When it comes to climate policy, it probably won’t come as a surprise to most that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is one of the weakest bills that has ever been passed. Not only does the bill actually lock us into more fossil fuel production — it’s really just more weak neoliberal policy that will lead to more inequality. The bill is also an incredibly anti-democratic piece of legislation. It provides tax breaks to businesses to incentivize renewable infrastructure — but it says nothing about if, when, where, or how this will happen.

How about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal? Although it’s been relegated to the purgatorial graveyard of left-leaning policy — its framework is still our best bet out of this mess, right? Well not exactly. We’ll explore the benefits of AOC’s Green New Deal vision but also explain its limitations and outline exactly where it falls short. 

So, then, what would truly just climate policy look like? In this episode — the second in our 2-part series on the Green Transition — we’re going to take a look at what a just transition could look like. We’ll explore policy proposals, international campaigns, people’s climate agreements, manifestos, and the dreams, visions, and actions of those who are actually serious about equitably achieving the rapid systemic transformations that the climate emergency requires.

Featured Guests:

Max Ajl: Associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment, postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University, author of A People’s Green New Deal

Sungmanitu Bluebird: Oglala Lakota activist, host of the Bands of Turtle Island podcast, and former member of the Red Nation 

Sergio Chaparro: Colombian human rights activist and researcher

Matt Huber: Professor of geography and the environment at Syracuse University and author of Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet

Jeremy Ornstein: Youth climate activist with Sunrise Movement

Dušan Pajović – Green New Deal for Europe specialist at Diem25

Thea Riofrancos: Associate professor of political science at Providence College and co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal

This is Part 2 of a 2-part series on the Green Transition. You can listen to Part 1 at upstreampodcast.org/greentransitionpt1

Music by Chris Zabriskie, Pele, Peder, Sergey Cheremisinov, and Michael Cera Pallin.

Thank you to Bethan Mure for the cover art and to Elizabeth Sarmiento of Smart Yards Coop for reading excerpts from the Cochabamba People's Agreement for us. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond.

This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you and the Guerrilla Foundation and Resist Foundation. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

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