Protect The Harvest | The True Human Cost of the Green New Deal

Sustainability continues to be a topic of global interest taking a front-row seat on the agenda of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), governments, companies, consumers, and everything in between.

One of the most well-known examples of this is the Green New Deal introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey lays out a set of very broad environmental, sustainability, and climate change-based goals. This resolution hopes to see a world with net zero emissions by 2050 or even sooner. This sounds like a great idea however; a deeper look reveals that it sets that goal with no restrictions as to the impact on society and life as we know it.

While seemingly well-intentioned, many initiatives and proposals that are pushed forward to meet the deal’s ideals come with a hefty cost for the people involved. Nowhere is this more apparent than when politics come into play and the enforcement of policies ends up placing “sustainability” far above human needs. Essentially, these forces are trying to achieve arbitrarily established goals in ways that are often impractical and even dangerous.

Advancements in technology have helped enhance efficiency and environmental preservation in certain circumstances. What has not been made public is that some of these solutions are not necessarily the “end-all-be-all” that certain special interests and politicians have propped them up to be.