A recent report from the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis estimates that the state will take a decade or more to reverse the pandemic’s economic blows.
It also goes beyond environmental demands, calling for “providing all members of society with high-quality health care, affordable, safe and adequate housing, economic security, and access to clean water, air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.” The Green New Deal, then, is a promise to transform systems of oppression in addition to improving environmental standards.
As part of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s 2019 Green New Deal, he included a target of creating 300,000 green jobs by 2035 and 400,000 by 2040.
Maine’s 2019 “Act to Establish a Green New Deal for Maine” was described by representative Chloe Maxim as “basically an economic and job growth strategy for Maine.” The act creates jobs in renewable energy and manufacturing in addition to requiring Maine to reach 80% renewable electricity by 2040 and guaranteeing a just energy transition.
They are more likely to rent rather than own their homes, especially a problem in a state where 19 percent of state renters reported being behind on their rent in November 2020.
The New Haven Climate Movement, an “intergenerational grassroots organization of New Haven residents”, is currently using art and media to mobilize coastline residents about the need for a Connecticut Green New Deal.
How to pay for it? New York State, with the highest income inequality in the nation, just passed a top marginal income tax rate of 52% for its wealthiest residents for funding its investments in the public sector.
While the report includes recommendations on everything from transportation to carbon pricing, it is missing the Green New Deal’s key recognition of these policies’ connections to healthcare, housing, and the economy.
Lamont has announced his plans for Connecticut to lead in clean energy and carbon footprint reduction, especially present in his push for the Transportation Climate Initiative.
One statistic screams out: young Black men in Connecticut are 39 times more likely than young white men to be slain with a gun.
On Earth Day, some legislative colleagues and I joined about 40 young environmental activists at Hartford’s Riverfront Plaza for a “Meet Your Legislator” event hosted by the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
Before the pandemic, Connecticut’s recovery from the 2008 Great Recession was the worst of any state.
Over the 10-year period ending in 2017, more than 400 young people in Connecticut have been killed by guns.