Teen Climate Activist Tells Congress: We Are ‘Generation GND’

A teen climate change activist renamed her generation – from “Generation Z” to “Generation GND” (Green New Deal) – during a joint hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on Wednesday.

Teen climate activist Jamie Margolin of Seattle testified before the joint committees on Wednesday alongside other teen activists – including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who sailed to the U.S. in an effort to reduce her carbon footprint – and emphatically declared that her generation should not be known as “Generation Z.” Rather, it should be known as “Generation GND”– an homage to the youth activists’ commitment to making the Green New Deal a reality.

“People call my generation ‘Generation Z,’ as if we are the last generation, but we are not,” Margolin said.

“We are refusing to be the last letter in the alphabet. I’m here before the whole country today announcing that we are generation GND. The generation of the Green New Deal,” she continued.

The 17-year-old activist said that a “whole new era” is the only thing that can save the planet from utter destruction caused by the “climate change catastrophe,” adding that the Green New Deal is “not just about the specific plans laid out and resolutions.”

“It’s about a new chapter in American history and transforming our culture into one that celebrates, encourages, and enables radical climate action,” she said.

“It is right here, testifying before you, that I am proud to announce the history is being made,” she continued. “You’ve heard of the Reagan era, the New Deal era. Well, youth are bringing about the era of the Green New Deal.”

Climate change activists made waves after an outline of their Green New Deal proposal dropped in February. In it, the activists lamented the existence of “farting cows” and airplanes and promised to provide economic security to those “unwilling” to work. It also teased “a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti eventually admitted that the Green New Deal “wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.”

“We really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing,” he allegedly told Sam Ricketts, the director of Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) D.C. office.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has unveiled the most aggressive climate change proposal of all the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates, which will cost approximately $16 trillion. While it promises to reach “100 percent renewable energy for electricity and transportation by no later than 2030 and complete decarbonization by at least 2050,” it also addresses issues not directly related to climate change, such expanding existing entitlement programs by billions of dollars.