Unforeseen Contingencies

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has proposed a "Green New Deal" that promises to fix anthropogenic warming and advance "social justice."  it's a quite radical proposal -- it calls for a complete end to fossil fuel use in the United States in ten years, among other things.  Sandy Cortez did not invent it -- she's just the vehicle being used to promote it.  David Roberts of Vox has an excellent article surveying the history and principles of the GND.  (Yes, this is the same David Roberts who says "war crimes trials" for people who disagree with climate change radicalism should be part of any AGW solution.)

The idea of banishing all fossil fuels in ten years is astonishing.  Fossil fuel sources, especially natural gas and coal, provide almost 2/3 of America's electricity.  There's no way this could be replaced in ten years, for two reasons.  First, wind and solar provide intermittent power; they can't rise and fall according to demand, but instead depend on the vagaries of... wind and solar.  The technology doesn't exist to store electricity on the scale that would be needed.  And the intermittency would destabilize the power grid, creating blackouts.  Second, the required scale is too great.  Ending use of fossil fuels in ten years would mean major reductions in electricity.  This would shut down most transportation as well, since most is fossil-fueled.  With less electricity, electric cars can't fill the gap.  I'll admit, though, it would be interesting to see Rep. Cortez in a solar powered airplane.

The GND is not a serious proposal, but it should be taken seriously, because the socialists in Congress and their voter base seem to be all-in for it.  It could never be fully implemented, but then Hugo Chavez' Chavismo couldn't be fully implemented, but that hasn't stopped it from destroying an entire country.

Photo: Rep. Sandy Cortez.  I like this photo, it's quite dramatic. I think the photographer is trying to have her remind us of Che.  And I suspect there's more Che in her than most people realize.