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The 2020 Epilogue: A Green New Deal

The COVID-20 pandemic provided alot of unforeseen insight into the establishment of the 21st century world. Where the economy could've been jeopardized by sickness because of its reliance on extensive interaction and communications with people had it not been for government subsidies and pumping money into the economy to keep it going. Additionally, it also provided a surprising view into the reliance on fossil fuels as the restrictions that were established by varying governments showed how cities, streets and areas would look like with limited cars and other methods of transportation. The reveal of how nature looked like without provided a clear-cut and even unsettling realization on humanity's influence on nature being so widespread. Meanwhile, with the economy paralyzed, it also showed some of the failures, especially in some nations where the lack of financial protections and so on led to even greater problems and growing levels of unemployment. However, some saw this as a surprising opportunity. For the first time, everything more or less stopped, allowing people to take a breath and gather themselves, to really see what was going on. As such, there remained the question of what to do now? With this new knowledge, what should be done here?

The Sanders Administration decided it was a time to take a bold new opportunity for this. And thus they began implementing a project they hope to continue with reelection. The Green New Deal.

The Green New Deal would be a series of programs and investments designed to stimulate the economy, make financial reforms to grow the lower and middle class and transistion the American reliance onto clean and renewable sources of energy along with the major transitions regarding production, manufacturing and consumption, especially cultural changes, all while maintaining and increasing care of the environment.

The Green New Deal has grown in prominence with the announcement of rising climate problems and the need to address them. While predictions have been modified to show changes, (such as the decline of Exxon-Mobil in 2004), there still remains plenty of problems that need to be challenged to ensure a healthy and prosperous world for the next generations. Of course, there were some hesitation. For some, it was a matter of the extensive cost needed though this was challenged by noting the cost of "business as usual" would be moreso in the long-run and thus it would be a worthwhile investment. Others were more concerned on the approaches that needed to be done and moreover the lifestyle changes that would be needed in order to implement it. And of course, there would be opposition from those who denied manmade climate change (a fringe opinion by this point) or who would lose out much of their fortune in doing so. However, the COVID-20 epidemic provided an interesting opportunity. With a good portion of the workplace occupied, it provided an opportunity to get reliable data that would otherwise be very difficult to extrapolate for real world applications.

As such, the beginnings of the Green New Deal were being planned. The first initial sectors were for R&D purposes along with extensive brainstorming. After all, previous research needed to be taken into account along with lesser known opportunities or changes. Geothermal energy saw a large spike in interest for varying applications. Meanwhile, cost comparisons regarding solar and wind in terms of designs, mining and recycling was taken into further consideration, thus leading into more investment into biotechnology, especially with the idea of examining algae panels to power homes and other applications, including fungi of all things being taken. Many saw this as the next great innovative step for renewables, food, fuel and biodegradables. Next steps including preparations of classes to transition people working in fossil fuel industries, either directly or indirectly into renewables and working to retire fossil fuels from the major economic levels. Another was a massive investment into urban rural infrastructure, using the opportunity to make public transportation that ran on renewable energy and connect places together, reducing the reliance on automobiles while making more green spaces and ecofriendly environments. The growing investments would also see the establishment of new jobs down the line, especially when large-scale factory farming and food production would be included here, creating the need to further examine the amoutn of food used and consumed. This led to more unusual ideas that many would be given greater serious consideration such as bug harvesting for food, algae farming and even the growing possibilities of vatmeat.

However, other policies were cultural and to help the public adjust to the new reality. While the transition from plastic bags to paper bags was under way, it would be completed under the plans submitted. Bolder plans called for the restructuring of supermarkets to different approaches in selling. Some were promoting in bulk while others promoted the widescale implementation of zero-waste grocery stores as models. This did cause quite a stir for various industries, but there was a growing sense of writing on the wall, at least when it came to the macro-level. Another was the fashion industry when it came to the production of clothes and fabrics, especially with the concerns of microplastics. With various industries stone-walled by the lockdown, it provided a need for reflection and introspection. In fact, one unusual subsidy would go to television programs and internet videos to try and explain people what would be needed, albeit in a positive manner, with the notion of spreading these ideas to the zeitgeist and promoting them for positive purposes. This was especially the case as some may find these changes to be overwhelming and thus make the transistion easier. Furthermore, some plans could be further implemented than others and thus would require the work of everyone involved to succeed, though may run into problems regarding certain Congressfolk and so on.

Regardless, it came as a bright shining vision for the future and one that the US was eager to showcase to the rest of the world and provide various other nations potential ideas to follow through on and execute. In fact, various leaders would be trying to promote similar ideas across and even China would be keeping an eye for some of the ideas here. All in all, while the world waited at home, it presented an opportunity to stop, take a breath and plan for something new. President Sanders would promote this around the 4th of July, presenting it as the great American endeavor in building a better tomorrow.