Guest essay by Dr. Charles Battig

Organized by the Sunrise Movement, over 200 youth activists supported by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took over House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office the morning of November 13, 2018 lobbying Democrats to act decisively on climate change. However, Pelosi’s first address to the 116th session of Congress Thursday, January 3, 2019 stating that she would be “reinstituting the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis” was not sufficient to satisfy the demands of the Sunrise Movement

Varshini Prakash, founder of Sunrise Movement, was quoted as saying we are “feeling really disappointed that Nancy Pelosi had failed to follow the leadership of the 45 members of Congress, including some of the freshest faces of the Democratic Party—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Joe Neguse, so many more—in calling for a select committee for a Green New Deal.”

Mid-January, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has now already published a Draft Text for a Proposed Addendum to House Rules for 116^th Congress of the United States which lays out what such a Green Deal would establish. It includes:

“The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall be developed with the objective of reaching the following outcomes within the target window of 10 years from the start of execution of the Plan:

Dramatically expand existing renewable power sources and deploy new production capacity with the goal of meeting 100% of national power demand through renewable sources;

building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid;

upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety;

eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries, including by investing in local-scale agriculture in communities across the country;

eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure, and upgrading water infrastructure to ensure universal access to clean water;

funding massive investment in the drawdown of greenhouse gases;

making “green” technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely greenhouse gas neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.”

Also included are these goals:

“Mitigate deeply entrenched racial, regional and gender-based inequalities in income and wealth (including, without limitation, ensuring that federal and other investment will be equitably distributed to historically impoverished, low income, deindustrialized or other marginalized communities in such a way that builds wealth and ownership at the community level);

include additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security, labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism; and

deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment.”

This hodge-podge of wishful socialist thinking, climate non-science, social justice mandates, population control advocacy, and progressivism laced with technocracy is not new nor original. Even before Jill Stein, failed Green Party 2016 presidential candidate, there was the Club of Rome, founded in 1968.

They have also issued their plan for climate control, and with much the same goals and mechanisms for the world to conform to their view. Is it possible that the “tippy top” Green New Deal spokesperson had the recent Club of Rome publication in mind when she published her Draft Text?

https://www.clubofrome.org/2018/12/03/the-club-of-rome-launches-the-first-climate-emergency-plan

“Climate change is the most pressing global challenge, constituting an existential threat to humanity. The Club of Rome – Climate Emergency Plan sets out 10 priority actions for all sectors and governments, and is an urgent wake up call. On December 4th 2018, Club of Rome Co-President Sandrine Dixson-Declève presented the Plan at the European Parliament to representatives from the EP, the European Commission, business and NGO leaders. The event was co-hosted by Heidi Hautala (MEP, VP European Parliament) and Jo Leinen (MEP).”

“The Club of Rome Climate Emergency Plan calls for 10 priority actions:

1. Halt fossil fuel expansion and fossil fuel subsidies by 2020: No new investments in coal, oil and gas exploration and development after 2020 and a phase-out of the existing fossil fuel industry by 2050. Phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.

2.Triple annual investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low carbon technologies for high emitting sectors before 2025: Give priority to developing countries to avoid lock-in to the carbon economy.

3. Put a price on carbon to reflect the true cost of fossil fuel use and embedded carbon by 2020: Introduce carbon floor prices. Tax embedded carbon through targeted consumption taxes. Direct tax revenues to research, development and innovation for low-carbon solutions, cutting other taxes or supporting the welfare state.

4. Replace GDP growth as the main objective for societal progress and adopt new indicators that accurately measure welfare and wellbeing rather than production growth.

5. Improve refrigerant management by 2020. Adopt ambitious standards and policy to control leakages of refrigerants from existing appliances through better management practices and recovery, recycling, and destruction of refrigerants at the end of life.

6. Encourage exponential technology development by 2020: Create an International Task Force to explore alignment of exponential technologies and business models with the Paris Agreement to promote technology disruption in sectors where carbon emissions have been difficult to eliminate.

7. Ensure greater materials efficiency and circularity by 2025: Significantly reduce the impact of basic materials e.g. steel, cement, aluminum and plastics from almost 20% of global carbon emissions today by the early introduction of innovation, materials substitution, energy efficiency, renewable energy supply and circular material flows.

8. Accelerate regenerative land use policies and adaptation: Triple annual investments in large-scale REDD+ reforestation and estuarine marshland initiatives in developing countries. Compensate farmers for building carbon in the soils and promote forestry sequestration. Support efforts to restore degraded lands. Implement adaptive risk management procedures in every state, industry, city or community.

9. Ensure that population growth is kept under control by giving priority to education and health services for girls and women. Promote reproductive health and rights, including family planning programmes.

10. Provide for a just transition in all affected communities: Establish funding and re-training programmes for displaced workers and communities. Provide assistance in the diversification of higher carbon industries to lower carbon production. Call upon the top 10% earners of the world to cut their GHG emissions by half till 2030.

Together with its national chapters and partners across the globe, the Club of Rome will work with all stakeholders to translate thought leadership into action in implementing the Emergency Plan and realizing a positive vision of the future.”

Hailed, by some, as the new youthful face of the Democratic Party Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (possessed of an occasional “tippy toppy” thought) seems to be reading from the same old page written by the old Club of Rome. Nothing new under the sun, and nothing new about the socialist/progressive quest for absolute power over the masses and acquiescence by the deplorables. Climate change is the new scapegoat, and control of energy sources the new shape of the ruling iron fist.