By Jeremy R. Griffin, GPPA Co-Chair

I am Jeremy R Griffin, and as the new co-chair of the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA), I intend to create political power for the most important third party in our Commonwealth. I plan to do this by getting the next generation involved in the Green Party.

Green Party of Pennsylvania
www.gpofpa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

CONTACT:
Chris Robinson, Communication Team Co-Leader, [email protected]

Through my years of environmental activism and even being a part of some Green Party electoral campaigns myself, I’ve come to the conclusion that to really make a lasting change we, as environmentalists, have to recruit, fund and educate the next generation. By the next generation, I am specifically referring to Gen Z (birth years 1998-2012) and Gen Alpha, coming after it.

I recognize why the youth haven't been active in our political process recently. Gen Z does not see itself among the candidates of the two corporate parties. Political jargon is foreign to them, and public officials are constantly unveiled as selfish scammers. That doesn’t even mention that the most important political issue -- which is climate change -- is barely spoken about in detail during debates between Dems and Repubs. In fact, fixing irreversible climate damage seems like an astronomical feat, especially through means of a long political process.

The good news is that the Green Party of Pennsylvania is the alternative that Gen Z can utilize and even occupy. Young people not only have the morals but also the motivation to make revolutionary change in our current representative democratic system. They are the ones who will feel the impacts of the climate policies made today. These are the policies that will affect life for them on Mother Earth for years to come.

I believe the Green Party would be a great fit for Gen Z because of our candidates, especially when compared to the other political parties in the country. Unlike the others, the Green Party actually runs 100% legit grassroots campaigns. This means GPPA has the most important candidates, running the most important campaigns, because they are not funded by corporations. There are no strings attached to any corporation when a Green Party candidate is elected to office.

Our candidates really can keep the promises made on the campaign trail. When they say they will ban fracking, or stop refineries, or transition to 100% renewables by 2035, they mean it! No need for them to pay off the fossil fuel industry or make tax cuts for the companies actively polluting the planet for monetary gain. Greens are the people that Gen Z and all environmentalists can actually trust!

One of the benefits the Green Party has is a clean slate. Gen Z has watched the Dems and Repubs do horrendous actions (or inactions) since they could remember. They have watched the corporate media cover their own candidates’ scandals, flaws and mishaps. As for the Green Party, we have a clean slate in many young voters’ minds. The youth haven’t seen the impact of Green Party candidates elected to much more than hyper-local offices, like borough council and judge of elections. This means that GPPA does not have much blame for the current situations with poverty, social unrest or climate inaction. The Green Party has no dark blemish over our names on the ballot box.

With so many voters entangled in the false dichotomy within mainstream American elections and corporate propaganda, it’s safe to say that the progressives disgusted by this system might feel hopeless. Honestly why would progressives not be; the Dems and Repubs are literally running some of the trashiest nonsensical and non-substantive candidates in years and the masses are voting in numbers we've never seen before. This is a clear sign that Gen Z is not one of the voting blocks we should give up on.

The Green Party of PA is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please email [email protected]. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Jeremy R, Griffin is a podcaster, public speaker, educator, researcher, geographer and Kutztown University Alum. He was elected co-chair of the Green Party of Pennsylvania on March 12.

Photo Credit
Garry Knight (CC0 1.0)