Varshini Prakash, founder of the Sunrise Movement, was quoted as saying, "[We are] feeling really disappointed that Nancy Pelosi had failed to follow the leadership of the 45 members of Congress, including some of the freshest faces of the Democratic Party – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Joe Neguse, so many more – in calling for a select committee for a Green New Deal."

Organized by the Sunrise Movement, over 200 youth activists supported by then-representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took over House minority leader Nancy Pelosi's office the morning of November 13, 2018, lobbying Democrats to act decisively on climate change. Pelosi's first address to the 116th session of Congress Thursday, January 3, 2019 stating that she would be "reinstituting the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis" was not sufficient to satisfy the demands of the Sunrise Movement.

Mid-January, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has now already published a Draft Text for a Proposed Addendum to House Rules for 116th Congress of the United States, which lays out what such a Green Deal would establish. It includes the following:

The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall be developed with the objective of reaching the following outcomes within the target window of 10 years from the start of execution of the Plan: Dramatically expand existing renewable power sources and deploy new production capacity with the goal of meeting 100% of national power demand through renewable sources; building a national, energy-efficient, "smart" grid; upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety; eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries, including by investing in local-scale agriculture in communities across the country ...

Also included are these goals:

Mitigate deeply entrenched racial, regional and gender-based inequalities in income and wealth (including, without limitation, ensuring that federal and other investment will be equitably distributed to historically impoverished, low income, deindustrialized or other marginalized communities in such a way that builds wealth and ownership at the community level); include additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security, labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism; and deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment.

This hodgepodge of wishful socialist thinking, climate non-science, social justice mandates, population control advocacy, and progressivism laced with technocracy is not new or original. Even before Jill Stein, failed Green Party 2016 presidential candidate, there was the Club of Rome, founded in 1968.

They have also issued their plan for climate control, and with much the same goals and mechanisms for the world to conform to their view. Is it possible that the "tippy top" Green New Deal spokesperson had the recent Club of Rome publication in mind when she published her Draft Text?

The Club of Rome Climate Emergency Plan calls for 10 priority actions: 1. Halt fossil fuel expansion and fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 ... 2.Triple annual investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low carbon technologies for high emitting sectors before 2025 ... 3. Put a price on carbon to reflect the true cost of fossil fuel use and embedded carbon by 2020 ... 4. Replace GDP growth as the main objective for societal progress ... 5. Improve refrigerant management by 2020. ... 6. Encourage exponential technology development by 2020 ... 7. Ensure greater materials efficiency and circularity by 2025 ... 8. Accelerate regenerative land use policies and adaptation ... 9. Ensure that population growth is kept under control by giving priority to education and health services for girls and women. ... 10. Provide for a just transition in all affected communities[.]

Hailed, by some, as the new youthful face of the Democratic Party Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be reading from the same old page written by the old Club of Rome. Nothing new under the sun, and nothing new about the socialist-progressive quest for absolute power over the masses and acquiescence by the deplorables. Climate change is the new scapegoat, and control of energy sources the new shape of the ruling iron fist.

Charles G. Battig, M.S., M.D., Heartland Institute policy expert on environment; VA-Scientists and Engineers for Energy and Environment (VA-SEEE). His website is www.climateis.com.