Youth Day of Action for Climate Justice
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***: March 8, 2023
Contact: Marie Scarles, marie@nyrenews.org, (646) 389-8429
Web: @NYRenews | www.nyrenews.org
Youth Day of Action for Climate Justice
Young New Yorkers from across New York State rallied in Albany in support of
the NY Renews coalition’s Climate, Jobs & Justice Package
Albany, New York – On March 8, 2023, elected officials and youth climate and environmental justice advocates from TREEage and other organizations rallied at the State Capitol in support of the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package (CJJP) a suite of legislation that would advance the mandates of NY's Climate Act (CLCPA) to protect the future and well-being of young New Yorkers.
Hundreds of youth advocates from New York City met for a lobby day that included over 20 lobby visits to legislators and a rally on the Million Dollar Staircase with legislative speakers including Senator Kristen Gonzalez (SD-59) and Senator Robert Jackson (SD-31). In their remarks, legislators emphasized that we need billions for climate justice in the state budget this year to protect the youth of today and tomorrow. “Every year we don’t take action on the climate, we are failing young people, we are failing black and brown people, we are failing working-class communities,” said Senator Gonzalez. Youth speakers included the Co-Executive Director of TREEage, Shiv Soin, Janata Harrison of NYPIRG, and Ian McCollum, TREEage organizer. The youth leaders told personal stories of growing up in areas of New York City with polluted air from expressway fumes and extreme weather that floods subways and kills people in flooded ground floor apartments.
The Climate, Jobs & Justice Package requires New York to (1) fully fund and implement NY’s Climate Act, (2) build renewable energy for all and create good, green union jobs, and (3) make polluters and the ultra-rich pay what they owe to fund the transition. The Climate, Jobs & Justice Package is NY Renews’ platform to fully address the climate crisis and meet the mandates of the NY Climate Act during the 2023 legislative session.
Photos of the event can be found here.
A livestream of the rally speakers can be found here.
Senator Kristen Gonzalez said, "Young people will be the ones inheriting a world of increasingly extreme climate catastrophes, and we know that the time is NOW to act on climate justice. The Climate Jobs & Justice Package will help New York chart a different course by rapidly reducing our emissions, making our state more equitable, addressing past harms, and ensuring a just transition for workers. I am proud to stand with young people and impacted communities from all over our state to demand this package gets passed this year!"
“Young New Yorkers deserve better,” said TREEage Co-Executive Director, Shiv Soin. “Students across the state have been used as political props—enough is enough. Politicians cannot claim they care about our futures while actively defunding our public schools and increasing CUNY and SUNY tuition fees, all while continuing to give handouts to large corporations and ignoring the devastating impacts of the climate crisis on our state. We need our state to actively invest in young people’s present and future, and that can be accomplished by passing the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package in its entirety."
"The oil and gas industry has willingly caused the climate crisis and now they're making record-shattering profits. ExxonMobil made $6.3 million per hour last year,” said Janata Harrison, NYPIRG member and CUNY Hunter student. "Big Oil and Gas should pay to clean up the mess they’ve made, not New Yorkers. That's why the Legislature should pass the entire Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package—including the Climate Superfund Act—today!"
"As we know, Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth are among the most impacted communities from climate change, as they will be inheriting the climate disaster that years of inaction have produced,” said Assemblymember Juan Ardila. “That is why we need to take the lead in charting a path toward a just, renewable future for our state by passing the Climate Jobs and Justice Package (CJJP). This set of bills directly aids our youth by expanding New York’s P-12 Clean Green Schools Initiative to $350,000,000, allowing the state to develop energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for and in public schools. Additionally, the Greening the Curriculum Program would provide funding for the State Education Department to develop comprehensive, justice-centered climate education and workforce development programs for New York State’s 2.6 million K-12 public school students. These are the actions and investments we need to take today for us to have any chance of a better tomorrow."
"The climate crisis affects all communities,” said Assemblymember Kenny Burgos. “One of the communities affected the most is the Bronx, with the nation's highest asthma rates and ranked as the state's unhealthiest county. The group paying the highest price is our children and young people, who are now forced to deal with decades of climate inaction. Our youth deserves to inherit a safe and sustainable planet. The Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package is critical if we are going to address environmental injustice. I stand with our youth in fully supporting this package, and I will continue to push my colleagues to include it in this year's budget."
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NY Renews is a coalition of more than 340 environmental justice, community, faith, labor, and multi-issue organizations fighting for just climate policy for New Yorkers. We are the force behind the nation's most aggressive climate law, the NY State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, enacted in 2019. The Climate, Jobs & Justice Package is the next step in our fight for climate justice in New York.