shortly after the shooting. In February, less than a week after the Parkland shooting, lawmakers in the Florida State Housevoted down HB 219 “It’s been seven years since we debuted and we’ll be hitting eight years next year; that’s a long period of time,” Chen says. His humble, calm demeanor is a balm for the rest of the group who cling to his introspective thoughts. “We reflected on our past journey and tried to make improvements in this new album. It’s been a grateful and fun time.” Youth climate activists say the response to the Dust Bowl provides a helpful roadmap. “Our generation is coming of age at a time of spiraling crisis. With an economic downturn, climate crisis, and a pandemic, we have realized that the new normal that we’ve grown up with has never worked for us, so in order to create a society that truly has the best interest of our futures at heart, we’re going to need to revamp and fundamentally transform our country and governance over the next 10 years. Back in the Dust Bowl that was the New Deal, and for our generation it’s the Green New Deal,” said John Paul Mejia, 18, a spokesperson with the Sunrise Movement. star said, before sharing the story of Recy Taylor, a black woman who was abducted and gang-raped by a group of white men in Alabama in 1944, and who died in late December.