Essay Sample on The Green New Deal

Introduction

Environmental degradation is at an all-time high which has resulted in the necessity to come up with conservative measures that will help in curbing the vice before reaching irreversible levels. Global warming leading to the rise in sea levels as well as the destruction of natural habitats for most life forms are but a tip of the iceberg about the imminent dangers that face us owing to the continued pollution of the environment. One of the measures that have been adopted in the attempt to address the situation is the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal, i.e., GND is a proposed stimulus program that aims to address climate change and economic inequality (Bauhardt, 2014). The name refers to the New Deal, a set of social and economic reforms and public works projects undertaken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression (Bauhardt, 2014). The Green New Deal combines Roosevelt's economic approach with modern ideas such as renewable energy and resource efficiency.

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Economic inequality is another sector in modern society that has primarily affected how the resources get allocated or distributed amongst the people. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor has continually grown thereby leading to the further aggravation of the economic inequality case. However, the Green New Deal is expected to address the commercial bias case as well thus seeing to it that the severity of the condition is averted and brought down to sustainable levels.

Some individuals may wonder where the inter-relation between the economy and environmental wellbeing comes into play. However, taking our electricity supply system which is a significant economic driver, the burning of coal and fossil fuels are among the leading environmental pollutants. As a result, it is necessary to restructure some of the financial avenues to see to it that there is the achievement of a certain balance between the two sectors which is precisely what the Green New Deal is aimed at.

How the Green Deal Is Being Portrayed by the Media

In today's world of telecommunications, the media plays a significant role in influencing how the public understands a particular event or occurrence. Depending on the media, it is possible for either negative or positive publicity to prevail on a specific case irrespective of the actual underlying facts. In the case of the GND, the media has managed to send mixed messages to the public thereby making the understanding of the deal and whatever it stands for quite ambiguous among the people. Media coverage of House Resolution 109 wrongly focuses on mocking its ideas and proponents rather than fostering a balanced policy debate (Barbier, 2010). Criticism centers on the vague yet ambitious policy aims. Many observers question the budget impact of the resolution, though such concerns often ring hollow (Barbier, 2010). Lastly, despite the potential of the Senate advancing the legislation, the media has spent more time covering the House member who introduced the bill (Barbier, 2010).

However, the media has failed to recognize the fact that, the Green New Deal is aimed at providing the frameworks that will lead to the achievement of the set-out goals and objective and not the path leading to the realization of these objectives. A keen follower of the various media houses is likely to note that, the media has paid more attention to the individuals responsible for the introduction of the deal rather than focusing on the practicality and implementation initiatives of the GND. For instance, house representative Ocasio Cortez Alexandria is the sponsor behind this new movement and has been hitting the headlines on most occasions recently about the GND related affairs.

The media has instead shifted its attention on the underlying political issues surrounding the Green New Deal rather than the vital importance that the deal is expected to bring upon its implementation. Instead, the view and input made by leaders in the government are being approached from either a Democrat's or Republican's point of view. For instance, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez being a Democrat has faced a lot of criticism from the Republicans including president Trump when he said that the GND was nothing more than the brain work of a young bartender and noted that even her fellow Democrats were petrified with the legislators attempt to curb climate change utilizing such an in-definitive approach.

With such exchange of words between the leaders who are differently aligned with diverse political approaches, the media has been observed to be focused more on the dialogue between politicians and their opinions rather than focusing on the real issue on the ground regarding the GND. However, in some media platforms such as the media file DC, it has been observed that much of the media coverage of the GND has focused on Ocasio-Cortez rather than the proposition itself. However, this does not come as a surprise given that Alexandria Cortez has outstanding popularity on social media with a considerable following thereby making her sponsored motion appear to be shifting the attention from the main course to her personality. The representative is also a young which has also contributed significantly to the media's focus on the individual behind the deal rather than what is being presented on the table.

Influence of the Media on the GND Initiative

In the world that we are living today, communication and information management plays a huge role in influencing the outcomes of various major decision-making activities. Today, the media holds much power such that, they are often responsible for multiple results that are obtained from the public (Rosenow & Eyre, 2016). This could be attributed to the fact that the monetary economy has taken away most people's time and they, therefore, don't have the time to get involved in what is happening around them. As a result, the people have given this responsibility to the media who do the follow-up, interpretation and all that remains or the people is to make a decision on which side they choose to lean on. However, the media has not always been straight forward with the people and has been observed to be biased and sometimes may twist information in a way that may affect the decision-making process for the citizens.

