What Do You Want to Know About the Green New Deal?

The policy has become one of the most hotly debated climate proposals in years.

Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Ever since then-representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined a demonstration pushing for a Green New Deal last year, politicians, pundits, and activists have debated the proposal’s ambitious goals for addressing climate change. In early February, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a resolution laying out a framework for the proposed program, which includes a commitment to renewable energy, investments in infrastructure and energy-efficient buildings, guaranteed jobs with living wages, and paid family and medical leave.

Though the resolution garnered the support of more than 60 House members, as well as senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), among others, it’s also attracted its fair share of critics who charge that it is costly and attempts to do too much. It’s also unclear how much support the proposal has among Democratic leadership in the Senate, evidenced by a recent viral video of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) explaining her reasons for not supporting the measure and telling students that it would not pass. Senate Democrats, led by Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), also introduced their own version of a climate resolution Thursday as an alternative to Ocasio and Markey’s proposal.

Still, the Green New Deal has become a rallying cry for many climate activists, including the youth-led Sunrise Movement, which held a protest at Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office on Monday. And a poll from Data for Progress, a think tank that supports the policy, found that a majority of likely 2020 voters supported key aspects of the Green New Deal.

As the conversation around this proposal continues, we want to help you understand the policy and the politics: What questions do you have about the Green New Deal? What do you want to know about some of the specifics? How will it work, for instance, and what are the realistic objectives? Let us know in the form below, send an email to talk@motherjones.com, or leave us a voicemail at (510) 519-MOJO.

We’ll compile some of the best questions, then ask you to vote on a winning one. Our climate reporters will report out the answer.  

 

 

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate