I’m a 34 year-old woman living in Holyoke, working as a therapist with middle and high school students.
For the past several years, as I’ve made decisions about my life — where to live, what to do for to work, whether or not to have children — the realities of climate change have loomed large. The young people I work with are scared of what is to come, and I’m scared too.
The latest climate report from the U.N. says we have only 12 years to transform our economy to preserve the stable climate human civilization has depended on for millennia. When I first heard that, I felt hopeless: how could we as a society ever get it together to do that? What kind of mobilization could we create that would be massive enough to make the difference science demands?
The Green New Deal is a true game-changer. It is ambitious enough to keep us safe from many of the effects of climate change, reverse damage done to our planet and create millions of green jobs in the process. It is also common-sense policy that is overwhelmingly popular with many Americans, regardless of political party or where they live. If we want a way out of this mess we’ve created, the Green New Deal is it.
Young people are clear that the future of our planet needs to be prioritized over any of the forces that would keep us hurtling toward disaster. Any congressperson or presidential candidate who cares about ensuring our future, and wants to earn our support, needs to support U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey’s resolution for a strong Green New Deal.
Anything less than that is not enough.
Emma Roderick
Holyoke