Tiny Costa Rica Has a Green New Deal, Too. It Matters for the Whole Planet

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica — It’s a green big deal for a tiny sliver of a country. Costa Rica, population 5 million, wants to wean itself from fossil fuels by 2050, and the chief evangelist of the idea is a 38-year-old urban planner named Claudia Dobles who also happens to be the first lady.

Tiny Costa Rica has a new green deal, and it matters to the whole world.

Every country will have to aspire to something similar, scientists say, if the world is to avert the most dire consequences of global warming. And while Costa Rica’s carbon footprint is tiny compared to other countries, Ms. Dobles has a higher goal in mind: Getting rid of fossil fuels would show the world that a small country can be a leader on an awesome problem and improve the health and well-being of its citizens in the bargain.

It would, she said, combat a “sense of negativity and chaos” in the face of global warming. “We need to start providing answers.”

Read the story from The New York Times by  Somini Songupta and  Alexander Villegas - “Tiny Costa Rica Has a Green New Deal, Too. It Matters for the Whole Planet.”