We wanted to thank all of our interviewees this week for their thoughtful answers about why they’re fighting for our planet and more equitable circumstances for all people. This generation often gets accused of being entitled and self-centered but this interview series has shown that the challenges they’re actively trying to solve are not only daunting but require an immense amount of personal sacrifice. Millennials are working in jobs that didn’t previously exist and through ingenuity and entrepreneurship, are paving the path to a more sustainable future. We wanted to recap a couple of quotes shared by our interviewees that really speak to this notion. Thanks for reading this Millennials Week and for all your kind feedback that we’ve received!
“I feel like our generation doesn’t mind looking at the status quo and asking: “is there a better way to do this?” The solutions that will help us mitigate climate change are opportunities to do things better, and that’s a great purpose to get up in the morning for.” – Dave Folk, co-founder of Cloverly
“We are witnessing more extreme weather events across the globe, with no signs of slowing. Whether that’s the record high temperatures, sea level rise, Arctic sea ice decline, a warming ocean, I could go on — there is a ton of evidence that climate change is not some far off-event. Many of us (Millennials) feel an innate responsibility to evolve beyond business as usual, probably because we realize it is not going to serve us in the long-haul.”– Jenny Hogrefe, Wellness and Sustainability Manager at KIND Snacks
“I went to law school to equip myself with the legal skills to fight climate change, and while there, realized I also had a passion for immigration issues. I also learned that climate migrants don’t enjoy the same legal protection as other people who are forced to leave their homes–this struck me as a huge gap.” – Ama Francis, legal fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
“In the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, there was a record number of Millennial candidates that ran and were elected to public office, yet in the current U.S. Congress, the average age of a lawmaker in the House is 58 and the Senate 62. We need to change this by voting and running for public office where our voice will have a bigger microphone—or a nice pen to write laws.” – Melvin Alvarez, policy consultant at the United Nations Environment Program
June 21, 2019 » Millennials
