'Step Up or Step Aside': Youth Climate Leaders Occupy Schumer's Office to Demand Support for Green New Deal

"We're not going anywhere, Sen. Schumer," 350.org, one of the groups that organized the action, wrote on Twitter. "We're going to keep showing up until Democratic leaders like you step up and show the real climate leadership we need--or step aside." (Photo: 350 Action/Twitter)

'Step Up or Step Aside': Youth Climate Leaders Occupy Schumer's Office to Demand Support for Green New Deal

"Real climate leadership means a commitment to bold climate action and a just transition. It means a Green New Deal."

Keeping up the pressure on the Democratic leadership to embrace bold and popular solutions that are aligned with the science, youth climate leaders on Thursday occupied the D.C. office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) to demand that he either show true leadership by supporting a Green New Deal or "step aside."

"Real climate leadership means a commitment to bold climate action and a just transition. It means a Green New Deal," a 16-year-old New Yorker named Jordan declared during Thursday's demonstration, which comes just weeks after young climate campaigners demonstrated at the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

"We're not going anywhere, Sen. Schumer," 350.org, one of the groups that organized the action, wrote on Twitter. "We're going to keep showing up until Democratic leaders like you step up and show the real climate leadership we need--or step aside."

Watch a livestream of the demonstration:

"Last month, thousands of young people took to D.C. in a show of force to fight for a Green New Deal and real climate leadership in Congress. Now we're back on Capitol Hill to demand the only feasible solution that meets the urgency and scale of the climate crisis: A Green New Deal," 350.org's Roberto Juarez wrote in an email on Thursday.

"With Congress back in session and new progressive champions Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib in office," he continued, "we have an historic opportunity to drastically alter the course of our future. That's why today, we're pulling out all the stops to ask Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic leadership to step up as real climate leaders."

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