With what is likely the coming end to the Bernie Sanders campaign in July, Sanders supporters are looking at what is next.
Many will make the decision to join the Democratic Party ranks and stand behind Hillary Clinton while others are looking for a plan b.
Jill Stein, the presumptive nominee for the Green Party, believes she should be that plan b, and is using her record on the environment to make her case.
When asked about her proposed Green New Deal, Stein said, “my campaign is declaring an emergency of our economy and an emergency of our climate. We’re calling for a plan of action that is as big as the crisis that is barreling down on us. We are calling for 20 million jobs. I think Bernie is calling for about 9 [million] last time I saw.”
Stein’s plan, she argues is not only going to have a massive net positive on the environment, but it will end unemployment nationwide.
“We’re calling for 20 million jobs, which is enough jobs to put everyone to work in a full-time job, and those jobs are focused on creating a just and sustainable economy, with a just transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy, to a healthy and sustainable food system, to public energy efficiency, renewably powered transportation and to include restoring infrastructure, including ecosystems. So there is a green component here that is not addressed in Bernie’s plan.”
When it came to laying out the timeframe of her policy, she said the timeframe starts now, saying there is no time to wait for action on the environment.
“The time frame of our plan is, like, now — meaning, start now on an emergency basis, so that by 2030 we have achieved clean, renewable energy and fossil fuels and nuclear power are shut down by 2030. The reason for that is that is what science demands if we are going to get out of here alive.”
Stein further explained her policies outside the environment in the Truthout interview, aligning her views on Black Lives Matter, the $15 minimum wage debate, and abolishing student debt. However, it is her green views that she is hoping to bring Sanders supporters into the mix.
