A GreenPrint for the Future:

Winning the Environmental Stewardship Gold Medal

   From this moment forward, every decision that we make as a society must be done within the context of combating the existential threat of climate change. All of our scientific insights and evidence regarding the severity and pace of climate change demonstrate that we have only a few years – not decades – to mitigate the most serious of consequences.

  This is not about a fight to “save the planet.” Earth will continue with or without us. It is a fight to “save us from ourselves,” because our choices have exacerbated conditions to the point where they have become a threat to the foundations of security and prosperity for every nation. It is a problem that our individual and collective decisions have created, and which only our individual and collective decisions can resolve.

   The United states generates four times the global average of carbon per capita. We are the worst global offender, but we have it within our means to reverse our course and become the global example of a decarbonized society. What we need is the will to tackle and succeed in this challenge. If America will not lead, who will? And if we won’t now, when?

 

TRANSFORM TO A LOW-CARBON ECONOMY

  • 100% clean and renewable electricity

  • Eliminate harmful emissions from energy production

  • No new offshore drilling for fossil fuel

  • A ban on new fracking

  • A just transition from coal

  • Federal and state divestment from fossil fuel

  • Invest in nuclear power as a transitional technology to reduce carbon footprint while investing in renewable energy platforms

  • Community ownership and public participation in renewable energy projects

  • Create rigorous building energy standards

  • Incentivize investment and purchasing of non-fossil fuel transportation

  • Increase emissions standard on passenger vehicles

GUARANTEE THE RIGHT TO CLEAN AIR AND CLEAN WATER

  • Maintain and enhance National Clean Air Standards

  • National lead pipe replacement and infrastructure upgrades

  • Guarantee access to safe and affordable drinking water

  • Protect and improve water quality in all waterways

PROTECT NATURAL RESOURCES

  • Reforest 40 million acres of public and private land

  • Restore 5 million acres of wetlands

  • Expand sustainable farming and soil practices

  • Support sustainable fishing and agriculture practices.

  • Cleanup brownfields and all hazardous sites

  • Lead a global research and action plan to rid our oceans and waterways of plastics and toxins.

  • Vigorously research and pilot methodologies to extract carbon dioxide and methane from our atmosphere

STRENGTHEN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE

  • Establish a national fund for urban and rural resilience

  • Manage resources in a way that guarantees the welfare and promotes equity of current and future generations

  • Expand public green space and recreational land and waters

  • Modernize urban mobility and mass transit

  • Zero waste: ban single use plastics

  • Promote hemp as an agricultural/industrial alternative

  • Promote a transition to organic farming

  • Promote local and community farming, phasing out agribusiness subsidies

PUT A GENERATION TO WORK

Create 10 million new public and private industry green jobs over 10 years through:

  • Employment and training programs

  • Grants for projects in new green industries and technologies

ENSURE JUST TRANSITIONS

All GreenPrint programs grants and projects must develop new training and certification standards and comply with:

  • Environmental justice standards

  • Collective bargaining and labor organization protections

  • Job quality standards