In the first hour of CNN’s seven-hour long climate change town hall, an audience member asked former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro if it was fair to expect the younger generation to have children, given the looming catastrophe of climate change.
“Is it fair for us to expect our children to continue the cycle of family and generation in a world whose chaotic climate future we knowingly create and so far have done little to address?” John Ingram, a retired teacher, asked Wednesday.
“Well, I think you’re right that we’re basically passing on to our children … right now, if we don’t act, we’re passing off to our children, grandchildren, and future generations a problem that we can solve,” Castro replied. He also said it was imperative to act on climate for that very reason.
“And so, that’s why I believe that we don’t have any time to waste,” he added. “This generation needs to act.” Castro then stressed that “If I’m elected president, I will make sure for my first day in office that we take this existential threat seriously, that we do that for the benefit of our children and future generations.”
The audience member echoed the apocalyptic sentiment circulating among some Democrats like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently said, “I’m 29 years old. I really struggle sometimes with the idea of how to be a policymaker and potentially have a family in the time of climate change. And it really, like, freaks me out, and it can be really, really scary.”
