The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal Quotes

“Neoliberalism is a driving force causing the climate crisis. This is because neoliberalism is a variant of classic liberalism, and classical liberalism builds from the idea that everyone should be granted maximum freedom to pursue their self-interest within capitalist market settings. But neoliberalism also diverges substantially from classical liberalism, and therefore also from the basic premises of orthodox economics that free markets, left to their own devices, will produce outcomes that are superior to government interventions. Here is the problem with neoliberalism, when counterposed against a purely free market model celebrated by economic orthodoxy. That is, what really occurs in practice under neoliberalism is that governments allow giant corporations to freely pursue profit opportunities to the maximum extent. But then government fixers arrive on the scene to bail out the corporations whenever their profits might be threatened. This amounts to socialism for capitalists, and harsh, free market capitalism for everyone else.”
― Noam Chomsky, The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“Some estimate that the challenge, while immense, does not impose burdens comparable to those of 1941. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, in a careful study, concludes that 'contrary to some commentaries, decarbonization will not require grand mobilization of the U.S. economy on par with World War II. The incremental costs of decarbonization above our normal energy costs will amount to 1 to 2 percent of U.S. GDP per year during the period to 2050. By contrast, during World War II, federal outlays soared to 43 percent of GDP from the prewar level of 10 percent of GDP in 1940.”
― Noam Chomsky, The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“Scientists seeking extraterrestrial intelligence have been struck by the Fermi paradox: Where are they? Astrophysics suggests that there should be intelligent life elsewhere. Maybe they are right; there really is intelligent life, and when it discovers the strange inhabitants of Planet Earth, it has the sense to stay far away.”
― Noam Chomsky, The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“it is certainly not realistic to expect that this can all be accomplished through private capitalist investments. But it is equally unrealistic to expect that public enterprises, on their own, can mount a project at this scale, and with the speed that is required. Still, advancing the Green New Deal will itself be a major force driving the transformation of capitalism away from its current interregnum between neoliberalism and neofascism.”
― Noam Chomsky, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“Thus, in June 2019, New York State passed the most ambitious set of climate targets in the country, including carbon-free electricity by 2040 and a net zero emissions economy by 2050.”
― Robert Pollin, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet; Library Edition

“Spending would then average about $4.5 trillion per year between 2024 and 2050. Total clean energy investment spending for the full twenty-seven-year investment cycle would amount to about $120 trillion.”
― Noam Chomsky, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“scientists contribute to writing and reviewing the IPCC’s reports, which are then reviewed by governments. I myself know well the climate scientists at my own university, University of Massachusetts Amherst, who are involved in various IPCC projects. These are very committed, capable, and credible people. So it is fair to say that the IPCC does bring together current, high-quality assessments of mainstream climate science on any given set of questions. There remains a small band of climate deniers, whose positions are given credence and then amplified in the mainstream media far beyond what is warranted given the scientific findings they have produced.24 Nevertheless, while it is implausible, we cannot totally rule out the possibility that some of their positions may have merit. But, exactly to this point, it is also the case that the IPCC is scrupulous in recognizing a high degree of uncertainty in all of its estimates. For example, its targets for the needed level of emissions reductions are never presented as a single figure, as in, say, “we must reduce emissions by 80 percent within twenty years or face these certain terrible consequences.” Rather, the IPCC always presents its conclusions in terms of ranges and probabilities. It is also true that the IPCC has regularly changed its assessments to a significant degree, as illustrated in recent years by some of its most important publications. Thus, in its 2007 Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC concluded that in order to stabilize the global average (mean) temperature”
― Noam Chomsky, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“Any version of the widely discussed Green New Deal project must include these priorities:

1. Greenhouse gas emissions reductions will at least achieve the targets set in 2018 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, namely a 45 percent reduction in global emissions by 2030 and the attainment of net zero emissions by 2050.

2. Investments to dramatically raise energy efficiency standards and equally dramatically expand the supply of solar, wind, and other clean renewable energy sources will form the leading edge of the transition to a green economy in all regions of the world.

3. The green economy will not expose workers in the fossil fuel industry and other vulnerable groups to the plague of joblessness and the anxieties of economic insecurity.

4. Economic growth must proceed along a sustainable and egalitarian path, such that climate stabilization is unified with the equally important goals of expanding job opportunities and raising mass living standards for working people and the poor throughout the world.”
― C.J. Polychroniou, The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“The Chief is an infantile megalomaniac, and very effective con man, who couldn’t care less if the world burns or explodes, as long as he can pretend to be the winner as he two-steps over the cliff waving his little red hat triumphantly.”
― Noam Chomsky, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet

“Global warming has an abstract feel. Who understands the difference between 1.5ºC and 2ºC (2.7ºF and 3.6ºF respectively)—in contrast to having food to put on the table for your children tomorrow?”
― Noam Chomsky, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet