Several teenagers and young adults in a Congressional hearing blasted U.S. lawmakers for not moving fast enough to tackle climate change even as Republican lawmakers at the event largely pointed the finger of blame at China and called for moving forward in a more measured manner.
"Youth climate activism should not have to exist," Jamie Margolin, a 17-year-old climate justice activist from Seattle, told the joint hearing by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and the House Committee on Foreign affairs. "We're exhausted because we have tried everything" from working on political campaigns to creating organizations, planning marches and suing governments.
Margolin went on to suggest that lawmakers should not be proud of the current state of U.S. inaction. "The fact that you are staring at a panel of young people testifying before you today pleading for a liveable earth should not fill you with pride, it should fill you with shame."
But Garret Graves of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the House climate crisis committee, suggested the problem is not the U.S. but other countries, specifically China.
"I hear people talking about how we need to stop all fossil fuel utilization and stop all these emissions," Graves said. "Right now, for every ton of carbon emissions we produce in the United States, China has increased by four tons, more than offsetting all the reductions that we've had in the United States." Graves went on to say that he supports the emissions reductions targets the U.S. set under the Paris Agreement on climate change but then pivoted to say the real problem is China and its emissions.
Margolin later responded: "When your children ask you, 'did you do absolutely everything in your power to stop the climate crisis' ... can you really look them in the eye and say 'no, sorry I couldn't do anything because that country over there didn't do anything, so if they're not going to do it, then I'm not?' That is shameful, and that is cowardly, and there is no excuse to not take action, to not improve as much as we can in the United States."
Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who took a boat to the U.S. rather than an airplane to limit her travel-related emissions, kept her testimony short. "I don't want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists." Thunberg specifically pointed to the 2018 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that warned the world has until 2030 to drastically curb the rate of emissions to avoid some extreme impacts to economies, human life and ecosystems.
Teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg testifies to Congress on Sept. 18, 2019, on the need for lawmakers to act on climate change. |
Another panelist was Vic Barrett, a 20-year-old who was a teen when he, along with some other youth, launched a lawsuit to compel the federal government to take more steps to address climate change. "Because climate change is a systemic issue, it will require systemic change and all three branches of government to fix it," Barrett said in prepared testimony.
Democratic lawmakers generally agreed with the youth that action is needed. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chairwoman Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said, "This generation is giving us a job to do; the job is addressing the climate crisis."
Taking a more moderate tone, Benjamin Backer, president and founder of the American Conservation Coalition, said climate change also presents economic opportunities for the U.S., such as developing low-carbon technologies that can be adopted worldwide.
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., later suggested that the economy should be kept in mind when considering options to tackle climate change, to which Backer replied, "Economic sustainability and environmental sustainability go hand in hand."

