Senator Ed Markey (Dem, Mass) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Dem, NY) introduced the Green New Deal this past January to help fight climate change. This legislation, if it is passed, would be implemented over the course of the next decade.

With a dying planet, the Green New Deal will help keep carbon emissions under control before conditions become unavoidable and dangerous.

Inspired by the New Deal programs that got America out of the Great Depression, the Green New Deal is spread into four pillars, according to the Green Party. The first pillar states that the deal will create jobs, ending unemployment, guaranteeing a living wage for every “American willing and able to work,” along with other benefits.

The second pillar consists of the plan to transition from “the old, gray economy into a new, sustainable economy.”

The third pillar will forgive debt, reducing homeowner and student debt burden, end taxpayer bailout and include more financial reforms.

The fourth pillar is the pillar that will focus on our democracy by protecting the way Americans vote and “to make clear that corporations are not persons and money is not speech.”

In 2017, the United Nations reported that low-carbon technologies aid clean air, save water, cut land use, and could reduce 25 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. UN Environment chief said that we are on the right track now that it is proven that clean air benefits both human and environmental life but we need to “create new, green jobs.”  

The New Green Deal is promising the end of unemployment but will come at a hefty charge of an estimated 2 to 6 trillion dollars. However, that is only a small price to pay for a liveable and breathable green planet that will last us for thousands of years to come.

While there is a big debate on whether the New Green Deal should become the new way we run things in America, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give us more years to enjoy this beautiful planet.