The Green New Deal is often framed as a response to climate change — but whether you see it as a crisis or a hoax, the real point is what it delivers here at home: millions of good jobs, lower energy bills, stronger communities, and true energy independence. It’s about rebuilding America, ending costly resource wars, and putting working people first.
So just to drive this point home, and for the sake of uniting America, here are 100(!) reasons to support it — none of which have anything to do with climate:
JOBS, INDUSTRY & PROSPERITY
1. Creates 20 million living-wage jobs through a federally guaranteed Full Employment Program focused on green energy, infrastructure, and sustainable agriculture.
2. Revives American manufacturing through federal investment in renewable energy tech, electric transit, and sustainable industries.
3. Brings back stable, blue-collar jobs by guaranteeing full employment: the GND pledges a job to every American willing to work.
4. Rewards hard work with fair pay by setting a living wage as the national standard.
5. Supports trades and apprenticeships via massive retraining programs in energy, infrastructure, and construction.
6. Promotes "Made in America" goods by reshoring production of clean-energy tech and public works materials.
7. Reduces dependence on foreign supply chains for energy, food, and medical equipment by domestic investment.
8. Helps small businesses thrive with access to public banking and fair credit under financial reform policies.
9. Keeps jobs local, not outsourced because GND programs prioritize community-based renewable energy and agriculture.
10. Strengthens rural and heartland economies by expanding family farm support and regional green initiatives.
11. Grows the middle class with guaranteed jobs, housing, and health care.
12. Offers career paths without college debt via free public higher ed and vocational training.
13. Supports family-owned farms and shops through subsidies for regenerative agriculture and local economies.
14. Trains the next generation of builders through federal vocational and apprenticeship programs.
15. Rebuilds dignity through work by ending forced gig/precariat trends with guaranteed jobs.
16. Fights economic stagnation in neglected towns via local green stimulus and public works.
17. Helps workers transition from shrinking industries (coal, oil, factory automation) with guaranteed retraining and income.
