Sanders Campaign Press Release - Youth Climate Activists Endorse Sanders

Video Endorsements Follow Sanders' Address at Des Moines Youth Climate Strike

DES MOINES – Several leaders from U.S. Youth Climate Strike on Friday announced their support for Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign for president. The video endorsements come after Sanders joined a youth climate strike in Des Moines.

"Young people all over the world, not just here in Iowa or in the United States, but all over the world are telling their leaders, 'Hey, we want a planet that we can grow up in and have kids in that is healthy and inhabitable,'" Sanders said at the Des Moines event. "When that global movement spreads, maybe, just maybe, we can tell world leaders all over the planet that instead of spending $1.8 trillion a year on weapons of destruction designed to kill each other, maybe we can pool our resources and combat our common enemy which is climate change."

U.S. Youth Climate Strike's Co-Founder and Partnerships Director Isra Hirsi, Executive Director Felíquan Charlemagne, Political Director Daylon Prochaska and Creative Director Pujan Patel endorsed the senator for president in their personal capacities.

"Historically, movements have had young people at the forefront and the climate movement is no exception," Hirsi said. "Bernie has been there since day one fighting alongside all the young people across the country."

"Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal is the only plan that addresses the climate crisis to the scale it needs to be addressed," Charlemagne said. "It is the only plan that sets our goals to 2030. It is the only plan that has such a consideration of climate migrants, the only plan that has such a consideration of climate justice. It's the only plan that can save our planet."

"When we talk about consequences, it's my generation. It's our people who are going to be facing the consequences and who are going to be living in a world that is not sustainable, Prochaska said. "It's Bernie Sanders and that campaign and the movement that he's building that actively centers us in the conversation. The Bernie campaign focuses on young people and focuses on marginalized communities. And that allows him to listen to us, and that allows us to be heard."

"When Bernie talks about this being a global crisis where we need to come together as one planet, this is what he means," Pujan said. "A grassroots movement where the working class stands up and tells the government that we have a say and that we deserve to survive."

"I'm a freshman from Ankeny Iowa," Iowa State Lead Lydia Pesek, who introduced Sanders at the event in Des Moines, said. "I'm also the Iowa State Lead for US Youth Climate Strike, and have organized three climate strikes in Iowa along with other passionate youth activists. Climate Change is my biggest issue, because it will affect every other problem, and we're running out of time to stop i. I'm endorsing Bernie because I think that it's important to have someone who will take radical stances on things like climate change, and health care reform. I think it's important we have someone in office who is for the people, and who has stuck to his beliefs from day one no matter what other people are saying."

Sanders last month met with Iowa youth climate strikers at his campaign's Climate Crisis Summit hosted with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Des Moines.

Sanders' Green New Deal sets a goal of reaching 100 percent renewable energy for electricity and transportation by no later than 2030, ensures justice for frontline communities and expands the climate justice movement to prioritize young people, workers, indigenous people and communities of color.

Isra Hirsi's video can be seen here, Felíquan Charlemagne's video can be seen here, Daylon Prochaska's video can be seen here and Pujan Patel's video can be seen here.