5 things to know about the Aotearoa Green New Deal
What is the Green New Deal?
Talks of a ‘Green New Deal’ have captured the imagination of climate activists, scholars and policymakers across the world. It’s a broad term used to describe a range of reforms, policies, community responses, and economic actions aimed at addressing the global environmental crisis. In other words, it sets out to improve all aspects of environmental wellbeing through economic transformation. Most recently, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made news by introducing the Green New Deal – a radical, government-directed plan to transition the US economy to a socially just zero-carbon economy.
If we’re serious about systems change in Aotearoa, we need to introduce a Green New Deal. Here’s five important things you should know:
It’s inspired by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s national program in the 1930’s which was called the New Deal. This original New Deal was a response to the dual crisis of the great depression and the dust bowl. This combination of economic crisis and environmental crisis is eerily like the situation we find ourselves in today.
The Aotearoa Green New Deal is a new dominant paradigm, world view, or model for economics, design, and institutions which is regenerative, equitable, and beautiful (like a natural ecosystem).
It’s both a mandate and an opportunity to reimagine and reshape how we all live our lives. At the heart of that reshaping is what our connection and relationship with the local whenua, planet, and cosmos could be.
The original New Deal forever changed what an average person expected government’s role to be in their life. The Green New deal in Aotearoa will need to have a similarly dramatic effect to address the challenges of climate crisis and societal inequity.
Implementing an Aotearoa Green New Deal does not have to be painful or miserable. There is an ocean of untapped creative potential and ingenuity latent in Aotearoa and its people. Tapping into this through open source collective sense-making and problem solving will help us to maximize win wins. Learning from how natural systems manage.