Tell your Member of Congress to support the Green New Deal

The 2018 midterms swept Democrats into power in the House, and they have brought with them a renewed focus on combating climate change. Progressive champions have rallied around the Green New Deal as a framework for making the changes to our nation’s economy that are necessary to protect the planet from catastrophic climate change.

The Green New Deal is an ambitious, progressive policy vision that would protect the planet, advance social, economic, and racial justice, and create good new jobs. Like the original New Deal, the Green New Deal represents a massive investment in America’s people and infrastructure—but with the additional goals of spending on projects that will transition America to a green economy, and ensuring that these investments are targeted to promote “social, economic, racial, regional, and gender-based justice and equality.”

On February 7, 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey introduced a resolution for the Green New Deal. They were joined by 11 other senators and over 60 members of the House as original cosponsors.

In this document, we will:

• Dive into what’s in the Green New Deal resolution, and

• Provide a sample call script for you to call your Member of Congress and ask them to cosponsor the Green New Deal resolution.

What is the Green New Deal?

The Green New Deal is a package of policies that would be aimed at decarbonizing the US economy, drawing down and capturing greenhouse gases, and promoting economic, racial, and environmental justice and equality. This may sound like an ambitious set of goals—because it is! It’s important that we act quickly and decisively to address climate change, given that the United Nations recently issued a landmark report saying that we only have 12 years to make the changes needed for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5°C. Scientists argue that warming above that threshold would result in catastrophic impacts, such as water scarcity for another 61 million people globally.

What policies would be included in the Green New Deal?

The resolution (which you can read here) lays out parameters for the kinds of projects and goals that would be included in the Green New Deal in order to decarbonize our economy; advance social, economic, and racial justice; and create new jobs. These include:

• Building resiliency against climate change-related disasters

• Repairing our infrastructure to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and guarantee access to clean water

• Meeting 100% of the country’s power demand through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources

• Building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid

• Upgrading residential and industrial building to be more energy- and water-efficient

• Spurring growth in clean manufacturing

• Working with farmers and ranchers to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from our agricultural sector

• Overhauling transportation systems to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, including by investing in public transit and high-speed rail

• Drawing down and capturing greenhouse gases from our atmosphere and oceans

• Cleaning up hazardous waste and abandoned sites

• Protecting threatened, endangered, and fragile ecosystems,

• And others.

Like the original New Deal, advocates also see the Green New Deal as an opportunity to drastically improve the quality of life for working people across the country. In addition to the improvements above, the Green New Deal could include programs such as:

• A job and job training guarantee

• Protection for public lands and water

• Universal health care, and

• Public banks to fund these improvements and programs.

Finally, the Green New Deal places a powerful emphasis on ensuring a “just transition”—or in other words, on ensuring that the frontline and vulnerable communities that have most endured the consequences of pollution and climate change are the communities that will receive the most resources under the Green New Deal. That means ensuring that of communities of color (especially Black and Native communities), rural communities, and communities whose economies have been reliant on fossil fuel exploitation are also the biggest recipients of new investments in jobs, education, and infrastructure improvements.

Tell your MoC: Consponsor the Green New Deal resolution!

The Green New Deal would be a broad-based package with elements that would benefit every single American—which means there are reasons for every MoC to support the resolution in favor of it. While the benefits may look different in each district, this is an opportunity for your MoC to be a leader on protecting the planet while also bringing home once-in-a-generation benefits to their constituents.

Call your MoC today and tell them: co-sponsor the resolution for a Green New Deal. You can click here to see if your representative is a co-sponsor of H.Res.109, and here to see if your senators are co-sponsors of S.Res.59.

Call Script

Caller: Hi! My name is [NAME], and I’m calling from [part of state]. I’m calling because I want to urge [MoC] to co-sponsor [H.Res.109/S.Res.59] in support of a Green New Deal.

If MoC is already a co-sponsor/says they will sign on

Staffer: Thanks for calling! [MoC] agrees that we need bold solutions like a Green New Deal to address the threat posed by the climate crisis.

Caller: Great! I’m glad to hear it—I hope [MoC] will talk to their colleagues, especially from our state’s delegation, about signing on in support of the Green New Deal.

If MoC does not support the Green New Deal

Staffer: Thanks for calling. [MoC] agrees with you that climate change is an urgent issue to address. But he/she doesn’t think this is the right way to go about it. We need solutions that can win bipartisan support if we’re going to address as serious as climate change, and the Green New Deal isn’t that.

Caller: I’m disappointed to hear that. Climate change is the most urgent challenge of our time, and supporting the Green New Deal would demonstrate that [MoC] understands the kind of action we need to take to prevent catastrophic levels of global warming. We don’t have time to waste trying to get climate deniers on board; I expect [MoC] to reconsider their position.