By Nalini Joseph

The Earth and our environment have always been near and dear to my heart.

Perhaps it’s because I grew up in the Himalayan foothills — in Darjeeling, 6700 feet above sea level. Immigrating to the land of plenty – America — and experiencing the availability and abundance of resources took a while to get used to. To this day, most first-time visitors or immigrants to America (besides those coming from Canada, Australia or perhaps a couple of other countries) are blown away by the sheer scale of how we live our everyday lives: the size of our homes, the cartful of groceries we purchase each week, the number of pairs of shoes each person owns. After having lived in America for more than 30 years, I am still amazed at our standard of living and the prosperity this nation provides. One downside of this wealth is in the abundance of waste. We all generate a sizable amount of waste in our everyday lives.

Across the globe, most scientists and governments agree that global warming and its potential primary effects (on sea levels, climate change and secondary socio-economic effects) are coming sooner rather than later — perhaps as early as the turn of the century. Most Americans also agree regardless of political affiliation, 74% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans, that global warming is imminent, according to Pew Research and a joint Yale University/University of California study. The disagreement is not in the “if” or “when” the disastrous effects will start to manifest themselves, but rather it’s in the implementation of plans and sacrifices that are necessary to mitigate the phenomenon.

Here is some perspective on CO2 emissions, the main culprit of global warming. It is true that the USA has contributed to 27% of CO2 emissions since the industrial age started. The world conveniently blames us (Americans) for all the issues — mostly to extort large subsidies. If you read the nationally determined contributions documents of the various countries in the Paris Accords, you will readily see the absolute fallacy and extortionist measures of countries like India and China. It is equally important to remember that the USA also (coincidentally, since the dawn of the industrial age) has given the world little things like refining oil (Rockefeller), airplanes (the Wright brothers), mass production assembly lines (Henry Ford), the Internet (anyone recall the DARPA net?) and a thousand other everyday conveniences.

However, what’s done is done and cannot be undone. As of today (per the EPA) global CO2 emissions produced are as follows: China, 30%; USA, 15%; European Union, 9%; India, 7%; Russian Federation, 5%; Japan, 4%; and the rest of the world, 30%. These figures are generally agreed to by most countries.

Let us suppose that the Green New Deal becomes our new way of life — whereby all fossil fuel-based industry, transportation and power supplies are all magically transformed into renewable energy as the primary source. All those employed by the energy sector will be unemployed. If the solution is to retrain all workers regardless of age or ability in new technologies, we then have a different problem.

Our options will be to retrain or accept what the government gives us — welfare — potentially costing us trillions. The question remains: what exactly has the Green New Deal achieved in terms of solving the global warming issue? Just look at the numbers: the rest of the world still emits 85% of global CO2. Are we to believe that China and India are going to shut down all coal-fired power plants (their primary power sources), stop steel production using the Bessemer process or stop producing concrete? What about fertilizer? Are we all going to stop eating?

If tomorrow the entire human race is wiped off the face of the planet, cows and livestock alone will still produce CO2 in an amount equal to 18% of today’s global CO2 output. Is the Green New Deal truly about climate change or is it using climate change as a pretext to completely overhaul America’s industry, government, financial and socio-economic structure? The fourteen pages of HR109 (the Green New Deal) are quite possibly just the surface of a very deep agenda for a long-term diabolical strategy that will destroy the American way of life as we know it. I urge everyone to read it and decide for themselves.

Nalini Joseph lives in Salisbury. Email her at nalinijones1@hotmail.com.