Young Protesters At DNC Headquarters Demand Debate On Climate Crisis
Source: The Guardian
DNC has declined to hold a climate-specific debate even as Democratic voters rank rising temperatures as a top priority. Dozens of young climate protesters crowded outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC on Tuesday, demanding a debate focused on the crisis as presidential candidates prepare to face off this week over two nights in Florida.
The DNC has declined to hold a climate-specific debate, even as Democratic voters rank rising temperatures - and the worse disasters and economic instability they bring - as a top priority. DNC chair Tom Perez has warned that any candidate who participates in a climate debate will not be invited to others. Environment-minded voters worry the more general debates, like those in Miami this week, will give short shrift to climate.
"I know that the crisis I see in my community is bigger than the few sentences they're going to spend on it over the next few nights," shouted Abigail Leedy, an 18-year-old from Philadelphia protesting with the Sunrise Movement, from the steps of the DNC office.
An eight-year-old from Washington DC, Havana Chapman-Edwards, read a prepared statement. "I am old enough to know when the adults are talking about how they care about my future but actually not taking action or passing any laws to fight against climate change," Chapman-Edwards said. -MORE...
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/25/protesters-dnc-headquarters-climate-crisis
Of the approximately 150 young people there some held signs reading "CLIMATE DEBATE," and "11 YEARS," the time period scientists say the world has to limit catastrophic climate change. The Climate crisis is likely to be mentioned in the debates on Wednesday and Thursday, in contrast to 2016 when not a single question on the topic was asked.
For two nights in Miami, where sea-level rise, ocean acidification, flooding and heat are prominent, 20 Democrats will debate on a broad number of topics. Many will focus on trying to persuade voters and make themselves stand out as the best candidate to beat Trump. How much time and effort will be devoted to the climate emergency is uncertain.
Advocates want candidates to spend more time on the subject. Democratic voters generally agree, based on a new poll by the Sierra Club that showed 68% of likely Democratic primary voters want the DNC to hold a presidential debate focused on the climate crisis.
READ MORE, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/25/business-usual-death-sentence-hundreds-youth-activists-sit-dnc-headquarters-demand
= new reply since forum marked as read
Does anyone believe it won’t come up? 
