March 1, 2019

What Do You Want to Know About the Green New Deal?

The policy has become one of the most hotly debated climate proposals in years.

Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Ever since then-representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined a demonstration pushing for a Green New Deal last year, politicians, pundits, and activists have debated the proposal’s ambitious goals for addressing climate change. In early February, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a resolution laying out a framework for the proposed program, which includes a commitment to renewable energy, investments in infrastructure and energy-efficient buildings, guaranteed jobs with living wages, and paid family and medical leave.

Though the resolution garnered the support of more than 60 House members, as well as senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), among others, it’s also attracted its fair share of critics who charge that it is costly and attempts to do too much. It’s also unclear how much support the proposal has among Democratic leadership in the Senate, evidenced by a recent viral video of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) explaining her reasons for not supporting the measure and telling students that it would not pass. Senate Democrats, led by Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), also introduced their own version of a climate resolution Thursday as an alternative to Ocasio and Markey’s proposal.

Still, the Green New Deal has become a rallying cry for many climate activists, including the youth-led Sunrise Movement, which held a protest at Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office on Monday. And a poll from Data for Progress, a think tank that supports the policy, found that a majority of likely 2020 voters supported key aspects of the Green New Deal.

As the conversation around this proposal continues, we want to help you understand the policy and the politics: What questions do you have about the Green New Deal? What do you want to know about some of the specifics? How will it work, for instance, and what are the realistic objectives? Let us know in the form below, send an email to talk@motherjones.com, or leave us a voicemail at (510) 519-MOJO.

We’ll compile some of the best questions, then ask you to vote on a winning one. Our climate reporters will report out the answer.  

 

 

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate