Climate control is a serious business today. From young activist Greta Thunberg to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) Green New Deal and ending cow flatulence, progressives and liberals are bound and determined not to let the world end in 12 years. While President Joe Biden works on building up infrastructure using increased corporate tax rates, darling AOC and cohorts have come up with a plan of attack against climate issues by creating a “Civilian Climate Corps.”

The first thing that comes to mind with the term “corps” is a militia of some sort; a group of civilians running around tattling on neighbors who have the audacity to still be using plastic straws. However, according to the proposal, “Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act of 2021,” it is designed to hire 1.5 million Americans and pay them $15 an hour for five years, including full health care benefits. The “corpsmembers” would receive on-the-job training and work with community groups to:

“reduce carbon emissions, enable a transition to renewable energy, build healthier and more resilient communities, implement conservation projects with proven climate benefits, and help communities recover from climate disasters.”

The idea is to expand on the National and Community Service Act of 1990 which was inspired by the New Deal-era Civilian Conservative Corps created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, which allowed for men to work in federal programs to help improve public lands, forests, and parks. According to AOC:

“What we’re going to do is make sure communities like Flint, Baltimore, the South Bronx, St. Louis, rural communities whose infrastructure was never properly built in the first place, are first in line to rectify the injustices of the past and make sure they get everything they need to thrive in the future.”

“Injustices of the past?” Why does everything have to have trigger words, bringing to mind slavery and oppression when we’re talking about climate change and infrastructure? But then, so-called anti-racist procedures seem to be written into everything now, whether it’s needed or not. The proposal, co-written by Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) makes anti-racism a top priority, stating that to accomplish the “goals of a just and equitable CCC,” the program will ensure:

“Explicit antiracist language ensures that environmental justice communities receive benefits of at least 50% of CCC and Partner Corps projects, and 50% of corpsmembers will be recruited from these same communities, with no age limit for participation in at least 50% of Partner Corps.”

Besides the $15 per hour wage and medical benefits, corpsmembers will also get help with transportation, childcare, and housing. There is also education funding which enables “educational grants of $25,000 per year of service, up to $50,0000, eligible for further education at any level or to pay down student debt.”

According to a Markey aide, it will cost an estimated $10 billion. However, if 1.5 million people were hired at $15 an hour at a mere 20 hours a week, that would be:
·        $450,000,000 a week
·        $23,400,000,000 a year
·        $117,000,000,000 for the five-year period.
Considerably more than the $10,000,000,000 that Markey suggests, without any of the other benefits promised or the cost of non-wage overhead figured in.

The president showed his support for the proposal when he introduced his plan, saying it would “put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation, increasing carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protecting biodiversity, improving access to recreation, and addressing the changing climate.”

It seems amazing that it will only take five years to complete these tasks to save the Earth from climate issues; but perhaps that’s beside the point.

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Read more from Kelli Ballard.