By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
The climate movement is enjoying a youth movement.
This youth infusion has been happening for several years, as
students recognize the urgency to address climate change.
Nationally, there is the Climate Kids lawsuit brought by 21 young people who accuse the federal government of failing to address climate change and thereby violating their constitutional rights.
Rhode Island has its own youth lawsuit put forth by Nature’s Trust Rhode Island.
Nationally, there is the Climate Kids lawsuit brought by 21 young people who accuse the federal government of failing to address climate change and thereby violating their constitutional rights.
Rhode Island has its own youth lawsuit put forth by Nature’s Trust Rhode Island.
Upstart politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have
attracted a new following, especially among students who have experienced the
destruction of climate change.
In Rhode Island, a group of high-school and college students from
the Sunrise Movement has been pressuring Gov. Gina Raimondo and the state’s
congressional delegation to endorse the Green New Deal and pledge to stop
accepting donations from fossil-fuel companies.
Now the students are seeking support from the General Assembly to
adopt a Green New Deal for Rhode Island.
The Green New Deal in Congress is a set of goals to lift the social, environmental, and economic well-being of low-income and middle-class workers through nationwide initiatives, such as building “smart” power grids and converting the nation to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.
During a March 7 Statehouse rally, several students age 15-26, all
members of the local Sunrise Movement, made heartfelt pleas for addressing
climate change and enacting the Rhode Island Green New Deal resolution.
Dounya Bilal, 17, a student at the Lincoln School in Providence,
described growing up in a single-parent home and living on food stamps. Her
family couldn’t afford healthy food and she witnessed neighborhoods enduring
environmental racism from the pollution emitted by nearby industrial
facilities.
“The Green New Deal moving towards renewable energy must be done
to protect these communities,” she said. ”To give them equitable living
conditions rather than see them as expendable and to sacrifice their well-being
for economic gain.”
Climate activist Tim DeChristopher explained that the youth
movement has changed the way climate change is addressed.
“We’re no longer going to have the conversation where we have to
pretend that political feasibility and maintaining the status quo is more
important than young people’s lives and young people’s right to a livable
future,” he said. “That is what is fundamentally different about this. And
that’s the leadership that the Sunrise Movement is taking.”
The Rhode Island legislation has the same objectives as the
national plan but also calls for the Rhode Island Green
New Deal Research Council to write recommendations regarding the
benefits of a local Green New Deal and submitting it to the governor, General
Assembly, and state agencies by May 15. Brown University is funding the
research and other partners are being sought.
“I personally don’t know what it is,” said Sen. Louis DiPalma,
D-Middletown, sponsor of the Senate resolution. “Let’s find out the pros and
cons about what this means for Rhode Island.”