The founder of NextGen Climate met with students from the SRU chapter to discuss climate change and the 2016 election.
NextGen Climate is an environmental advocacy nonprofit and political action committee which acts to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity.
Tom Steyer, founder of NextGen Climate, created the group in 2013 and said it is at over 90 campuses in Pennsylvania alone.
Steyer said he is someone who cares a lot about the energy climate, and that the mission of NextGen Climate is to talk to people about the issues and register them to vote, which the SRU chapter of the group has been doing for the past few weeks.
“It’s not just that we have to deal with the climate issue, we’ll also have to deal with it in a way that works for human beings,” Steyer said. “We’ll have to create good jobs for them, have cleaner air as a result and a better life and a better America from what we do.”
He said the 2016 election is important because the spread between the two candidates on the climate issue is huge.
“There is a gigantic gap,” Steyer said.
He gave some information about global monthly temperatures, saying that the earth is only a few degrees away from what would be “some form of disaster,” with the temperature rising one eighth of a degree last year; this year it is likely to move around one sixth of a degree.
“We’re actually increasing the speed with which we’re getting hotter,” Steyer said.
He said the numbers being released by some groups are wrong and far too conservative, meaning that the 2016 matters because there may not be enough time to fix the problem.
Steyer also stressed how important it was for the younger generation to vote.
“It’s really important that younger people turn out and use their vote,” Steyer said. “We could have a terrible outcome, and I think there really is a question of can we as a democracy respond to this with the urgency that it requires.”
