Climate change has long been an issue politicians have struggled to find long-term solutions to. The Green New Deal is no exception. It is nothing more than an idealistic wish list that fails to account for the constraints of reality.

Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey released a 14 page resolution Feb. 7 for the Green New Deal, according to The Washington Post. The resolution calls for 100 percent renewable, zero-emission energy nationwide. It also calls to address poverty, universal healthcare and raised minimum wage, according to CNN. This resolution is an unrealistic dream consisting of an ambitious set of goals and principles rather than actual policy.   

There is no guarantee the proposed Green New Deal will be able to reach its goals for clean energy. The similar German Energiewende bill costs consumers $20 billion per year, even though coal is still producing 37 percent of Germany’s energy, according to the Hill.

Although it is almost impossible to estimate the annual cost of the bill, Yahoo business predicts the Green New Deal would cost a ridiculous $1 trillion annually. Although Ocasio-Cortez claims only the very wealthy would pay taxes to fund the transition, according to NBC, middle-class taxpayers would probably foot the majority of the price.

The resolution, unfortunately, succeeded in inspiring the Minnesota Green New Deal, which although not yet released, claims to be directly based on Ocasio-Cortez’s resolution.

I hope Minnesotans will oppose such radical politicians and legislation that are too extreme to accomplish anything. Hopefully, politicians will start to propose legitimate solutions to problems such as climate change, with realistic timelines and budgets.