UN released its report on the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions in order to avoid “potentially irreversible” effects of the climate crisis, critics say Democrats have the opportunity to stand firmly on the side of progressives who are advocating for a Green New Deal in order to help save the planet—instead of continuing to rely on incremental measures aimed simply at “exploring” the climate crisis.
The Green New Deal is comprised of an ambitious set of proposals aimed at transitioning the U.S. to 100% renewable energy and employing millions of Americans to aid that transition.
In The Guardian, journalist David Sirota noted that in order to take meaningful action to help stop the climate crisis, Democrats must fundamentally change their outlook on the oil and gas industries which poured $100 million into midterm campaigns.
The fossil fuel sector, Sirota wrote, helped fund the fight against Proposition 112, aimed at keeping new oil and gas drilling operations away from schools, hospitals, and water sources in Colorado; an anti-carbon emissions measure in Washington; and a pro-solar energy proposal in Arizona.
The same industries were able to donate to Democratic candidates after a brief ban on such contributions was lifted by the Democratic National Committee was lifted after just two months—donating more than $4 million to party members in 2018.
The campaign to defeat new climate policies, wrote Sirota, “was a shock-and-awe spectacle designed to intimidate any prospective campaigns, organizations and movements that want to challenge the political supremacy of oil and gas—and some prominent Democrats in Washington seem to be cowering in fear.”
“Always nervous about the donor class and about electoral blowback from Republicans, some congressional Democrats now seem intent on avoiding any direct confrontation over climate change policy.” —David Sirota
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