State: Sanders unveils his new climate plan inParadise.
PARADISE » Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders released a $16.3 trillion climate plan Thursday that builds on theGreen New Deal and calls for the United States tomove to renewable energy across the economy by 2050 and declare climate change a national emergency.
While the Vermont senator had already endorsed the sweeping Democratic proposal to combat climate change and had teamed up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez of New York on climate legislation, Sanders’ climate plan provides the most detail yet on how he envisions the climate change moonshot taking shape if he is elected president.
Sanders describes his plan, released Thursday, as a “10-year, nationwide mobilization centered on equity and humanity” that would create 20 million new jobs. The Green New Deal resolution, which Ocasio- Cortez put forth with Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, calls on the nation to eliminate its carbon footprint by 2030and to shift away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
Among Sanders’ ideas is sourcing 100% of the country’s electricity from renewable and zero- emissions power. He is calling for commit ting $2.18 trillion in grants for low- and middle-income families to weatherize and retrofit their homes and businesses, with the goal of reducing residential energy consumption by 30%. He would charge the EnergyDepartmentwithmaking sure that both new and existing commercial structures, as well as high-income homeowners, meet his administration’s energy retrofitting goals.
Sanders also is calling for an overhaul of the nation’s transportation system by investing in electric vehicles, high-speed rail and expanded public transit. He calls for spending $526 billion inmodernizing the electrical gridacross theUnited States.
In his plan, Sanders said communities of color are disproportionately affected by the climate emergency. He said the GreenNewDeal is an “opportunity to uproot historical injustices and inequities to advance social, racial and economic justice.”
Paradise , which was ravaged last November by the state’s deadliest wildfire on record, served as the backdrop for Sanders’ climate announcement.
Scientists and policymakers have blamed climate change for California’sworsening wildfires, which have killedmore than 100 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in recent years.
“Climate change is a major, major crisis for our country, and the entire world, and one of the manifestations of that crisis is what happened here,” Sanders said as he toured a destroyed mobile home park in Paradise alongside people who lost their homes in the blaze.
While cleanup and rebuilding is underway around the town, themobile homepark looked largely ignored, with twisted metal, burned- out cars and remnants of residents’ lives still covering properties.
If there was any “silver lining” to the fire, Sanders said, he hoped that it would be a wake-up call to the country and the world that “boldandaggressive action” is needed on climate change.
As scientists warn of the imminent consequences of global warming, the Green New Deal has been a rallying point for liberals in the party’s base as well as to Democratic presidential contenders in the crowded field. But Republicans have argued that the plan is too radical and would drive the economy off a cliff.