We are allied with murdering oil oligarchs against the rest of the world to promote fossil fuels. What will it take to get us to take this crisis seriously?

It might require the honesty of youth. For example, 15-year-old Greta Thunberg earned a seat at the table in Poland by striking from school until the climate crisis is addressed.

The only way we’ll have clean air with a growing population is to stop burning gas and coal, but the corporations making fortunes from polluting our air would have you believe otherwise. Volunteers like me will never manage to match their campaign contributions, so we have to depend on democracy. Congress will act when enough people demand it.

A bipartisan bill introduced to put a simple, transparent price on carbon at the mine, wellhead and port-of-entry would drive consumers toward clean energy choices and, by providing equal monthly dividends to every American family fund, it without any government intervention.

If everyone calls on their political and business leaders to demand Congress pass the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act with a veto-proof margin, we could have clean air. Otherwise our kids may have to strike for their future without us.