I Want My Grandchildren to Have a Livable Planet

A recent high point for many East Coast climate activists was the amazing march in New York City on Sunday, September 17. I also was a marcher in the huge New York climate march almost a decade ago. This time around, the march was as diverse as the city itself, but another striking aspect of this march was the amazingly creative and excited youth marchers.

I was able to walk along the march on the sidewalk before things really started going, and what I saw was the most colorful, joy filled and transformational presence of people who were not yet adults when the march occurred in 2014. There is a serious reason that Vivek Ramaswamy, the far-right piece of ego running for president, says that our voting age should be 25! I am hearing more serious Republicans discussing 21 as a voting age—three years older than the age when one can enlist in the military.

The MAGA crowd, who don't have any respect for voting rights for others, is happy to disenfranchise the next generation. Young voters are being blocked from voting from colleges by Republicans in order to suppress their voices. We understand that they are the future—from the lawsuits young people are initiating against oil companies, to disrupting events such as the U.S. Open.

So many of the cruel policies punishing women, nonbinary folks, people of color, environmentalists, and generally anyone with a shred of kindness seem to be aimed at youth.

As I observed the march, I saw some of the most colorful, original signs, costumes, body paint, floats, and dancing. Much of the art on view was rainbows, hearts, neon colored, and represented all the images that the far right wants to eliminate. Much of the art was created with a tiny fraction of the single use plastics still sold freely in this country. Greenpeace created an amazing sculpture using all e-waste. Some young people used trashed plastic bottles to make "fish" on sticks that swam through the air. There was some incredible use of papier-mache, body paint, and such original signage.

In walking through this group, I was struck by the joy, the color, the openness of this crowd to all the people, music, books, artwork, that the right wing is trying to ban from our lives. The generation who has come of age in the 21st century is beautifully made up of the many varieties of people who exist—and they are open to and proud of their differences. It seems clear that the book bans, the teacher firings, the petty anger at all the "wokeness" all appear to be an attempt by the far right to prevent the coming up from taking power. So many of the cruel policies punishing women, nonbinary folks, people of color, environmentalists, and generally anyone with a shred of kindness seem to be aimed at youth.

Franklin Roosevelt lowered the age for drafting young men from 21 to 18. For 30 years, there was a campaign to lower the voting age to 18. The anti-war protests of the late 1960's included a demand that those young men who were being used as cannon fodder should have a vote as to foreign policy. In 1971, Richard Nixon signed the 26th Amendment into law giving the vote to 18-year-olds. The 26th Amendment is not going anywhere.

Every time there is a national election, the demographics speak for themselves. As a white 69-year-old who worked tirelessly for Bernie Sanders, who has been a progressive my entire life, I am always astounded to see the terrible voting record of white women my age in the U.S. In the states that voted for Donald Trump, the percentage of older white MAGA voters is terrifying. For example, in Alabama, 80% of white women voted for Trump. The golf cart driving seniors in Florida's huge retirement complex, the Villages, are much more the norm, even though many of those same seniors have grandchildren who are terrified about their future due to the destruction of the climate. I always wonder how these people justify their unlimited, unthinking use of fossil fuels that will create an even less livable world for their grandchildren.

It is past time for our country to acknowledge the fear for the future and the anger that comes with the prediction of 99% of climate scientists that we need to make radical changes in order to allow our young people to survive in the future. The ultimate selfishness of the climate change deniers is overwhelming. As Jimmy Carter was ridiculed for asking people to wear a sweater and turn down the thermostat to save carbon-based fuel, Bernie Sanders was mocked by the media for being the only 2016 debate participant to answer that climate change was the issue of the future. Can you even remember the other Democrats' answers? If we don't step it up, stop extracting fossil fuels, and challenge the cancer of capitalism. all the fears of our amazing younger generation will be realized. I want my grandchildren to have a livable planet and will be working to that end for the rest of my life.