Oregon youth demand action on climate change

Oregon Public Broadcasting | By Allison Frost

Published November 18, 2022 at 4:52 PM PST

"This is not a drill," reads one of the many signs held by young people who marched through downtown Portland, May 20, 2022, demanding city leaders take action on climate change.

It’s hard to overstate the effect that a changing climate is having around the world. And a group of young social activists in Oregon is calling attention to the disconnect between the extreme urgency of the climate issue and the lack of adequate policies to make a real difference. The effects of extreme heat waves, wildfires and drought are getting worse, not better. The young leaders of Our Children Oregon have a message: we need real action now. They say they want a voice in shaping the policies that affect them most of all, that they deserve a seat at the table.

Our guests are, Avery McRae, one of the 21 plaintiffs in the climate lawsuit Juliana v. U.S.; Adah Crandall, a climate change organizer with Sunrise PDX; and two members of the OCO youth leadership cohort, Jax Richards, and Caroline Gao, who is also Oregon’s Youth Governor. And Meredith Connolly, the Oregon director of Climate Solutions, a nonprofit focused on policy, joins us as well.

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