̈Americans rapidly increased how much energy they were using in the mid-20th
century, their reliance on oil, natural gas, and nuclear power grew ̈ (Blumsack). The United States has grown its economy and manufacturing industries by using fossil fuels. Therefore, fossil fuels are used to power Americans' everyday lives and inevitably are the foundation for the lives we have today. In order to replace America's use of fossil fuels is nearly impossible. It would be incredibly costly and many people would lose their jobs. The Green New Deals' goal is to eliminate fossil fuels and uses green energy to create a new economy with green-collar jobs. Even though the Green New Deal has the potential to create new impactful jobs, it is next to impossible to replace fossil fuels and would be extremely expensive.
Some people believe the Green New Deal is beneficial and has the potential to improve environmental quality. First, the Green New Deal can potentially create green-collar jobs. These jobs are manual labor jobs that directly improve environmental quality. Some of the new jobs include green building architects and environmental engineers. These positions would help to use ̈green ̈ energy instead of fossil fuels and help improve urban communities. Some improvements would include waste reduction, materials reuse, green building, and water efficiency (Gerdes). Second, the Green New Deal would ¨Help communities mitigate costly damage by investing in urban green spaces ̈ (Zorn, Beachy, and Gunn-Wright). Urban green spaces help decrease the effects of natural disasters, including the prevention of flooding, restoring wetlands to buffer hurricanes, protecting houses from forest fires, and shielding coastlines from sea level rise. Doing this would help decrease the cost of natural disasters, which then improves environmental quality. Though the Green New Deal could improve environmental quality, its goal of eliminating fossil fuels would be next to impossible.
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Eliminating the use of fossil fuels would be extremely difficult. First, the replacement of fossil fuels would require action on the part of hundreds of millions of people (Blumsack). People would need to upgrade or replace their everyday appliances and homes. Except many do not see the importance nor have the willingness in doing so. Second, (Swenson) says transferring to green energy will create winners and losers. Fuel-producing states, companies, economies, etc. will struggle with the transition. Many people will lose their jobs in fuel industries and will have to be retrained to learn how to work in these new green industries. In doing so, people will lose their jobs and it will take time and money to replace fossil fuel industries.
The Green New Deal has the potential of being extremely expensive. First, fossil fuels are actually cheaper than alternative energy sources. MIT and University of Chicago researchers conclude that alternative energy sources will actually be more expensive than using fossil fuels (W. Stauffer). With newly founded technology it gains easier access to new and old fossil fuel deposits. Therefore, it will now be cheaper to exploit and utilize fuel deposits rather than use alternative energy. Second, eliminating fossil fuels would not be cost-effective. A new study has found that replacing fossil fuel industries in the U.S. could cost up to $4.7 trillion and about $35,000 per household (Lynn). Many consumers and businesses do not want to spend their money on such a large investment. For that reason, replacing fossil fuels would not be efficient. Thirdly, (Talgo) states, ̈After its launch in 1933, unemployment worsened, the federal debt increased monumentally, and the Great Depression lingered for years.¨ Previously when the Green New Deal ́s policies were launched the U.S. actually lost money and many people were affected. Implementing the Green New Deal could potentially send the U.S. into debt. With that being so, the New Deal comes with a high price tag and would be very costly for the U.S.
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