‘I Just Don’t Understand’: SC Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Shocked How Much People...
Mayor Karen Bass Tells ICE It’s Her Job to Protect Los Angeles When...
Tom Homan Blames Extreme Rhetoric from Democrats for Attack on ICE Agents and...
Alligator Alcatraz Detainee Says The Place is Freezing and Mosquitoes Are the Size...
The No-Longer-Rhetorical Question of Democrat Violence
NBC News: Liberia Faces Unplanned Pregnancies Because of US Aid Cuts
Trump Doesn’t Care That Returning Haitians Home Would Be a ‘Death Sentence’
Mayor Karen Bass Says the Problems at MacArthur Park Can't Be Solved Overnight
Rep. Jamie Raskin: MAGA’s Assault on Planned Parenthood Is Unconstitutional
Eric Swalwell Wants to Waste Time and Money in Futile Attempt to Blame...
But He's TOTES Not a Commie! Zohran Mamdani Wants to Seize Investment Property...
Border Patrol Chief: CA Trio Arrested and Face Felony Charges for Puncturing Tires...
Daily Beast EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Ted 'Cancun' Cruz Was on Vacation When Flash Flood...
CNN Estimates Elon Musk’s America Party Has 4 Percent Support
SOFT ON CRIME: Minnesota Man Set Free After 2022 Mall of America Shooting...

Forbes: Renewable energy Vermont didn't quite make its goal to cut emissions by half

Mike Shellenberger is president of Environmental Progress, which fights for “clean power and energy justice to achieve nature and prosperity for all.” He kind of lost us there at “energy justice,” but one thing he knows is this: a Green New Deal without nuclear is a non-starter.

Advertisement

Back in February, Shellenberger wrote in Forbes that the Green New Deal excluded nuclear and would, therefore, increase carbon emissions, as happened in Vermont. The Green New Deal has since been amended, but if Vermont is the model for clean energy, they’re doing it wrong.

It’s nice that freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has changed her mind and decided to allow Americans to have some electricity.

Advertisement

Well said; the most extreme version of the plan is their ultimate goal. And there’s so much in the Green New Deal that doesn’t have anything to do with climate change but keeps the other Democratic Socialists on board.

Shellenberger writes:

Vermont is home to Ocasio-Cortez allies, and Green New Deal advocates, Senator Bernie Sanders and climate activist Bill McKibben. Both insist the world can be powered on renewables alone. But consider what’s actually happened in their own state.

In 2005, Vermont legislators promised to reduce emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2012, and 50% below 1990 levels by 2028, through the use of renewables and energy efficiency only.

What’s happened since? Vermont’s emissions rose 16.3%. That’s more than twice as much as national emissions rose during the same period.

When you account for the U.S.’s far faster growth in population, Vermont’s per capita emissions rose 5% while U.S. per capita emissions declined by 17%.

That’s … not surprising.

Advertisement

There’s the hot truth: “The problem with nuclear energy is that it doesn’t demand the radical re-making of society, like renewables do.” As the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein explained, “When I say Green New Deal would require a revolution, I don’t mean it in the loose sense (like Reagan Revolution) — I mean it more like the French Revolution or Russian Revolution — i.e., [it] would have to topple the existing structure of government.

Advertisement

And just listen to all the noise lately about abolishing the Electoral College, the Supreme Court, and even the Senate. It’s coming from the Democratic candidates for president — who all tripped over each other racing to co-sponsor the Green New Deal.

And we’re going to build a nationwide network of high-speed trains to render air travel unnecessary, and we’re going to build it with … windmills?


Related:

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Twitchy Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement