Sen. Cory Booker is proposing an environmental version of a New Deal-era work relief program that would effectively recruit young people to plant billions of trees within the next decade.
The New Jersey Democrat unveiled a bill Thursday with Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico that would establish a new civilian corps based on environmental stewardship.
Booker’s proposed Agriculture Department program would train and deploy young millennials from low-income areas during two-year stints in the restoration of U.S. forests.
They would be directed to plant four billion trees by 2030 and 15 billion trees by 2050 across federal, state, tribal and private lands — the plan is one way Booker hopes to tackle climate change.
Ultimately the plan would require 50,000 young people to be enrolled in the corps by 2027. Booker is one of more than 20 Democrats running for president.
“In FDR’s New Deal, the federal government planted billions of trees, provided conservation incentives to family farmers and ranchers, created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Civilian Conservation Corps, and electrified rural America,” he said in a statement.
The U.S.’s participation in World War II brought an end to the corps.
Booker added: “In order to address the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change, all of these approaches should be part of our broader strategy.” Other presidential candidates are floating similar climate policies.
Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, for instance, is floating a potential climate corps that would deploy young volunteers to install rooftop solar panels.
SEE ALSO: Burning Wood Pellets Under Fire As Coal Alternative
Activists argue the media and Democrats have been giving global warming and other environmental issues short shift in the early part of the presidential campaign season.
Hectoring from the environmentalist-left might have prompted reporters to elevate climate issues in the second presidential debate in July.
CNN moderator Dana Bash, for instance, asked former Vice President Joe Biden if there would there be any place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in a Biden administration.
Biden, who announced his presidential candidacy in April, replied with a resounding “no.” He added: “We would work it out. We would make sure it’s eliminated and no more subsidies for either one of those — any fossil fuel.” Other candidates made similar promises.
“We cannot work this out,” Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told Bash as Biden looked on. “The time is up. Our house is on fire. We have to stop using coal in 10 years and we need the president to do it or it won’t get done.” Inslee is making climate change the most crucial element in his presidential run.
Read more at Daily Caller
Personal experience. In a National Forest campground on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range in California, elevation 7,200 feet. Forest Service employees had planted seedlings in a burned area about five miles away. They had 53 seedlings left over. We were the Campground Hosts. We were asked if we could plant the seedlings inside the campground. The ‘soil’ was mostly pumice rock and powder. Along with another couple we dug holes, added some mulch, and pre-wet the ‘soil’. We planted the seedlings. We hauled water from a roadside rest area about a mile away – 40 gallons every 3 days, for three months that summer and kept the plants moist. The following summer when we arrived, I walked around the plants – all had survived.
Three summers later, when we were no longer hosting and were travelling, the Forest Service had 200 seedlings planted by local high school students. It seems that they were ignored. Twelve months later, none had survived.
Seedlings need attention. It’s time-consuming back-breaking mindless drudgery, but without it, planting is a waste to time and money. And from what little I’ve seen of today’s youngsters – it just ain’t going to happen…..
What if trees were planted solely for fuel, not to save the planet from AGW? That changes the argument. It’s the same as the false argument against Christmas trees. They only exist because we celebrate Christmas.
Biden is a narrow minded idiot dose he realy expect us to get around without any Fossil Fuels is he stupid enough to listen to those idiots from Greenpeace,EDF,Friends of the Earth and the NRDC? Biden is a idiot
What a great idea! Then have another group come through and clear-cut the trees so that they can erect wind turbines or solar panel farms. Employ double the number of kids. What could go wrong with that!?
Or raze 10’s of thousands of acres of virgin amazon forest for palm seed oil, to put into “renewable” diesel in Europe.
Are all the environmentalists still feeling green about that?
The DNC has gone down the scary global warming rabbit hole so hard they can’t get out .
One of their propaganda bunk buddies is the NYT , another MSM outhouse that can’t admit they have been backing an overblown hoax and people just aren’t buying the con any longer .
So what does management say to the owners? They are in free fall because
instead of printing all the news fit to print they have chosen to preach about an overblown fraud .
They don’t have to worry about any 10 year global extinction they are on track to destroy a hundred year old businees at any time .
Great share holder value proposition . Make oneself obsolete.
I only wish people weren’t buying the con game. It seems that constant repetition has made everyone into mindless zombies.
The schools are teaching all our kids about global warming as if a scientific fact.
It will be very difficult to undo the damage.
Spartacus is a denier . He won’t accept he has ZERO chance of being the DNC
(Communist Party USA ) nominee.
Most of the DNC hopefuls are just auditioning for a Tom Steyer crumb.
Why don’t he set a example and replant all these fire ravaged forest areas all by himself along with all those Eco-Wackos who opposing Logging Julia(Butterfly)Hill can help him