18. Fosters long-term employment, not gig work via full-employment guarantees and labor protections.
19. Restores respect for craftsmanship by investing in skilled trades and worker co-ops.
20. Boosts job opportunities for veterans in green jobs and health care via the Federal Guarantee.
NATIONAL SECURITY & RESILIENCE
21. Increases U.S. energy independence by moving to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
22. Reduces reliance on unstable foreign regions by eliminating fossil fuel imports.
23. Makes our power grid more secure through decentralized renewable microgrids.
24. Strengthens supply chain sovereignty with domestic green-tech and medicine manufacturing.
25. Protects our food and water from foreign control by investing in food sovereignty and clean water infrastructure.
26. Ensures medical supplies can be made at home via reshoring manufacturing under the job guarantee.
27. Guards communities from economic shocks with guaranteed employment and local resilience investments.
28. Reduces vulnerability to resource wars by cutting oil dependence.
29. Hardens infrastructure against disasters by funding retrofits and resilient public works.
30. Builds self-reliance at the national level by rebuilding sustainable domestic systems.
FAMILY & COMMUNITY WELL-BEING
31. Lowers energy bills for families through renewable efficiency upgrades and retrofits.
32. Reduces health care costs from pollution-related illness with clean air/water policies.
33. Improves access to clean air and water as the GND mandates clean water/housing standards.
34. Creates safer schools and public buildings with green retrofits for safety and health.
35. Revitalizes main streets and small towns through sustainable jobs and infrastructure.
36. Encourages civic pride through public works with visible community-level projects.
37. Promotes walkable neighborhoods and local markets with mixed-use urban design funding.
38. Reduces traffic and commute stress via transit investment and jobs closer to home.
39. Helps families stay in their hometowns through local job guarantees and rural investment.
40. Fights urban blight with reinvestment in neglected areas through GND public works.
FARMERS, RANCHERS & LAND STEWARDSHIP
41. Supports regenerative farming with subsidies for sustainable practices.
42. Helps farmers earn more per acre by reducing chemical/fuel input costs through organics.
43. Reduces costly chemical inputs via soil-health programs.
44. Protects pollinators and healthy soil with bans on harmful pesticides.
45. Gives landowners tools to preserve their property through conservation easements and incentives.
46. Provides new revenue through land restoration via federal funding for ecological services.
47. Preserves American agricultural traditions by securing small farmer survival.
48. Promotes food independence reducing corporate agribusiness dependence.
49. Revives rural economies with new farm jobs and small-town investment.
50. Keeps water sources clean for livestock and crops from pollution cleanup under GND mandates.
INFRASTRUCTURE & TRANSPORTATION
51. Fixes crumbling roads and bridges through massive infrastructure investment.
52. Modernizes outdated water systems with guaranteed safe drinking water plans.
53. Expands high-speed rail and transit to replace long car commutes and flights.
54. Upgrades school buildings and public housing making them energy-efficient and safe.
55. Reduces wear and tear on vehicles with public transit and better roads.
56. Decreases traffic congestion via mass transit expansion.
57. Improves shipping and freight routes with upgraded rail/port systems.
58. Revitalizes ports and rail yards for sustainable trade.
59. Connects rural communities to services through transit investment.
60. Builds infrastructure that lasts with modern green standards.
PUBLIC HEALTH & QUALITY OF LIFE
61. Reduces asthma and respiratory illness via clean energy transition.
62. Improves mental health with greener cities through parks/green-space programs.
63. Cuts exposure to lead and toxic waste via GND cleanup efforts.
64. Creates cleaner indoor air with green retrofits for buildings.
65. Reduces noise pollution by shifting to EVs and rail.
66. Improves food quality and access by promoting local, organic food systems.
67. Decreases strain on emergency rooms by lowering pollution-related illness rates.
68. Supports seniors and people with disabilities with guaranteed housing, jobs, and health care.
69. Builds healthier environments for kids through clean schools/neighborhoods.
70. Makes water safe to drink again with full-scale infrastructure upgrades.
EDUCATION, TRAINING & KNOWLEDGE
71. Invests in trade schools and vocational training through free public education.
72. Makes it easier to earn while learning with paid apprenticeships and student stipends.
73. Reskills workers for growing industries by pivoting from fossil fuels to clean energy.
74. Offers lifelong learning opportunities with free continuing ed programs.
75. Supports education for underfunded communities with targeted GND funding.
76. Teaches practical, hands-on skills via vocational and technical school expansions.
77. Revives shop class and vocational pride as green trades become core jobs.
78. Fights brain drain in rural areas by creating career paths locally.
79. Boosts community colleges and local training centers via federal investment.
80. Connects students with meaningful work through the job guarantee program.
PATRIOTISM, VALUES & LEGACY
81. Honors American ingenuity and grit with massive national-scale innovation efforts.
82. Rebuilds the country our grandparents built through federally led works.
83. Leaves a legacy of strength and self-reliance via sustainable infrastructure.
84. Protects America’s natural beauty for future generations with large-scale conservation.
85. Encourages responsible stewardship of shared resources.
86. Strengthens national unity through shared goals with a universal job guarantee.
87. Creates common purpose in a divided time with tangible national projects.
88. Demonstrates leadership to the world as one of the first nations to build 100% clean economy.
89. Invests in the American dream via guaranteed housing, jobs, education, health care.
90. Reminds us what government can do when it works with visible victories.
JUSTICE, FREEDOM & FAIRNESS
91. Provides opportunities in underserved communities with targeted investments and the job guarantee.
92. Levels the playing field for working families through economic rights.
93. Respects the dignity of every kind of work beyond corporate jobs, including care work.
94. Makes good jobs available in every zip code via federal hiring mandate.
95. Helps low-income families build wealth through fair credit and housing supports.
96. Frees people from choosing between health and income by providing universal health care.
97. Makes housing more affordable with public housing expansion.
98. Gives more people a shot at a better life by removing structural barriers to jobs and ed.
99. Ensures no community is left behind with equitable distribution of green investments.
100. Builds a country where hard work really pays off by institutionalizing economic rights in law.
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Now you're probably wondering, what does a Green New Deal actually propose, which can accomplish ALL this?
In Part 2 below, we detail the GND policies proposed by the US Green Party. Of all the GND proposals, theirs is the best in our view.
In Part 3, we discuss how it'd be funded. Cheers!
Part 2: Core Policy Proposals of the Green Party's Green New Deal
1. Employment & Wages
- Enact a federally guaranteed Job Program: employment for all at a living wage.
- Establish a living wage as the national minimum (indexed to cost of living).
- Guarantee full labor rights: strengthen unions, abolish "right-to-work-for-less" laws, promote worker co-ops.
2. Economic Bill of Rights
- Universal health care through an expanded Medicare for All system.
- Housing as a human right: expand and upgrade public housing, enforce rent control, end foreclosures/evictions.
- Tuition-free public education from pre-K through college and technical school.
- Cancel existing student debt.
- Accessible, nutritious food as a right, with support for local and regional food systems.
3. Energy & Climate
- Transition to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030.
- End fossil fuel use: ban fracking, new fossil projects, mountaintop removal mining, and offshore drilling.
- Phase out fossil fuel subsidies and military spending used to secure oil interests.
- Invest in decentralized publicly-owned renewable energy systems, microgrids, and storage.
4. Infrastructure & Transit
- Launch a comprehensive Green Public Works Program rebuilding infrastructure with sustainable materials/standards.
- Rebuild and modernize water systems, schools, bridges, and public buildings.
- Expand public transit nationwide: high-speed rail, light rail, electric buses, bike/pedestrian infrastructure.
- Upgrade public housing and all government buildings for energy efficiency and safety.
5. Agriculture & Land Use
- Redirect subsidies to regenerative farming, organic practices, and soil health programs.
