Mobilizing Gen Z for Climate Action with Elise Joshi

Elise Joshi, 21, is the executive director at Gen-Z for Change. She first gained widespread attention a few months ago when she interrupted a White House press conference being held by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. In the viral video, a visibly nervous Joshi asked about the Biden administration's approval of ConocoPhillips' $8 billion Willow Pipeline project in Alaska, despite over 1 million young people requesting President Biden halt the project. The video has been viewed tens of millions of times across news outlets and shows.

In this episode, Elise makes the point that the Biden administration has done many wonderful things for climate, including the Inflation Reduction Act. However, she noted that for many young people, Biden's climate record will be defined by Willow. The months-long Stop Willow movement was significantly influential across social media. She pointed out that in Biden's first two years, the Bureau of Land Management approved more oil and gas permits than during Trump's first two years, despite Biden's pledge and executive order to halt federal land drilling. This highlights the need to incentivize renewables and electrification while weaning the economy off fossil fuels. For many, progress on the latter has seemed lacking.

Elise and Cody have an insightful conversation about these climate policy dynamics and her work at Gen-Z for Change. It's an exciting discussion that provides perspective on how she believes millions of young people view current climate policies.