A young person concerned about climate change joined 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a congressional hearing this past week. Jamie Margolin is 17 and part of a lawsuit filed by children against the federal government over climate change. Not content to work their way through democratic processes, they hope federal courts will force resolution on their behalf.
Margolin spoke out about her fears. She told Congress that she was not sure she would have a future. She said in her testimony: “I want the entirety of Congress — in fact, the whole U.S. government — to remember the fear and despair that my generation lives with every day, and I want you to hold on to it. How do I even begin to convey to you what it feels like to know that within my lifetime the destruction that we have already seen from the climate crisis will only get worse. What adds insult to injury is the fact that we keep getting promised what isn’t there. On college applications, I keep getting asked what I want to be when I grow up … Everyone who will walk up to me after this testimony saying I have such a bright future ahead of me will be lying to my face.” She went on to say the planet is collapsing. She believes there are only 18 months left to get it right — a far shorter period than most activists claim.
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