Don't forget the 'Green New Deal' -- A Green Economy is the Way Forward

marz62

The back drop to the current pandemic is Climate Change (which scientists tell us will cause more epidemics and pandemics due in part to global land use changes/habitat destruction, over-crowding of urban centers, and weakening immune systems).

This is not a time to put aside the idea of a 'green economy'...but a time to accelerate it!

Here is a well-researched (and referenced) article on this vital topic:

Green jobs, in particular, have the potential to reshape power dynamics between labor and capital by providing a floor for compensation. Green jobs pay 8 to 19 percent higher than national averages, and half require no more than a high school diploma. Historical examples of successful federal jobs initiatives include former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed 9 and 3.5 million workers respectively, with the latter also credited with planting 2 billion trees, developing 800 parks and stocking rivers with 1 million fish.

The Article:
The Next Economic Stimulus Must Include Green New Deal Measures
https://truthout.org/articles/the-next-economic-stimulus-must-include-green-new-deal-measures/

marz62

[Correction: in the preceding comment, I meant to say Climate Change 'exacerbates' epidemics/pandemics, not 'causes' them directly]

And here is another relevant article (also from Truthout.org) that buttresses my initial comment:

Climate Change Multiplies the Threats of Infectious Diseases

'...this multilayered issue has knock-on effects — from the way rising temperatures exacerbate certain health problems to the disruptions that extreme weather events have on the global supply chain — that are inextricably linked with one another. What’s more, the governmental response to the coronavirus crisis, say experts, offers a troubling glimpse into what might happen in the future as the global thermometer inches upwards.'

'As the world’s population growth continues to rise, natural habitats will continue to be encroached upon and destroyed, not only removing valuable carbon sinks like rainforests but creating environments in which notorious zoonotic disease carriers like bats and rats thrive.'

/https://truthout.org/articles/climate-change-multiplies-the-threats-of-infectious-diseases/