On the recordDecember 16, 2015
Bringing us back to what millennials believe on this issue. Some of you have participated in our Future Forum dialogue. On January 14, Congressman Lieu will be in the Los Angeles area hosting a Future Forum dialogue on climate change, student loan debt, and the other issues facing our generation. But some of the science, as you mentioned, behind millennial beliefs is quite powerful. According to a 2014 Harstad poll, 80 percent of millennials favor the idea of requiring utilities to generate at least a third of their power from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2030. That also falls in line with what much of the rest of the developed world is doing. There was a New York Times story last year highlighting that, by the end of 2014, Germany would receive nearly a third of its energy through renewable sources. Two-thirds of young adults age 18 to 34, according to a National Geographic article, say they are inclined to vote for candidates who support cutting greenhouse gases and increasing financial incentives for renewable energy. And in a 2015 poll by NextGen Climate, 75 percent of voters under the age of 35 say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who pledged to turn the country to 50 percent clean energy by 2030. So we have talked about the national security argument, we have talked about the economic advantages and, of course, the livelihood threat of flooding in extreme weather events. Congressman Boyle, what about American exceptionalism?…
