In the last few weeks as the hoopla of an election year has taken focus, we have seen the stark contrast of two distinct versions of the future presented by our two major parties. Not only does the viability of our democracy hang in the balance but the livability of our increasingly fragile planet is also on the ballot.
In my mind our planet’s health should be our major concern, yet campaigns generally stress the immediate concerns of voters, and most of those are economic.
So, it is taxes and jobs, not global warming. Those issues are important to me, too. I was dismayed to find that despite my very limited fixed income, I pay a higher percentage in taxes than the average rate paid by our nation’s billionaires. How can that be?
Let’s consider job growth. According to the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Inflation Reduction Act passed by President Joe Biden is expected to create 9 million new jobs over the next 10 years. These are good-paying jobs in sectors like clean energy, clean manufacturing and efficient building, all a part of growing a clean economy.
The initial investments spurred by the IRA and other measures will spin into many more jobs. According to David Alexandru Timas writing for the World Economic Forum, green jobs are the fastest growing and most resilient. “In the U.S. green jobs are expected to span to nearly 24 million, comprising 14% of all U.S. jobs by 2030.”
He says that the largest job gains are expected to occur in electrical efficiency, power generation and the automotive sector. “Combined with modernizing the grid,” he states, “they alone make up some 75% of the 13.3 million new job gains expected.”
There’s a lot at stake. Oliver Milman, writing for the Guardian, recently discussed the impact of climate policies in the right-wing Project 2025. He says that Project 2025 would increase U.S. emissions by 2.7 billion tons above the current trajectory by 2030: “Such a burst of extra pollution will torpedo any chance the U.S. could meet its goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030 which scientists say is imperative to help the world avert disastrous climate change.”
“It would also, the analysis found, result in 1.7 million lost jobs by 2030 due to the reduced clean energy deployment that is not offset by smaller gains in fossil fuel jobs and a $320 billion hit to the U.S. GDP as the wave of new domestic renewables and electric car manufacturing is reversed,” he added.
Milman further states that “Project 2025 calls for a widespread evisceration of environmental protections, allowing for a glut of new oil and gas drilling, the repeal of the IRA and even the elimination of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service.”
The former president and his running mate are climate-deniers. The former president’s VP elect called the IRA a “green energy scam.” Their mantra is still “drill, baby, drill” and they are proud of it.
Project 2025, which was drafted by some of the former president’s advisors, would radically change our government and devastate the environment.
“Project 2025 just seems like the road to hell made with evil intentions,” said Gina McCarthy, the former top climate adviser to Biden. “It really has to be rejected.”
We can reject it with our votes.
So, do we want to lead global efforts to combat climate change or roll back climate legislation and favor fossil fuels and destroy green jobs?
Writing for Forbes, Ken Silverstein recently explained, “The 2025 platform also endorses the return of coal and advocates for more oil production.” He also states that “Project 2025 calls for deep cuts in federal funding for climate research and the withdrawal from the Paris agreement.” And yes, Project 2025 wants to gut IRA even though some $300 billion of investments have flowed to GOP-held areas.
The vision of a livable future is already attracting major financial and intellectual assets creating new opportunities in manufacturing, building on the IRA, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, CHIPS and the Science Act. We can go forward or backward.
The pundits say it comes down to gut jobs or create jobs. Lower taxes for billionaires and raise taxes for the rest of us or equitable tax rates. Elections matter. The voters will decide.
Meanwhile, it sure is getting hotter and hotter outside.
Published on September 8, 2024, in the Albuquerque Journal.
© Judith Polich. All Rights Reserved. May be republished with author’s written consent and proper attribution.