Costa Rica has already begun their version of this so-called “Green New Deal” the Washington Democrats are all excited about. This small country in Central America with a population of 5-million is leading the way in dumping dinosaur fuels for renewables. The Costa Rican government is promoting the use of electric cars and trucks through tax incentives, special parking spots with charging stations and new license tags. They see the handwriting on the walls.

“Costa Rica surpassed the fourth consecutive year producing 98-percent of clean energy generation in its National Electric System,” according to a recent story in the Costa Rica Star News. “On October 6, 2018, the electricity generated from renewable sources: water, wind, geothermal, biomass and solar, have represented 98.15-percent of the total energy produced in the country.”

Fossil fuels absolutely must be phased out around the world as soon as possible if not sooner, but this “Green New Deal” is way off base in the way they are attempting to sell this plan to the voting public. Scare tactics are boring and may or may not be true. What is true is the quality of the air we all breathe is in trouble. Rising sea levels around the world are threatening coastal communities. There is no denying these facts.

The key to cleaning up the atmosphere is simple. It comes in the form of an electrical storage battery that can power a normal size automobile or small truck for 500 miles. This battery could be recharged at home or would be swapped for a fresh battery at any gas station. Pull it out, push in another and off you go to grandma’s house.

This same battery could be used on a home windmill to power your home along with solar.

It also comes in the form of a battery that can power a jet airliner from New York to London in normal time. These ideas are already in development.

The best electric car on the market right now is the Kia e-Niro with a range of 282 miles on a charge. It was crowned the DrivingElectric Car of the Year for 2019 with a price of $33,000.

“This compact SUV is comfortable, practical and a great value for the money, making it one of the best all-round packages on the electrical car market today,” according to DrivingElectric.com. However, the battery in this car is not interchangeable. It must be recharged.

Also there are a variety of hybrid gas/electric cars available. They are a stage in this changeover to a cleaner environment.

These environmental answers will be found in research and development of new types of electric storage. Being the dinosaur that they are Big Oil around the world should start weaning themselves off crude oil and change with the changing times or they will die off as innovation mixed with clever technology will win this life-sustaining ballgame.

Once a 500-mile interchangeable battery is developed you can start to say goodbye to the internal combustion engine and the diesel engine in cars and small trucks. As for large diesel trucks and jet airplanes they, too, need to change over to electric power and quit spewing harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

Worldwide new laws need to be passed that phase out fossil fuels by forcing car, truck and airplane manufacturers to convert to electric power.

The answer is not this “Green New Deal” that forces the elimination of fossil fuels through high taxes that would never be used for environmental issues. The answer is not making gasoline costs more than triple current prices.

Washington Democrats are being beat up pretty badly over this proposed “Green New Deal” but they continue to support this concept including the grounding of all airplanes.

President Donald Trump said in a recent speech that he hopes the Democrats continue beating the drum in support of this “Green New Deal” that voters surely will reject as a ‘new bad deal’ come the national election in 2020.

Take a bow Costa Rica for being a leader and not a follower. The future is now.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.