C.C.C. 2.0
The Civilian Conservation Corps is being rebooted as the Climate Conservation Corps. President Biden’s administration has proposed a timely and compelling new federal program, modeled after the New Deal’s C.C.C. program, this time focusing on renewable energies and initiatives to combat climate change.
According to the White House, the “new” C.C.C. is intended “…to conserve and restore public lands and waters, bolster community resilience, increase reforestation, increase carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protect biodiversity, improve access to recreation, and address the changing climate.”
Not only will the CCC provide jobs and skills for unemployed and underemployed Americans- with an emphasis on greater inclusivity than the original CCC provided, , , but even more importantly, the Climate Conservation Corps will address a philosophical element , as Jim Lardner expressed in The New Yorker:
“A modern-day C.C.C. could be an attention-getting reminder of something that a great many Americans seem to have forgotten: The capacity of government to be an instrument of the common good.” (Lardner, 2021).
“Santa Clara Indian Reservation, Santa Fe, New Mexico. December 2, 1940. A member of the CCC Indian Division Crew cementing the joints in a pipe line which is being built on the Santa Clara Pueblo lands for the purpose of diverting irrigation and drinking water to the Pueblo lands and surrounding areas. “
National Archives ID: 35-G-17C-2077
The original CCC provided jobs for unemployed Americans; although a non-discrimination clause was written into the original Act, the CCC mainly hired young, single, white men. The de facto segregation created separate CCC camps, like New Mexico’s Indian Division and more than 150 separate camps for African - American men. It wasn’t until much later, that women were even considered. Pointedly, the new Climate Conservation Corps is focused upon creating an equitable job opportunity for all Americans.
New Mexico’s influence is important- as NM Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan are sponsors and New Mexico’s own, Department of Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland is a key supporter of the initiative. As New Mexico embarks upon another decade of severe drought , with little relief in sight, it is hopeful to know that Washington D.C. is focusing on the big, existential picture and using successful models from the New Deal to wage this particular war.
READ MORE HERE:
National Public Radio: Reaching Back to the New Deal, Biden Proposes a Civilian Climate Corps (May 2021)
Press Release: New Legislation for Civilian Climate Corps Introduced 88 Years After New Deal Era CCC (April 2021)
Mother Jones: Here’s What a Civilian Climate Corps Might Look Like (April 2021)
New Yorker: The Civilian Climate Corps is a Big-Government Plan That All Americans Can Embrace (March 2021)
L.A. Times Editorial: Biden’s Climate Conservation Corps could be an old answer for new problems. (Feb 2021)
White House: Executive Order on Tackling Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (Jan 2021)
