Thursday, May 2, 2019
O’Rourke Announces Plan to Fight Climate Change by Dougie D.
On Monday, O’Rourke announced his $5 billion dollar plan to get to net zero emissions by 2020. He claims climate change is "the greatest threat we face" and outlined a four-part framework to address this "existential threat" and "growing emergency."
If elected, O’Rourke’s first bill will “mobilize $5 trillion over 10 years — spurred by the single largest investment to fight climate change in history — to transform our aging infrastructure, accelerate innovation, and empower our people and communities to lead the climate fight," according to the plan.
O'Rourke's $5 trillion mobilization would be "directly leveraged by a fully paid-for $1.5 trillion investment," and the bill he will introduce would be funded "changes to the tax code to ensure corporations and the wealthiest among us pay their fair share and that we finally end the tens of billions of dollars of tax breaks currently given to fossil fuel companies."
He plans to take action against climate control starting on his first day. His actions would include re-entering the Paris agreement.
Climate change has been a major issue for the 2020 Democrats. The focus comes from a 2018 UN report that stated we only have until 2030 to save the world from the catastrophic effects of climate change.
Do you believe climate change is a real issue?
Would O’Rourke’s plan be effective in fighting climate change?
Is the bill being unfair to the rich?
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Climate change is a real issue, but I believe it is not such of a real issue. I think it would take a lot of money to do what he plans. I believe that it is only fair for the rich to pay because they got their money form companies that helped contribute to climate change.
ReplyDeleteI feel that climate change is an issue. I do believe that the plan would be extremely expensive. The rich should not be the only ones that are paying for it.
ReplyDeleteI think climate change will eventually be a big issue, but not in our lifetimes. I don't think his plan will be effective though. Unless every other country agrees to pledge the same amount of money, I don't think it will be effective.
ReplyDeleteClimate change (or global warming, as I think it is more accurate to say) is a real problem, but if anything has become clear to me over time, it's that alarmism on the topic has far exceeded the real extent of the problem. But even if that wasn't true, and our world will truly become uninhabitable in a relatively short time, as some have suggested, I question the fact that no one ever questions why the government has to be the one to try to solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteI understand perfectly well that many of the big corporations that contribute heavily to carbon emissions aren't going to just stop; after all, that's how they make their money, and they make the world go round. I would also like to add that I am all for more renewable energy and nuclear power, and something's going to have to happen within the next century at most because Earth is running out of readily available carbon resources.
However, we have a $22,000,000,000,000 debt on our heads as we speak, and adding $5 trillion straight to the mix (trust me, the tax increases never add up to the original spending amount, so we'd surely be adding at least a few trillion to the debt) is just asking for even more trouble.
And that's not even to mention the fact that not everyone thinks that the government has to be the solution to everything. A lot of people believe that the government is supposed to be limited, not increasing in size, spending, and power forever, which this proposal would inherently contribute to, as would any other similar proposal.
Further still, renewable sources of energy still have terrible problems that make them simply unviable as a nation's only sources of energy. Again, nuclear energy is a great option (and one I fully support), but it's still going to be very hard (and probably very detrimental to the country) to attempt to replace pretty much every car driven in the country and every factory with an alternative within thirty years (O'Rourke's proposed deadline is 2050). And for those that claim that something like carbon-capture is the solution, I would remind them that such an idea on any significant scale would be so expensive that it would dwarf the $5 trillion price tag of O'Rourke's idea.
In the end, I honestly believe that global warming isn't going to end the world, not even after a century. But even if it would, I don't think this is the way to solve it. I think it vastly overestimates the dangers of global warming, vastly underestimates what it would actually take to solve it, and ignores the dangers that may affect us in more immediately serious ways. Much like the proposed Green New Deal, I think this plan has problems all over it, and I think we should think about an absolutely complete (O'Rourke's, to my understanding, is very vague) and well-thought out plan before even considering trying to convince the country to enact a plan like this.
Climate change is an issue, but the extent of the issue is highly propagated by the media without significant scientific evidence. While plans for the future should be formulated in order to curb the effects of climate change, plans such as O'Rourke's are not the answer. The plan seems to be a very vague outline of an absurdly expensive "solution" to climate change. One such proposed decision is the switch to nuclear energy, which I believe will truly be the future of energy. The cost-benefit ratio of nuclear energy is unmatched by any other energy source. Not to mention, one kilogram of uranium contains two to three million times the energy equivalent of one kilogram of oil or coal. In regards to the taxation aspect of the plan, I feel that it is unfair. People tend to think of the upper class as a group of rich snobs with highly expendable income. Nobody ever stops to consider that those people worked harder in order to gain that money. I think it is ridiculous that people ostracize the upper class for having more money than the general public and make them pay more in taxes due to it. Fair taxes for all.
ReplyDeleteClimate change is definitely a real issue. Even if it is an issue that our generation shouldn't have to worry about, I don't believe in adding to the problem for the sake of current convenience. I think it is most beneficial in the long run to do what we can do to delay the effects now. I think the bill could work if he could find a way to fund it and get it passed which could be a very difficult task. I do not think this is being unfair to the rich. They produce a large portion of emissions yet middle class people are always blamed for not using metal straws, shopping fast fashion, or eating meat. I think this has a potential to do a lot of good and start placing the blame where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteOverwhelming scientific evidence thoroughly proves the very stark reality and harsh threats of climate change. Naturally, I understand and accept that it is a real problem. Do you believe climate change is a real issue?
ReplyDeleteI think that O’Rourke’s plan has the potential to be very effective in fighting climate change. In all honesty, it is almost hard for me to image a bill being unfair to the rich... if we are really basing our laws and justice off of equality and truth, then we should know that many corporations that fund the wealth of this nation are corrupt and should be held accountable for their bad actions and attitudes towards planetary health.