stevecadman's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

The head of the United Nations environment agency, Achim Steiner, proposed a $750 Billion “Green New Deal” yesterday to help revive the world economy.  Such initiatives as improving building energy efficiency, better transportation alternatives, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, an better agricultural practices that cause less environmental harm.  The official suggested a tax on oil as a possible source of revenue for the project.

These are all fine ways to spend money and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Steiner had read TakePart to come up with a few of them.  However I’m not sure $750 Billion would be enough to get the world out of its current economic malaise, particularly if this is the amount to be spent worldwide.  Most economists are saying the recent economic $780 Billion stimulus package in the United States, which contained many of the measures proposed by Mr. Steiner, will not be enough to push America out of recession.  An even smaller sum bringing the whole world out seems unlikely.  But at least it’s a step in the right direction.  You can takepart in helping children around the world by logging onto UNICEF.

LINKS:

Reuters: $750 Billion green investment could revive economy

redOrbit: UN environment leader calls for “Green New Deal”

Environment News Service: 1% of World’s Wealth Could Fund Global Green New Deal