It sounds like a fairy tale, but it isn’t.The Green New Deal (GND) is a political and grassroots movement that links climate change with poverty and aims to solve both crises at the same time.The young movement originated in the U.S. but has quickly gained adherents in Canada and Europe.The GND is one of the most positive developments of our time, though its staying power is by no means assured.At least for now, the GND has captured the imagination of America’s political class because of the remarkably wide sweep of its ambitions.On the premise that environmental destruction is a cause of poverty, and is also in part caused by poverty, the GND links global warming with deprivation.That’s a connection that experts have been making for at least a decade. But only now is it becoming a potentially powerful movement that is pressing, with urgency, for a multitude of reforms.Take a deep breath.The Green New Deal proposes replacing fossil fuels with alternative forms of energy in every part of society. It would also provide universal health care, free college, abundant affordable housing, a federal guarantee of a job and a universal basic income . (I wrote about that last week.)In confronting poverty, the GND also calls for ending racialized discrimination and confronting abysmal living conditions in Indigenous communities.There’s more, but you get the idea.The GND got its official launch only last week. But nascent though it is, GND is the leading topic of discussion in U.S. politics.Most Democratic candidates seeking the presidency in 2020 have embraced it. Liberal Democrats are joining the GND vanguard at a rapid clip. Many Republicans and conservative Democrats are afraid to criticize it, and some have cautiously endorsed it.The relative sudden emergence of the GND gives it the appearance of a flash-mob movement.It is anything but.The GND is actually a long-delayed, inevitable counter-reaction to decades of middle-class decline and resulting ...
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