Wildfires and Hurricanes: It’s Time For a Green New Deal

Wildfires are tearing through the West Coast at rates never seen before. The smoke from wildfires is causing places like Seattle, Portland, and the Bay Area to experience some of the worst air qualities in the entire world. Hurricanes are hitting the Gulf Coast and many areas of the East Coast hard in recent years. It’s undeniable that climate change has become a real threat to human life, but hardly anything is being done about it.

Last week, the Bay Area and numerous other populated West Coast cities were engulfed by smoke and hazy air caused due to the numerous wildfires. One day, the air was so bad that the skies turned orange in the Bay Area. Some areas even saw the Air Quality Index (AQI) reach levels of over 300 (hazardous). Bad air reached areas such as far as the Midwest and Great Plains.

Areas that haven’t seen wildfires for years, like Idaho and parts of Washington state and Oregon, are now seeing fires flare up everywhere. In Idaho, a new fire of over 70,000 acres forced many to evacuate. This year’s wildfire season has already caused almost 30 people to die and thousands of homes to be destroyed.

Although many of these wildfires are naturally-caused, some, like the Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest in California, were caused by a gender-reveal party. And some arsonists decided to start a number of fires in various areas.

Hurricanes have also battered the Gulf Coast hard this year. Last month, Hurricane Laura, which made landfall near Lake Charles, Louisiana, was one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall in the state. Damage was recorded in areas as far inland as Arkansas. The hurricane caused $1.6 billion of damage.

It’s undeniable that these extreme weather events are caused by increasingly accelerating amounts of climate change and global warming. Yet, many people still seem oblivious to the damage caused by climate change.

The Republican Party is one of the only mainstream political parties that actively deny climate change: President Trump, among other GOP figures and conservative media, has dismissed climate change as the main cause of the wildfires, instead choosing to blame poor forest management. The GOP has also consistently acted against measures to improve the environment, and the President has also withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, allowed oil pipelines to be built, and tried to include lots of money to bail out the oil and gas industries in COVID-19 relief bills.

It’s time for a Green New Deal.

Headed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in the current 116th Congress, the bill has failed time and time again to pass Republican-controlled houses of Congress.

A Green New Deal would include proposals such as transitioning to 100% renewable and clean energy, guarantee clean water, air, free health care, housing, and nature to all Americans, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, and in general implementing lots of measures, such as overhauling transportation networks, to reduce emissions.

Such a bill would likely significantly reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions, paving the way to a greener, more sustainable future. Although almost all House and Senate Democrats, such as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and more support the Deal, among people such as Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, Al Gore, Andrew Cuomo, and more, the bill has met strong opposition from the Republicans.

Republicans have called such deals “socialism,” “too expensive,” and an opportunity to “kill millions of more jobs.” To which, the appropriate answer is, too expensive compared to what? Already has climate change caused irreparable harm to our planet. Yet, the GOP chooses to side with oil, coal, and gas lobbyists to ensure people in states like West Virginia, which has a huge coal industry, remain loyal to the party.

The GOP has also been trying to undermine existing climate legislation in recent years, such as approving oil pipelines and more.

It is time to vote climate change deniers out of office. A Green New Deal must be passed to ensure our planet can be enjoyed by future generations, and take steps to make our world greener and more sustainable. Continuing to deny climate change will only hurt ourselves. It’s time to take action.