Science for a Green New Deal : Connecting Climate, Economics, and Social Justice

Description

Science, not politics, can take us beyond the hype and headlines to forge a realistic green new deal. Since it was first proposed in the US House of Representatives, the Green New Deal has been hotly debated, often using partisan characterizations that critique it as extreme or socialist. The intent was not simply to fight climate change or address a specific environmental concern, but rather to tackle how climate change and other environmental challenges affect the economy, the vulnerable, and social justice―and vice versa. In Science for a Green New Deal, Eric Davidson dissects this legislative resolution. He also shows how green new deal thinking offers a framework for a much-needed convergence of the natural sciences, social science, economics, and community engagement to develop holistic policy solutions to the most pressing issues of our day. Davidson weaves the case for linkages among multiple global crises, including a pandemic that has reversed progress on fighting poverty and hunger, an acceleration of climate change that has exacerbated storms, floods, droughts, and fires, and a renewed awareness of profound social injustices highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement. Illustrating these points with his personal life experiences as a child growing up in Montana and as a famed researcher leading a large scientific society, Davidson relates these complex challenges to our everyday lives and decision-making. How, he asks, can we extract from the Earth's resources what we need for the prosperity, well-being, and dignity of current and future generations of billions of people without exhausting or polluting those resources? Written in clear, jargon-free prose, Science for a Green New Deal is a realistic and optimistic look at how we can attain a more sustainable, prosperous, and just future. CONTENTS FOREWORD, BY DONALD F. BOESCH PREFACE 1 Muddling or Dealing? Muddling through the Eras The Anthropocene: When the Human Domain Clearly Enveloped the Earth Harnessing Science The Invisible Hand and Sleight of Hand to Thwart Planning Convergence for Green New Deal Thinking 2 No Tree, No Bee, No Honey, No Money Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees (or Does It?) No Wealth, No Health, No Wellness, No Justice Co-production of Knowledge Recommendations 3 Are There Too Few or Too Many People? How Many Babies Will Our Babies Have? A Dated View from the White Old Deal Environmental Refugees We Know How to Slow Population Growth, but . . . Recommendations 4 Manure Happens: The Consequences of Feeding Over Seven Billion Human Omnivores Waste or Resource? Carrots and Sticks for Farmers Principles of Regenerative Agriculture How Productive Agriculture Can Help Conserve Forests Incentives for Regenerative Agriculture Not Conflating Regenerative Agriculture and Organic Agriculture We Are What We Eat, and So Is Our Environmental Impact Less Food Waste Happens Habit Change Happens Recommendations 5 Climate Change Viewed by a Skeptic at Heart From Healthy Skepticism to Scholarly Consensus: A Journey of Scientific Integrity What Climate Change and Pandemics Have in Common When Worldviews Lead to Denialism A COVID Consensus: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Mask, No Service Renewable Energy: A Journey from Pie-in-the Sky Prospects to Mainstream Economics The Four Pillars of Deep Decarbonization Forests Are a Big Part of the Solution Too Even Renewables Have Drawbacks Batteries Are the New Oil Powering with Willpower Recommendations 6 The Luddites Had It Half-Right, but the Other Half Could Be Great News The Robot in the Coal Mine How Many Farmers Does It Take to Feed Us? Can Renewables and the GND Bring Back Better Jobs? Access to Education Pathways to Smart Diversified Employment Rural Internetization Is to a GND as Rural Electrification Was to Roosevelt’s New Deal The Luddites of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Recommendations 7 There’s a Great Future in Plastics Circular Eco