In the case of the Green New Deal, although the media has been more focused on Cortez rather than the essentiatl facts related to the GND initiative. However, it is necessary to acknowledge the fact that the press holds a much more significant influence on how the public reacts on relation to the motion. The media reserves the power for both positive and negative publicity which will determine whether the proposition gets to be implemented or not.

It is possible to note that already the media has categorized the advocacy and opposition of the GND as per the 2020 general elections. By so doing, the Green New Deal has already been politicized with the people being divided by their political orientations. This way, different members of the public may either stand for or against the deal depending on what their political affiliation stands for (Marchand, Koh & Morris, 2015). For instance, the Democrats will most probably be in full support of the initiative whereas the Republicans will oppose the action not because the program is not beneficial, but since their political orientation does not support the motion.

With such an impending predicament at hand, the media also has a huge role to play in influencing the outcome and in determining the position that the members of the public decide to take. The press is charged with the responsibility to provide the people with clear and concise information that will see to it that even the least informed individuals can understand what the GND is all about and also that these individuals make the best-informed decision on whether to be in support of the motion or against,

The media has however been observed in various instances to be partial and may tend to present the information in favour of the media house's political affiliation or in the way that will favor them. Depending on the number of individuals that they can reach, then they can influence their decision-making process in their favor. It should be noted that the primary purpose of the media is information dissemination. Opinion and other following decision-making processes should be left to the public. In determining the passing or rejecting on the new initiative, the media will have a significant impact as observed given that the people will depend on the media to come up with their support or disapproval for the GND

Feasibility of the GND Initiative

In the undertaking of any new action, it is necessary to come up with a clear and definitive method of approach that helps to determine the practical applicability of the project at hand. When implementing a new program, it is necessary to assess whether the set objectives are; realistic, achievable as well as sustainable. With such a clear definition of the project to be implemented, it is possible to see to it that one comes up with not only a sustainable approach to the set objectives but also the realization of the set goals as well (Pettifor, Wilson & Chryssochoidis, 2015).

When it comes to the assessment of the feasibility of the GND, it is necessary to understand that there is the necessity to come up with a conservative measure that will see to it that we can curb our emissions and other pollutants. The global warming has been observed to be at an all-time high thereby compromising the future well-being of the planet at large. The Green New Deal is aimed at helping realize these objectives through a set of measures that include, the transformation of our energy systems (Guertler, 2019). As part of the initiative's 10-year plan, the text includes the goal of meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources, including I,) by dramatically expanding and upgrading renewable power sources; and (ii) by deploying new capacity (Guertler, 2019).

The GND has been met with a lot of criticism from both the political scene with significant allegations of the deal not being feasible, but the underlying concept has been proven to work before. Scientists have been exploring roadmaps for a carbon-neutral near-future for at least a decade (Feindt & Cowell, 2010). Most of the technological means are already invented, and now it's a matter of how to achieve our carbon-cutting goals (Feindt & Cowell, 2010). In the United States, the energy demand is at an ever-increasing rate with the supply being obtained from natural gas and petroleum which accounts for approximately 80% of the total energy requirements (Aji, 2018). The burning of these fuels has been attributed to be responsible for the continued pollution and degradation that has led to the depletion of the ozone layer consequently plummeting global warming and other similarly related effects.

However, with the implementation of the GND initiative, it will be possible to come up with a zero-emission power supply system that will see to it that the above-enumerated measures are mitigated. The reason as to why some individuals may tend to think that the zero-emission initiative is not feasible could be attributed to the fact that the current emission rates make the idea appear to be far-fetched. However, according to the GND, Biofuel crops, mostly corn, will re-absorb these emissions, making it closer to carbon-neutral from a life cycle perspective than fossil fuels, but farming and processing the corn into fuel releases a lot of greenhouse gases an improvement, overall, from burning gasoline, but still a net gain in carbon (Barth, 2011). That's why the use of terms like "clean," "re...