The Green New Deal is the name given to a half-formed quasi-rational publicity stunt formed by the New Guard in the House of Representatives. 

Deniers for hire like Organic Consumers Association, which are opposed to agriculture (not to mention their endorsement of anti-vaccine activists and endorsement of opponents of all science) say it will be great. And it will be, for their clients. That poor people will starve or freeze to death if city politicians define "sustainable" isn't really a concern, because the wealthy elites who give to environmental groups will be fine.

The Senate took a vote on it, in an opposing publicity stunt, and the Green New Deal got 0 votes. But then they did something more positive. In contrast to Green New Deal fan fiction (1), Senators have instead embraced science, in the form of next generation nuclear energy, small modular reactors which will provide green energy with a tiny fraction of the environmental footprint of solar power or, worse, wind.(2)

“Nuclear power produces 60 percent of all carbon free electricity in the United States. Within the next five years, we need to build one or more advanced reactors to demonstrate the capabilities they may bring—lower cost, increased safety, and less nuclear waste – and this legislation will help do that,” Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee noted, and while it is no surprise to see Republicans embracing energy science, it is important that Democrats are also now in support.

Flash back to 1994, when Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and President Bill Clinton got thunderous cheers from Democrats after they killed nuclear science in America, declaring in defiance of every nuclear expert than any nuclear research would be weaponized. Or Senator Harry Reid, who held up hundreds of George W. Bush appointments until Bush agreed to put his aide on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission specifically to stop research and development of the Yucca Mountain storage facility, which numerous science panels had found was the optimal solution for nuclear waste storage, far superior to the over 100 individual sites in use now. Or President Obama, who had two anti-nuclear activists in charge of the NRC.(3)


In America, this sentiment by Democrats remains the norm. Most won't even accept that corn can be grown without a hazmat suit, good luck getting them to embrace physics.

Solar is a gimmick as long as rich people who can afford solar installations continue to be subsidized by poor people who rent or own apartments. It is not viable for the entire country when it requires hijacking nature to place giant solar installations, plus adding new transmission lives equivalent to all of the paved roads in America.

Imagine instead where the world would be if American science and technology had been allowed to pursue nuclear energy the same way we have cell phones. 

Of course, trial lawyers are now suing over cell phones too, claiming they cause cancer. Just like in 1994 when it came to energy, the groups cheering them on are the groups that benefit financially by scaremongering progress. But on the side of science this time is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, an avowed liberal. And that is a good ally to have.

NOTES:

(1)

Here is where nuclear will be far better than wind or solar. The claims about farming are just as supernatural but that's an article for another time.



(2) Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Cory Booker, D-N.J., James Risch, R-Idaho, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Chris Coons, D-Del., Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio. 6 Democrats voting for science is a big change over 2012, when 53 Democrats tried to force the federal government to put a national warning label on GMO foods. Only 2 Republicans joined them.

(3) Neither of which were nuclear experts. Reid aide Jaczko was replaced by Allison Macfarlane, whose nuclear credentials were a book lobbying against the science of the Yucca Mountain disposal facility and being a Director at an anti-nuclear advocacy group.