We are at a crossroads. The path we choose will literally determine whether there is a chance for our survival, or not.

I don’t know how you feel about the idea of “New Year’s Resolutions”, but we are at a point where we have a chance to change direction in our own lives, the lives of our loved ones, of everyone and every living thing on Mother Earth.

For decades now we have moved in a downward spiral of political corruption and economic, racial, social and environmental injustices. We are complicit in this because of our complacency. My intention is not to make you feel guilty because that usually results in more lethargy and inaction. But we can’t begin to solve problems without first identifying what they are.

These problems are so large and interrelated, that piecemeal efforts are ineffective. We need a bold plan large enough to correct these interrelated problems. That plan is the Green New Deal I’ve been studying, attending training sessions and writing about. It’s easy to be dismissive about yet another plan, but there are several differences this time. We have put off tackling these problems so long, that the resulting damages are happening now. Our youth have come of age experiencing environmental chaos, political corruption and inaction, and social, racial and economic injustices. Have come of age knowing they might be shot in their classrooms. That their water might be poisoned with lead. The air they breath is unhealthy. Unarmed youth of color are killed by police. And grieving for their peers who have experienced these things.

Our youth know we have failed to provide the leadership and the will to deal with the injustices they are growing up with. I keep thinking about the slogan “never trust anyone over 30” that we believed during the days of the Vietnam anti-war and civil rights movements. Youth today know we have to make radical changes in multiple dimensions if they are to have a viable future for themselves and their children.

If you’re “over 30” you can still help make the Green New Deal happen. You have a choice to make. Talk with young people. Learn from and support them. More and more youth have already made the choice to work on the Green New Deal and the movement is growing rapidly. The Sunrise Movement is the main group working for the Green New Deal. https://www.sunrisemovement.org/gnd/

If you haven’t seen the video below, it is a power statement by high school student, Jeremy Ornstein, Sunrise Fellow – teenager and grandson of Holocaust survivors, who demands climate action now. (The emphasis on Democrats is because these young people feel Democrats tend to support working on environmental problems and are thus more likely to consider supporting the Green New Deal.)

Now, now is the day. I have hope in her and I have hope in the Democrates who I have worked so hard to support. Because my grandparents, they needed hope to survive.
You know, please, Speaker Pelosi. Come of age with us. Care for us and we’ll care for each other and we’ll join in that great American tradition of rising to meet a challenge.
Join us, come on.
But if you can’t–if you’re too scared to try, if you’re too corrupt or cowardly–Democrats, if your hands are too deep in the pockets of the fossil fuel executives to try, then get out of the way.
Because we are the leaders that we need. Because now we know we have no choice but to get to work.
Because we know that we have no choice but to hope. Because I know that I have no choice but to hope.
So join us as we demand a Green New Deal.
Thanks everyone, let’s keep it up.