Beyond the negative environmental effects, new studies reveal that climate change will also have disastrous financial consequences, particularly on the up and coming generation of millennials.  A NextGen report shares that if we fail to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or limit the amount and pace of global warming, a twenty-one year old college graduate will lose $126,000 in lifetime wages and $187,000 in savings and investment due to climate change.

Breaking down the dollars and cents

NextGen, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, built their report with a focus on the 75.4 million US millennials who will bear the largest brunt of the costs of climate change.  The report notes that these millennials, American citizens between the ages of 18 and 34, will lose $8.8 trillion in lifetime income unless something is done to reduce the alarming effects of climate change.  It is predicted that these financial burdens will continue and affect generations to come.

More catastrophic findings
Researchers at Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley created a study on potential earning loss for millennials due to climate change.  NextGen based their report on this study, a move applauded by climate change expert Gernot Wagner.  Wagner, a fellow at the Harvard University Center for Environment and consultant for Environmental Defense Fund, explains that NextGen took the study and turned it into data that people can relate to.  They took global numbers and applied them to the next generation of American workers.  

Heather McGee, president of Demos, a left-leaning research and advocacy group, agrees that the findings become much more serious when applied on an individual level (an income loss of $126,000 per person) and when that individual is a part of the generation who will suffer most from climate change.  McGee notes that this is also the generation that has the opportunity, the time and the power to take action against climate change and prevent the harmful environmental and financial effects from taking place. 

For Wagner, who has published a book on the economic consequences of rising global temperatures, this phenomenon is not a secret.  He believes no one should be surprised that climate change comes at a serious cost. 

The Stanford-Berkeley study revealed that higher global temperatures have the ability to reduce the average global income by 25%.  Past research also reveals that higher global temperatures widen the gap between rich and poor countries around the world.

Climate change can affect income by limiting outdoor work, due to rising temperatures that make working outside impossible.  A hotter world can also negatively impact agricultural output.  Rising sea levels, due to fast melting ice caps, have the capacity to destroy coastal cities that are often hubs for metropolitan populations and productivity. 

Temperatures and the economy
A study published in the 2015 Nature paper looked at 50 years of data from 166 countries and compared the country’s economic productivity in both warm and cool temperatures.  The study found that a country’s economy peaked at 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees in Celsius).  Conversely, productivity dropped off markedly at temperatures beyond 68-86 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 30 degrees Celsius).  These results clearly link economic productivity and global rising temperature.  Climate change does have an affect on the global economy.  

The Nature paper also shared a report that the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could drop by as much as 5% by the year 2050 if no strong action is taken against climate change.  Without action, this pattern would continue dropping the US GDP by 36% by the year 2100.

Your vote is your voice
Tom Steyer is the founding president of NextGen.  He is also a liberal climate activist.  In June, Steyer officially endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States.  He believes in her plan to make the United States a clean energy superpower and role model for other nations.  

Conversely, her opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump, has often rejected any notion of climate change.  He does not believe in the proven scientific conclusion that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming.  Trump adamantly opposes a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing the United States’ reliance and usage of fossil fuels.  For Steyer, the choice between these two presidential candidates could not be more clear; one is leading us towards a greener future while the other is burying his head in the sand. 

NextGen plans to spend over $25 million on voter turnout during the 2016 election in key states such as Ohio and Colorado.  They also want to reach out to the younger voter and ensure that millennials, the very generation who will be hit hardest by climate change, are getting to the polls.  To achieve this, NextGen is working with colleges and has active chapters on over 200 campuses across the United States.  For Steyer and NextGen, the climate is their candidate and they intend to do everything they can to support it.  Does the climate get your vote?