Green New Deal is a major step in the right direction, but it will not be enough by itself to stop global warming. It is the best way I have seen to start a smooth transition to a new economic system.

Unfortunately, there is no way to still have industrial Capitalism, even under a global Green New Deal, and reduce emissions enough for the world to not go through catastrophic global warming. If we do nothing, the transition will be catastrophic as you mention. If we try to start major reforms today, we might have a somewhat smooth transition. But there is no way to avoid the transition to something new.