By Office of Congressman Eliot L. Engel

Editor's note: Representative Eliot L. Engel represents the 16th Congressional District, which comprises the northern Bronx and the southern half of Westchester County, including Bronxville.

Sep. 25, 2019:  Last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment invited student climate activists from across the globe to testify at a hearing on the global climate crisis. As chair of the committee, I thought it was important to hear from the younger generation about climate change, which will disproportionately affect them and generations to come. The witnesses included, among others, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old founder of the climate advocacy group Fridays For Future, and Vic Barrett, a Westchester native and plaintiff in the case Juliana v. United States in which students are suing the U.S. government for harming their right to life and liberty by allowing and encouraging activities that contribute to climate change. 

Greta, Vic, and the younger generation know what too many in Congress don’t--the time to act on climate change was yesterday. Urgent action is needed, now. That’s what this climate movement is all about. I applaud the young students across the country who are speaking up for their future, and ours too. The effects of climate change are not somewhere off in the distance. They are here, now, and we are already paying for our inaction. Storms are more powerful. Droughts are more pronounced. Sea levels are rising. Climate change is here, and without immediate action to cut carbon emissions, like a Green New Deal, we will doom Greta, Vic, and every other student to a far less hospitable world.

Time is ticking. Congress needs to work toward completely overhauling our energy sector, turning to 100% renewable sources of energy, and ending our addiction to fossil fuels. And Congress needs to do it right now.

Pictured here: Congressman Eliot L. Engel.

Photo courtesy Office of Congressman Eliot L. Engel

Editor's note: As a public service, MyhometownBronxville publishes articles from local institutions, officeholders, and individuals. MyhometownBronxville does not fact-check statements therein, and any opinions expressed therein do not necessarily reflect the thinking of its staff.