City Council backs a Green New Deal

For decades, working-class communities and communities of color have been first to be hit by pollution, and last to be rebuilt after a climate disaster.

On November 23, 2018, the federal government issued a comprehensive climate study that made clear how urgent action over the next 12 years is needed by Congress to avert catastrophic damage to the planet.

During this week’s Council meeting, the Council voted (9-3, one Councilor absent) to pass a resolution in support of H.Res 109 and S.Res 59 "A Resolution Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal." A Green New Deal presents a 10-year plan to mobilize every aspect of American society to 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2030, a guaranteed living-wage job for anybody who needs one, and a just transition for both workers and frontline communities.

To achieve these goals, the plan calls for efforts such as providing funding for community-based solutions to climate change, removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from industry as much as is technologically feasible, maximizing water and energy efficiency in new buildings, retrofitting existing buildings, and more.