Young Voters in America Are Our Best Hope for Saving the Planet

For America's young voters, famished for positive action on climate change, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is cause for celebration. The passage of this landmark legislation is a signal to young climate activists across the countrythat unprecedented progressive change is possible.

Fueled by this timely breakthrough, we believe young people will once again defy expectations and show they're up to the task.

For the millions of young Americans who flocked to the polls in 2020, many for the first time, it's a bracing reinforcement that their votes - and their ongoing political engagement for a healthy planet and healthy communities - are necessary to make a critical difference.

But where were Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn? Not on the side of their children.By voting against the Inflation Reduction Act, they once again chose corporate greed and climate denial over the survival of the planet and the health of this and future generations.For the past decade, thousands of young activists with NextGen America have called on their members of Congress to take meaningful action on the climate crisis through calls, letters, and petitions. Time and again, their best hopes were dashed as deal after deal bit the dust.

And yet, despite their attempts to hold us back from saving the future of our planet, we finally have progress. Thanks to all of our efforts, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the people of our state will have access to jobs that advance clean air and clean energy, and more families will be able to afford their prescription drugs. Our national parks will be revived with long-overdue maintenance, and communities of color and underserved communities will benefit from robust environmental justice grants to clean up toxic hazards.

Certainly, this bill is far from perfect. For those of us who believe a 100 percent end to our reliance on fossil fuels is central to our survival, there are more carrots and loopholes for polluting industries than we would have hoped. But it's nonetheless a substantial down payment on the transformative changes that young people, here and across the globe, have been clamoring for.

As a Texan and president of NextGen America, the largest youth voter organization in the country, I know that passage of the Inflation Reduction Act could not have come at a better time. As we approach the midterms, young voters have been searching for reasons to believe in the process and to urge their peers to the polls.

This unprecedented climate action legislation is something on which we can build, but only if we continue to grow youth engagement for the long haul. Our efforts in 2020, which elected President Biden and eked out majorities in Congress, made the Inflation Reduction Act possible. But this excruciating year of negotiations and the razor-thin edge of victory only emphasize that we have to deepen our commitments, our organizing skills, and our power in the political arena if we want to keep climate disaster at bay.

Fueled by this timely breakthrough, we believe young people will once again defy expectations and show they're up to the task. At NextGen, we're activating our base of 25,000 volunteers andhiring over 140 field organizers across the country to contact and mobilize over 9.6 millionyoung voters in swing states like ours. In Texas alone, we're contacting over 2.6 million youngvoters ahead of the election this November.

Here in Texas, we have an opportunity to elect new progressive candidates to Congress who will fight for us, rather than doom us to an escalation of unsustainable droughts, fires, heatwaves, and floods. We need to expand the ranks of government at every level with allies who will fight for climate change in an equitable, multiracial democracy.

We know that our lives, the lives of our own children, and the fate of our planet depend on our determination and success. We don't want to let them down.