Author Topic: Climate change sparks tension among Democrats  (Read 369 times)

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Online Elderberry

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Climate change sparks tension among Democrats
« on: December 24, 2018, 12:24:02 am »
Houston Chronicle by  James Osborne Dec. 22, 2018

House Democrats have spent the past two years slamming Republicans for inaction, if not obstruction, of policies aimed at addressing climate change. But now, the question of what to about one of the great issues facing mankind is dividing Democrats as they prepare to take control of the House for the first time in eight years.

The rising political star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congresswoman-elect, shook up the party last month when she proposed what she calls a Green New Deal. Modeled on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1930’s era public works program, Cortez says the federal government should spend upwards of $1 trillion over the next decade to build wind and solar farms, charging stations for electric cars and other projects that cut the production of greenhouse gases.

Ocasio-Cortez’s plan, which gained the support of 40 other House Democrats, was shot down this week by the presumptive Speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, and other leaders, who instead said they would revive a select committee on climate change that was disbanded by Republicans in 2011. Ocasio-Cortez responded: “We don’t have time to sit on our hands as our planet burns.”

The intra-party tensions follow a series of warnings from scientists that climate change is accelerating, including a report from the United Nations that if warming is left unchecked, the world could suffer devastating food shortages, wildfires, flooded coastlines, and the mass destruction of coral reefs as soon as 2040. The only way to avoid that scenario, the UN said, is to cut carbon emissions nearly in half by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Climate-change-sparks-tension-among-Democrats-13485375.php

Offline Fishrrman

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Re: Climate change sparks tension among Democrats
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2018, 12:33:20 am »
From the article:
"House Democrats have spent the past two years slamming Republicans for inaction, if not obstruction, of policies aimed at addressing climate change. But now, the question of what to about one of the great issues facing mankind..."

No need to read beyond that point.