100,000 Pledge to Vote for Climate Action

(Denver – October 21, 2014) One hundred thousand voters have now pledged to go to the polls this November 4^th and vote for climate action.

The pledge drive was launched in Colorado less than two months ago by Defend Our Future, a campaign of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), to empower Millennials to vote on climate issues this election. The original goal was to get 100,000 pledges by Election Day. The effort has succeeded more than two weeks early, and is on track to surge well past its original goal by November 4^th. 

“This overwhelming response shows how strongly people, and especially Millennials, feel about climate change,” said Dr. Alicia Kolar Prevost, who is running the non-partisan effort for EDF. “Millennials will have to live with the damages from climate change, so they are the people who most want our country to take action now. They are also promising to vote – in droves. Politicians of all parties should get that message loud and clear.”

Defend Our Future will continue to accept pledges until Election Day, but their effort will now shift to encompass a get-out-the-vote effort in Colorado for those who have already signed the pledge. 

Defend Our Future focuses on empowerment for voters under 35. Younger voters represent the leading edge of a growing demographic wave that is far more supportive of climate action than older cohorts of voters.

“Climate change is really important to me. I’m 20 years old, so it’s going to have a huge impact on my life,” said Bianca Buium, a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the 100,000^th person to sign the pledge. “I haven’t been involved in politics before, but we can’t just ignore this problem or politicians will too. Now I’m getting involved and trying to do my part.” 

Defend Our Future is employing a mix of groundbreaking digital, social and data targeting technologies, along with traditional boots-on-the-ground organizing, to collect the pledges from potential voters. The non-partisan campaign began in Colorado, with organizers on the ground at Colorado State University and University of Colorado, Boulder. It will expand to a larger, national effort in future election cycles.

Defend Our Future also just formed partnerships with five national groups — OurTime.org, Protect Our Winters, Reverb, Rock the Vote and Voto Latino – to encourage Millennials to vote this November for action on climate change. The group’s planned events include the 14^th Campus Consciousness Tour, a concert series to support campus environmental groups and bring attention to national environmental campaigns. This year’s tour will be headlined by Icona Pop and play on college campuses in seven states.