A Green New Deal: Panel Discussion

The Sustainable Impact of this project will be focused on social sustainability and engagement, as this project is a panel discussion on the potential impacts of policies from a Green New Deal (summarized in the bullet points below). The panel will discuss what types or policies may be implemented at the federal and state level and how that may affect our state funded university and campus sustainability plan. For example, during this legislative session here in Washington State there are three bills that address clean energy infrastructure and transportation, energy efficiency in the built environment and environmental justice for front line communities. Part of the discussion may include how these state policies or others like them at the federal level may impact our campus sustainability plan and communities here Washington.

The goals of the Green New Deal are:

• to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers;
• to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States;
• to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century;
• to secure clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for all people of the United States for generations to come; and
• to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, de-industrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth.

The Leadership & Student Involvement of this Project is founded on student collaboration between Green Evans - the environmental student RSO for the Evans School of Public Policy, student members of the Climate Justice Caucus of the Graduate Student Union UAW 4121 and UW students of the Seattle Chapter of the Sunrise Movement. The project is focused on providing an inclusive space for other students on campus to find out about the Sunrise Movement and how they might get involved with creating a more sustainable future for their communities. We see this event as an opportunity to engage with the Ethnic Cultural Center, students of color and student RSOs who may not see themselves as environmental justice activists, but whose communities have historically been disproportionately impacted by social, economic and environmental inequities.

This panel discussion on the Green New Deal is strongly focused on outcomes of Education Outreach and Behavior Change. It will educate students about the intersecting social, economic and environmental issues addressed by the Green New Deal and give students a sustainable framework to understand the challenges we face as a society if we want to create a more just and healthy world. It will engage students through outreach with opportunities to get involved with the Sunrise Movement and the fight for a more sustainable future. There are many levels of involvement for students interested in becoming active in this movement over the next year as Sunrise organizes events to #Change The Debate on climate change. Students will learn how behavior change in our political system can be impacted and transformed by youth activism as the Sunrise Movement and the youth movement in Europe are showing the world.

Feasibility, Accountability & Sustainability Last year, members of this group successfully organized a much larger town hall event in Kane Hall about the I-1631 carbon fee initiative and the history of carbon policies in Washington state more broadly. GreenEvans has a faculty mentor we can call-on if needed, and we have already been in touch with our RSO advisor Christina Coop. Also, we intentionally decided to have this event in a smaller space than Kane Hall (for ~100 people) to make sure we have the capacity among our group members to support this event given that it is just a few weeks away. We will track attendance at the event via sign-in with a laptop into a Google form to understand what majors and departments participated. We are also considering an online exit survey before people leave to gather basic information about the impact of the event.