Category: Resiliency

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The Green New Deal is Now Every State’s Call to Action

Bringing the Green New Deal home

Writing in the Janesville, WI GazetteExtra, John Imes writes:

The Green New Deal resolution introduced in Congress calls for a massive U.S. mobilization over 10 years to achieve the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions while creating millions of high-wage jobs and sustainable economic growth. Unfortunately, while the science and need for federal action on climate change are clear, we can’t expect serious policymaking on the topic to come out of Washington until 2021 at the earliest.

Fortunately, it’s a new day in Wisconsin and the state is well positioned to make headway on many of the goals and objectives as outlined in the Green New Deal. For example…

Well, it’s also a new day in New Jersey, and indeed in every other state, and since we’re here, let’s do the comparison.
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New Jersey Now “Gets” Climate Change. What We Are Still Missing: “From Government and Really Helping”: Part 3

By Matt Polsky

Image result for Texas National Guard aid residents in flooded areas from Hurricane Harvey daily kos

Photo by Army National Guard/Lt. Zachary West

The first two articles of this Series, see here and here, discussed ideas and gave recommendations about opportunities to address climate change about which we’re not hearing enough of in New Jersey. We continue to provide more of these in Part 3.

Two historians of science, Oreskes and Conway, responding recently to the latest IPCC report, and invoking the “transformation” concept, both discussed in Part 2, tell us that “Major transformations can happen in a generation. But not without government help.” So, we’re going to have to talk about State Government yet again, because it is that important.

They also rebut the conventional wisdom that the technological advancements many are counting on to address climate change are going to come solely from the private sector.

Continue reading “New Jersey Now “Gets” Climate Change. What We Are Still Missing: “From Government and Really Helping”: Part 3”

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What We Need to Do Now about GHG Emissions in New Jersey

By Jonathan Cloud

Over the past several decades, scientists have warned us that we need to curtail further greenhouse gas emissions if we wish to keep global warming below 2°C, which many consider a major danger limit for the Earth’s climate. The latest IPCC Special Report suggests that our economy must undergo a series of rapid transformations if we are to have a chance of staying at or below 1.5°C, and going over that could have disastrous consequences for many millions of people. The global emissions trajectory we are on is clearly incapable of even slowing the rate of temperature growth and sea-level rise, and must be reduced dramatically if we are achieve even a modest extension of the time we have before the Earth hits another milestone and potential tipping point.

Both U.S. and NJ emissions have been declining since the early 2000s, and NJ actually hit its 2020 goal of bringing emissions down to 1990 levels by 2008. But reaching the next set of objectives, an 80% reduction by 2050, will be significantly harder. According to a 2017 Rutgers report, “meeting the state’s limit of an 80 percent reduction from the 2006 level by 2050 will require a 75 percent reduction from 2012 emissions.”[1] The UN estimates that global emissions overall must be trending firmly downward by 2020 (just over a year away) if we are to have any hope of staying “well under the 2°C limit,” which is the language of the Paris Accord.

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Finding the Green in Murphy’s ‘Economic Master Plan’

New Jersey’s new “economic development master plan” is embedded in a report issued  by the NJ Economic Development Authority titled “The State of Innovation: Building a Stronger and Fairer New Jersey.” First accounts of the report, such as this one from NJBIZ, mentioned a focus on wage growth, on community college education, on innovation, and on streamlining regulations for small business, but did not specifically mention that clean energy is a major part of the “innovation” focus.

Murphy unveils NJ economic development ‘master plan’
By Daniel J. Munoz, October 1, 2018 at 2:44 PM

Gov. Phil Murphy announces his major economic agenda on Oct. 1, 2018 at ON3 biotechnology campus in Nutley.

Gov. Phil Murphy announces his major economic agenda on Oct. 1, 2018 at ON3 biotechnology campus in Nutley. – (EDWIN J. TORRES/NJ GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)

Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday unveiled his “master plan” aimed at reimagining how the state attracts and keeps jobs and businesses and kick starting New Jersey’s economy, which he said lagged for the past decade under the administration of Chris Christie.

Murphy, at the ON3 biotechnology campus in Passaic County, said his goal is that by 2025 New Jersey will have added 300,000 new jobs, achieved a 4 percent wage growth or an increase of $1,500 in median wages, 40,000 more women and minorities working in STEM fields, $645 million in new venture capital investment, and the employment of 42,000 more women and minorities.

More broadly, Murphy’s economic outline has four parts – investment in people, investment in communities, a build-up of the innovation economy and making government work better for small businesses by streamlining much of the permitting and application processes and bureaucracies online.

Which led us initially to wonder “where’s the green in Murphy’s new economic master plan?” Fortunately the answer is pretty clear—it’s a key part of the Innovation Economy, and already getting some new attention at the agency.

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Launching NJ’s New Green Economy

A More Comprehensive Look at a Green Economy Strategy for New Jersey

Launching this web site is an opportunity to feature the ideas of a new environmental generation — and a platform for shaping the public discourse in New Jersey. The election of Phil Murphy marks a return to a progressive, green, and socially-affirming agenda, and it’s important to support this direction against the general drift of New Jersey politics. The recent (June 2018) budget battle is an example of the frustrations and compromises that seem likely to place limits on what Murphy can accomplish, but neither he nor we can afford to be discouraged by it. His reach may exceed his grasp, but it’s worth reaching for.

Creating a genuinely green economy is, arguably, a win-win proposition.1 It creates jobs — jobs that are meaningful, satisfying, and worthwhile.2 It makes us more resilient, and more sustainable, and a better example for the rest of the country. It demonstrates that green is profitable, inclusive, and uplifting. It creates a world that works better for everyone, not just for a select few — but it works for them also. (How is it not in the interests of “the elite” to have a society that is prosperous, and generous, and fair? Many if not most of the wealthy recognize that much of their wealth comes from the rising productivity, prosperity, and well-being of everyone else.) When things get better for everyone, they get better for everyone.

This is what the Murphys, both Phil and Tammy, are all about. But it’s up to the rest of us to make sure they stay on track, and are not derailed by circumstances, naysaying, or the daunting challenges they face in pushing NJ into the fast lane toward a sustainable future.3 This web site offers a more comprehensive look at a green economic strategy for New Jersey, and provides some practical opportunities for civic action, green entrepreneurship, and grassroots engagement.

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New Jersey declared top US green energy economy once more


Hydrogen Fuel News reports that

New Jersey’s green energy economy had fallen into a multi-year stagnant state under Governor Christie. That said, Governor Murphy has once again made clean energy a priority for the state and has returned it to membership in the exclusive “50×30” club. Other members include California, New York, Vermont and Hawaii.

That membership means that the state is committed to running on 50% renewable energy sources by 2030. Interestingly, both Iowa and Colorado are likely to reach that same clean power goal, though through voluntarily utility leadership as opposed to membership in the 50×30 club.

By signing the new solar bill, Murphy has put NJ back into the lead, with a commitment to a 100% renewable energy economy by 2050, and a series of other initiatives. The story, by Julie Campbell, concludes:

New Jersey’s green energy economy is composed of several large strategies and projects to ensure its goal achievement. This includes its new utility reforms – to prevent electricity price spikes – and energy efficiency targets, as well as the most recent clean energy bill signed by the governor. Together, those components will quadruple the state’s goal for renewable energy. It will also provide consumer protection, decrease pollution, and create thousands of new jobs in the state.

While we view the Green Economy through a much broader lens, it’s good to have someone — anyone — tell us we’re back on top.

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