Youth Climate Activist: ‘By the Time I’m Old Enough’ to Run for Office It’s Too Late to Save Planet

EXCERPT:

MARGOLIN: "I mean, it’s tricky because right now, whenever I go lobbying, I was just spending like three days straight with my organization Zero Hour. We were on the Capitol Hill for three days straight just lobbying, having meetings and meetings and meetings. And what we get all of the time is politicians who will not pledge to take any action. They’ll just pat us on the head and be like, 'Good job, you’re so cute, you're so inspiring. Maybe someday you should run for office and you can take action on climate,' which is messed up because we only have about 18 months left in order to create the political environment in order to solve the climate crisis before it’s too late. So as a 17-year-old, for them to throw it on a 17-year-old's shoulders and say, 'When you grow up, you can do this.' No. By the time I grow up, it’s too late. So, I mean on Monday I got to meet Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, congresswoman who is an icon of mine and I look up to her. So the goal is — you know, I was standing out there on the balcony where presidents are inaugurated and I was looking out and I was like, 'Maybe I will be standing up here getting inaugurated someday.' So it’s not like that dream is gone, but my dream is not to become an elected official so I can solve the climate crisis. Because by the time I'm old enough to be an elected official, it’s going to be way too late.”