Youth climate activists with the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats were arrested on Capitol Hill Tuesday for staging a sit-in at the Washington, D.C. office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—who is expected to serve as the next speaker of the House—to demand that congressional Democrats back a “Green New Deal.”
Long a demand by the climate justice movement—and popularized in the latest election cycle by incoming progressive Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Antonio Delgado of New York, Deb Haaland of New Mexico, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota—a Green New Deal would pair actions to address the global climate crisis with policies to create jobs and a more just economy.
Some of the freshly elected representatives even joined the youth activists fighting for such a deal. Both Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib attended a summit with Sunrise activists on Monday, and while Tlaib spoke at a Tuesday morning rally near the Capitol, Ocasio-Cortez showed up at the sit-in at Pelosi’s office.
“I just want to let you all know how proud I am of each and every single one of you for putting yourselves and your bodies and everything on the line to make sure that we save our planet, our generation, and our future. It’s so incredibly important,” Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd of activists on Tuesday. “We do not have a choice. We have to get to 100 percent renewable energy.”
As The Intercept reported:
While a new contingent of incoming House Democrats backs a Green New Deal, the groups that occupied Pelosi’s office charge that party leadership “has no intention of fighting for a real climate plan in the new Congress,” in spite of a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warning that the global community has only a dozen years left to avert a climate catastrophe.
Calling on Pelosi and party leaders “to step up to the fight alongside us and create a climate plan or step aside to make way for new leadership who will,” the groups are circulating a petition that tells House Democrats:
- Champion a Green New Deal that would create millions of good jobs to transform society over the next decade to stop climate change;
- Mandate that any Democrat in leadership must take the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, and reject campaign contributions from fossil fuel executives and lobbyists, and prioritize the health of people and planet over industry profits; and
- A rising generation of young people of all backgrounds just helped flip the House with a record turnout. We will no longer tolerate empty promises and words without action.
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