- Support small farms and family operations; break up corporate agribusiness monopolies.
- Protect pollinators and biodiversity: ban toxic pesticides (e.g., neonicotinoids).
- Expand funding for conservation, reforestation, and ecosystem restoration.
- Enforce strong protections for waterways, wetlands, and natural resources.
6. Justice & Equity
- Guarantee priority investment in frontline, Indigenous, poor, and communities of color most harmed by pollution/economic exclusion.
- Expand public banking and community credit systems to empower local businesses.
- Enshrine economic rights in law: jobs, health care, housing, education, and food.
- Reform the justice system: end the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and redirect funds into social supports.
7. Democracy & Political Reform
- Overturn Citizens United; establish full public financing of elections.
- Adopt ranked-choice voting and proportional representation.
- Abolish gerrymandering and voter suppression laws.
- Expand democratic ownership: promote worker cooperatives, municipal utilities, and community land trusts.
8. National Security & Foreign Policy
- Redefine security in terms of energy independence, resilience, food security, and public health.
- End foreign wars for oil; close overseas bases tied to fossil fuel dominance.
- Cut the military budget drastically and redirect funds into green infrastructure and domestic resilience.
- Reinvest in diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and international climate cooperation.
In short, the policy package is a combination of:
- Economic Bill of Rights (jobs, housing, health care, education, food).
- Rapid energy transition (100% renewables, ban fossil expansion).
- Massive public works & infrastructure upgrade.
- Support for regenerative farming & conservation.
- Justice and democracy reforms to ensure equity and public power.
- Demilitarization and redirecting resources toward domestic rebuilding.
Part 3: How We Fund It
“This sounds great — but how are we going to afford it?”
Here’s how the Green Party’s Green New Deal pays for itself — while investing about $1 trillion per year (roughly what the U.S. spent bailing out Wall Street in 2008):
Direct Public Investment
- A $1 trillion per year federal investment program over the next decade — directed into renewable energy, infrastructure, jobs, housing, and education.
- This is the same scale of spending America used to mobilize in WWII — but this time, building peace and prosperity at home.
Progressive Tax Reform
- Tax Wall Street speculation with a financial transaction tax.
- Restore fair taxation on the wealthy and large corporations (close loopholes, end offshore tax havens).
- Carbon taxes and pollution fees on the largest corporate polluters — with revenue returned as a dividend to citizens. This ensures that households, especially low- and middle-income families, receive more back than they pay in increased costs.
- Wealth tax on extreme fortunes.
Redirecting Current Waste
- Cut bloated military spending (currently over $850 billion/year). Ending endless wars and trimming Pentagon waste can free hundreds of billions annually.
- Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, now billions per year directly propping up oil, gas, and coal.
- Stop corporate welfare programs that privatize gains while socializing losses.
Creating Public Money for Public Good
- Green Quantitative Easing: the Federal Reserve can create money for direct investment in clean energy and infrastructure (like it did to bail out banks).
- Expand public banking, so infrastructure and housing projects are financed at low or no interest — keeping wealth circulating locally instead of flowing to Wall Street.
Enormous Savings
Every dollar we invest now saves multiple dollars over time — here’s how:
- Health care savings: Clean air, clean energy, and toxin-free food cut chronic disease, asthma, and cancer rates — saving hundreds of billions every year in health costs.
- Energy savings for families: Renewables and efficiency upgrades slash household energy bills permanently.
- Disaster prevention: Strengthened infrastructure and energy independence mean fewer trillion-dollar disasters from hurricanes, floods, and oil shocks.
- Economic savings: Full employment reduces welfare, unemployment costs, and crime-related expenses — while growing tax revenue from millions of new good-paying jobs.
Bottom Line
- Costs: ~$1 trillion per year in federal investment.
- Funding sources: taxing wealth & speculation, ending wasteful subsidies and wars, public investment from the Fed, community banking.
- Savings: lower health care costs, reduced disaster relief spending, and permanent drops in household expenses.
And here’s the kicker: we’ve already spent this kind of money before — just on the wrong things.
The so‑called "War on Terror" has cost the United States an estimated $6–8 trillion since 2001. That staggering sum could have:
- Financed the entire transition to 100% renewable energy.
- Rebuilt America’s roads, bridges, schools, and homes twice over.
- Made us truly secure by removing the dependence on foreign oil that drives endless resource wars in the first place.
Instead, we wasted it on wars without end — wars that cost lives abroad, fueled terrorism, eroded civil liberties at home, and left us no safer.
Imagine if even half of that had been invested here, in rebuilding America. We wouldn’t just be talking about “how to pay for it” — we’d already be living in a country with guaranteed healthcare, debt‑free education, millions of good jobs, clean energy, and no need to fight over oil in the desert.
The truth is, the money is there. The resources are there. The only question is whether we choose a future of endless wars for fossil fuels — or one of peace, resilience, and prosperity built on renewable energy and economic security for all.
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