The deep green new deal

Save all EXISTING trees

Old trees store more carbon than news trees.

Older trees also continuously pull more carbon from the atmosphere than younger ones.

Old trees generally have more life, more extensive root systems, more symbiosis with larger fungal systems, and support larger ecosystems than younger trees.

We cannot merely plant new trees and nurture new ecosystems.

We have a decade to become carbon neutral. We need to save EVERY TREE WE CAN.

So, imagine the meaningful work this entails, and the possibilities for cooperatively self-managed, community-run jobs. Pruning and supporting existing trees. Adaptive building construction to shape living spaces around living trees and ecosystems. Diverting and storing water to help thirsty forests. Clearing underbrush with herds of goats to prevent forest fires.

To understand that the funding of such jobs is sustainable, and necessary, we must understand something basic about economics, governments, and money.

Spend money on life, not on destruction

Money has value because governments give it value: taxes are paid with it, and government employees are paid with it.

So any government jobs are free, as long as their are enough supporting producers (public or private or community) to prevent scarcity and inflation. But by governments, we don't mean centralized monstrosities, even though a federation of these will issue cash.

Real democracy

We mean governments that are self-governing, cooperating with other governments, in fair, equal, participatory democracy. Not the stuff we have today.

Produce almost everything locally

We need to reduce the dependence on the global supply chain, which takes power away from all localities. It should be there, but only for emergencies, supported by the government, and for quality comparison, so localities can know what's possible.

Import replacement is one of the most important pillars in local economic development. This can be accomplished by neighborhood-owned CDC's, cooperating regionally.

Just as important, to avoid local gentrification, is integration of localist work-creation with local trusts. The work that is important needs support, in perpetuity. So do the people, and their housing. The housing should be stable and personal, not manufactured, but created and maintained by the people who live there, so it has a truly humane and ecological morphology.