{"id":145966,"date":"2021-05-02T03:21:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T03:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=116063"},"modified":"2021-05-02T03:21:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T03:21:09","slug":"what-would-a-deep-green-new-deal-look-like-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/02\/what-would-a-deep-green-new-deal-look-like-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades.\u00a0It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change.<\/p>\n

But the last of these hits a stumbling block. Creation of all<\/strong> forms of energy contributes to the destruction of nature and human life.\u00a0It is possible to increase the global quality of life at the same time we reduce the use of fossil fuels and other sources of energy.\u00a0 Therefore, a \u201cdeep\u201d GND would focus on energy reduction, otherwise known as energy conservation<\/strong>.\u00a0Decreasing total energy use is a prerequisite for securing human existence.<\/p>\n

Recognizing True Dangers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fossil fuel (FF)<\/b> dangers are well-known and include the destruction of Life via global heating.\u00a0FF problems also include land grabs from indigenous peoples, farmers, and communities throughout the world as well as the poisoning of air from burning and destruction of terrestrial and aquatic life from spills.\u00a0But those who focus on climate change tend to minimize very real danger of other types of energy production.\u00a0 A first step in developing a genuine GND is to acknowledge the destructive potential of \u201calternative energy\u201d (AltE).<\/p>\n

Nuclear power (nukes).\u00a0Though dangers of nuclear disasters such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl<\/a> and Fukushima are horrific, problems with the rest of its life cycle are often glossed over.\u00a0 Mining, milling, and transporting radioactive material to supply nukes with fuel and \u201cdispose\u201d of it exposes entire communities to poisoning that results in a variety of cancers.\u00a0 Though operation of nukes produces few greenhouse gases (GHGs), enormous quantities are released during production of steel, cement and other materials for building nuclear plants.\u00a0 They must be located next to water (for cooling), which means their discharge of hot water is an attack on aquatic life.\u00a0 Radioactive waste from nukes, kept in caskets for 30-50 years, threatens to poison humanity not for decades or centuries, but for millennia (or eternity), which makes nukes at least as dangerous as FFs.\u00a0 Inclusion of nuclear power as part of a GND<\/a> is not the slightest bit green.\u00a0 The only way to address nuclear power is how to abolish it as rapidly as possible while causing the least harm to those who depend on it for energy and income.<\/p>\n

Solar power<\/b> requires manufacturing processes with chemicals which are highly toxic to those who work with them.\u00a0 Even before production begins, many different minerals must be mined and processed, which endangers workers and communities while destroying wildlife habitat<\/a>.\u00a0 Additional minerals must be obtained for batteries.\u00a0 Once solar systems are used, they are discarded into large toxic dumps.\u00a0 Though few GHGs are created during use of solar panels, large amounts are created during their life cycle.<\/p>\n

Wind power<\/b> creates its own syndrome of nerve-wracking vibrations for those living next to \u201cwind farms,\u201d along with even larger issues with disposal of 160-foot blades.\u00a0 Like solar farms, wind farms undermine ecosystems where they are located.\u00a0 The life cycle of wind power includes toxic radioactive elements<\/a> to produce circular rotation of blades.<\/p>\n

Hydro-power<\/b> from dams hurts terrestrial as well as aquatic life<\/a> by altering the flow of river water.\u00a0 Dams undermine communities whose culture center around water and animals.\u00a0 Dams destroy farms.\u00a0 They exacerbate international conflicts when rivers flow through multiple countries, threaten the lives of construction workers<\/a>, and result in collapses which can kill over 100,000 people at a time.<\/p>\n

Several problems run through multiple AltE systems:<\/p>\n