May 13, 2021

Is Biden’s Jobs Plan a ‘Skinny Green New Deal’?

45 minutes

The Biden Administration's American Jobs Plan is billed as an "infrastructure" package. But it's also something else: the most ambitious climate plan a U.S. president has ever proposed. So what's in it? And how can we make sure this plan avoids the fate of the last big climate bill (hint: it didn’t go well)? We talk to an architect of the Green New Deal and one of our favorite energy policy experts — and then Alex and Ayana make a terrifying phone call.

Guests: Leah Stokes, Julian Brave NoiseCat

Take Action: Call your members of Congress!

As Ayana says, this is "a once in a lifetime opportunity to pass comprehensive, ambitious federal climate policy.” And as Dr. Leah Stokes said in our episode, now is the time! So call your members of Congress! If Alex and Ayana can do it, so can you!

Don’t know who your member of Congress is? No problem!

You can find out who your representative is here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

This site has information on your senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

You’ll find phone numbers for members’ D.C. offices on their websites — or just call the Capitol switchboard! They can connect you directly with the office of your representative or senator: (202) 224-3121

Tips for calling:

Make a plan! Jot down some notes to remember what you want to say.

Introduce yourself and tell them you’re a constituent! Let them know that you’re a voter in their district — and your opinion matters.

Tell them why you’re calling: It’s crucial that Congress take serious action on climate change this year to meet the U.S. target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

Ask for something specific! Maybe: I’m really excited about the American Jobs Plan, and I think it’s really important to pass a strong clean electricity standard to get us on the path to 100% clean power / I love the idea of a Civilian Climate Corps and Congress should fully fund it / It’s really important to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles / Choose your own climate priority! Maybe it’s kelp farming...

Leave your contact information. That’s it! You did it!

Learn More

Want to learn more about the American Jobs Plan? You can find the White House fact sheet here.

Want to learn more about clean electricity standards? Our guest this week, Dr. Leah Stokes, laid out her vision along with Sam Ricketts of Evergreen Action in a Vox article: This popular and proven climate policy should be at the top of Congress’s to-do list: The case for a national clean electricity standard.

You can find their full report advocating for a national clean electricity standard here: A Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 .

And you can hear more from Leah on her podcast, A Matter of Degrees.

We also talked about the clean electricity standard in Party Like It’s 2035.

Want to learn more about the Green New Deal? We told the story of the Green New Deal in our episodes How 2020 Became a Climate Election and The Green Wave.

If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode.

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.

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