Solving Our Climate Crisis: A National Town Hall --- December 3, 2018 --- Washington, DC

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will host a national town hall on Monday, Dec. 3, aimed at addressing the global threat of climate change and exploring solutions that can protect the planet from devastation and create tens of millions of good-paying jobs.

Sanders will be joined by 350.org founder and author Bill McKibben; actress, activist and Our Revolution board member Shailene Woodley; CNN host and author Van Jones; Earth Guardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez; Union of Concerned Scientists Director of Climate Science Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel; Dale Ross, mayor of Georgetown, Texas, and other environmental experts and activists.

This event is being presented in partnership with NowThis, ATTN:, The Young Turks, The Years Project, The Intercept, The Nation and Act.tv.

TO ATTEND IN PERSON:
-Location: Capitol Visitors' Center Congressional Auditorium (CVC-200)

-Please enter through the main CVC entrance at First Street and East Capitol Street Northeast.

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: While global leaders meet for COP24, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will gather his own climate leaders tonight for a town hall address in the Capitol on "Solving Our Climate Crisis." Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, 350.org Founder Bill McKibben and Brenda Ekwurzel, director of climate science at the Union of Concerned Scientists, are among those slated to speak. Ocasio-Cortez is expected to discuss progressives' "Green New Deal." If you go: The event, which kicks off at 7 p.m. in CVC-200, will be livestreamed here.

Not just Bernie: Former Vice President Al Gore will host a "24 Hours of Reality" live broadcast beginning today, focusing on how climate is threatening human health worldwide. Watch the livestream. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: Sen. Bernie Sanders , a likely 2020 presidential candidate, and a group of climate activists held a town hall Monday evening with a simple message: The world is running out of time to get serious about climate action to limit the worst impacts from a warming planet. "This is a crisis situation," Sanders said. "It is unprecedented, and we've got to ask in an unprecedented way." That's a message echoed by climate advocate Bill McKibben: "This isn't something we can postpone a few more legislative sessions or presidential terms," he said. Sanders dedicated specific sections of the 90-minute gathering to looking at the science undergirding recent federal reports, youth climate advocacy and other topics.

Talking big: Panelists offered few specifics on how they'd meet that challenge, but called for bold ambition in tackling climate change. "The only way we are going to get out of this situation is by choosing to be courageous," Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said to raucous applause. "This is going to be the Great Society, the Moonshot, the Civil Rights Movement of our generation. That is the scale of the ambition that this movement is going to require." She was critical of an incremental approach that some Democrats have embraced: "When we try to solve this issue piecemeal, we're not going to get it solved in time."

Common ground: The likely vacancy on the Senate Energy Committee did not come up, but Ocasio-Cortez mentioned one point of common ground with potential top Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. She mentioned, as part of the process of providing a "just transition," the need for "fully funding pensions that all of these coal miners are due." Manchin tweeted he brought that very issue up with President Donald Trump during a lunch meeting Monday.

Building momentum: The town hall comes as Sen. Ed Markey tweeted his backing of a Green New Deal after meeting with Ocasio-Cortez Monday. Markey famously led the charge on cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House. The pic here. READ MORE