If we want to engage YOUNG PEOPLE in the election, then the DNC absolutely

[pnwmom]

59. Sanders has backed the idea of a debate devoted to climate change. So has Warren,

O'Rourke, Bennett, Castro, and Gillibrand.

So has Al Gore. He's run for President before and he knows how important this issue is and how important a thorough debate would be.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/29/climate-change-democrats-2020-1465563

Democrats across the ideological spectrum want their party to dedicate one of its presidential primary debates to climate change — despite the risk of exposing their own divides.

At least five presidential candidates have backed fellow presidential contender Jay Inslee's idea for a climate-centric debate, in a sign of the issue's growing profile among Democratic voters.

But a public debate might also force Democratic contenders to confront policy differences they have so far papered over, including how quickly they would push the U.S. to shift away from the fossil fuels that provide union jobs. The candidates would also face pressure to offer specifics on their position on the Green New Deal, the ambitious progressive climate resolution that Republicans have sought to tar as an expensive socialist boondoggle.

SNIP

The idea for a primary debate dedicated to climate change has been gaining traction since Inslee first proposed it in April. Fellow contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have also backed the idea, as has former Obama Cabinet official Julián Castro. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who recently unveiled his climate pitch, told POLITICO he thought such a debate would be "great."

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/06/jay-inslee-says-he-may-defy-the-dnc-on-a-climate-change-debate/

The progressive campaign to pressure the DNC to hold its first-ever sanctioned climate change debate first took shape in April. I originally reported that a number of groups, including Friends of the Earth, Credo Action, Greenpeace, Sunrise Movement, and 350.org, planned to ramp up the pressure on the DNC to finally devote the primetime opportunity to an issue that got short-shrift in the last cycle. Since then, about a dozen candidates, including Inslee, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Beto O’Rourke have joined the call.

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The reaction to this announcement was swift and critical. On Twitter, Al Gore called it a “mistake to refuse to hold a #ClimateDebate.” Elizabeth Warren chimed in with her disappointment: “Gov. Inslee is exactly right. Climate change is the biggest challenge we face. Every candidate running for president should have a serious set of policies to address it, and should be eager to defend those proposals in a debate.”

Inslee and the climate activists angling for more debates will argue that climate change isn’t as singular a topic as the DNC claims. It is intrinsically linked to the economy and national security—both themes of past DNC-sanctioned debates. Despite that, climate continues to be treated more as a niche issue by major TV networks and party officials.

“The DNC has said they won’t hold a climate debate because climate change is just a single issue,” Prakash says. “Try telling that the families who can’t afford to rebuild after the Camp Fire in California, the farmers in Iowa whose crops have been destroyed by floods, or the black and brown babies in Detroit who can’t breathe. Climate change is not just a ‘single issue’—it’s an existential threat that impacts every aspect of our lives.”