uschools/iStock(WASHINGTON) — Youth activists were set to tell Congress on Thursday that their lives are at stake unless the U.S. government takes action against climate change.
Despite their age, the activists testifying before the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis are experienced organizers, some of whom have been protesting for climate action in Washington, D.C., for years. Just last month, many joined the surge of young people who turned out in protests around the world in what was estimated to be the largest global day of climate action ever.
Aji Piper, an 18-year-old from Seattle, Washington, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit that claims that, if the U.S. government fails to protect the environment, members of his generation could be denied their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property. The lawsuit, filed in 2015, is set for a hearing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this year, 30,000 young people signed onto a legal brief asking the appeals court to move the case forward.
Chris Suggs, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina and native of the state, saw firsthand the impact of climate change when his hometown was devastated by flooding after Hurricane Matthew. In 2014, he launched a nonprofit to get young people involved in rebuilding his community. Suggs and Piper will be joined by Melody Zhang, a student at the University of Michigan who’s part of a young Evangelical group that acts to protect climate change with the backing of religion.
The three students are the first witnesses to testify before the new House select committee, created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to address climate crisis in February.
“In contrast to a typical Congressional hearing, the committee will hear from young leaders who are urging policymakers to take climate action now and finally address the climate crisis,” the committee said in a statement ahead of the hearing.
The committee is chaired by Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young face of climate action and an author of the Green New Deal, is not a member of the committee, which she’d previously criticized for lacking political power.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.