I have wrestled with publishing a diary on this story on Amy Klobuchar’s answer to whether she supports the New Green Deal at a CNN Town Hall.
I don’t want this story to be the first primary war. It is not my intention to cause any discord because our focus has to be on getting rid of Donald Trump. Because I shun conflict, it is just not part of me.
So I am sharing this news as informational only so that her position will be a part of our process of choosing a candidate.
As most of you know, I am generally a green diarist at this site. A gloom and doom type of Kossack when it comes to climate change, but a believer that if we throw everything we have at the problem we might be able to make the damage a little bit less severe.
The news for the climate is awful as most of you know, civilization ending calamity is on the horizon if we do not entirely restructure how we power our homes and industries and a myriad of other issues. But it is much more complicated than just energy, and cars. It includes the exploitation of our aquifers, land use issues, agriculture and the rise of authoritarianism sowing discord (but those are issues for a separate diary).
I will admit to it, I am a one issue voter, and that issue for me is going all out to eliminate fossil fuels within a decade and to aggressively begin to shore up our defenses as best we can to protect us from more and more deadly natural disasters.
The IPCC stated that we have 12 years (10 now) to accomplish decarbonization before the best of the "worst” case scenario’s plays out.
So I am disappointed with Senator Klobuchar’s answer to a question on the Green New Deal. To be clear, she did state that she will vote for the GND when Mitch McConnell brings it up for a vote in the Senate. But she called it aspirational. That worries me that she doesn’t get it. I understand what an overwhelming challenge it will be to reverse direction quickly. Herculean in fact. But no action or incremental action is to accept that we have chosen a mass extinction event for our future. That sounds horrific to me.
We need action, not starting the debate. We’ve been “debating” this for decades. Time is up, it’s either now or never. If not the Green Deal than what are your plans?
1. Klobuchar says she doesn’t support all of the ‘Green New Deal.’ Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Tuesday that the “Green New Deal” proposal is merely “aspirational” and that she would likely oppose specific elements of the plan if they came up for a vote. Klobuchar’s comments during a Fox News interview made her one of the only 2020 Democratic presidential contenders to openly cast doubt on the Green New Deal’s viability. Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., all co-sponosored the Green New Deal resolution. “The Green New Deal? I see it as aspirational. I see it as a jump-start,” Klobuchar said.” “So I would vote yes [on the Green New Deal resolution], but I would also — if it got down to the nitty-gritty of an actual legislation, as opposed to, ‘Oh, here’s some goals we have’ — uh, that would be different for me.”