Graduation is a time of transition and new challenges. For many of us who recently graduated, or will in the coming years, it is also a moment of deep uncertainty. We face both the immediate challenge of surging youth unemployment, and the long-term threat of a world plagued by catastrophic climate change.

Our future hinges on another transition: America’s shift to a new clean energy economy.

Our generation was hit disproportionately hard by the recession. A Pew Research study showed that fully 37% of young people aged 18-29 were unemployed or involuntarily out of the workforce in 2009. Unfortunately, 2010 isn’t looking much better.

While no one piece of legislation will solve both our economic and environmental crises, passing a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill will have a dramatic impact on both issues.

A 21st century clean energy economy has the potential to create millions of new jobs that can’t be shipped overseas. It has the potential to create a sustainable future powered by clean, efficient, renewable energy sources.

Several recent independent analyses showed the the American Power Act proposed by Senators Kerry and Lieberman would create an average of 203,000 to 440,000 new jobs per year between 2012 and 2020.

Clean energy has the potential to become one of the country’s largest industries, and already wind power employs more Americans than coal. These jobs, and a clean energy industry bolstered by the American innovation that would be unleashed by comprehensive energy reform, could become the driving industry in our economic engine.

It’s up to our leaders in Washington to unlock this potential by passing comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.

To show Congress we need clean energy jobs, we are collecting résumés from young people to deliver to the Senate and demand they give us this opportunity.

Add your voice: Apply now for a clean energy future!

If you are currently on the job hunt, we are also excited to be hosting a free Resume Workshop Webinar with the experts at Democratic GAIN! RSVP to join in Wednesday night at 8pm EDT.

Our generation came of age at a turbulent time faced with the failure of conservative economic, environmental, and foreign policy.

WE are the ones fighting 2 wars with countries that didn’t harm us instead of eliminating terrorism at the source, WE are the ones accumulating unprecedented amount of debt due to increasing college costs and the deregulation of the credit card industry, and WE are the ones that will be dealing with the worst CO₂nsequences of the climate crisis if we fail to act now!

At Campus Progress we are organizing events to encourage recent grards to get a clean energy job, we are providing support to emerging journalists who want to break the news on the most recent environmental disaster, and we are helping young people with ambitious campaigns in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, the District of Columbia, among others. We are also creating innovative multimedia to highlight the connections between the climate crisis and other progressive issues:

So join the Campus Progress Network and get access to all of our fantastic resources to take your activism to another level!

This promise is a good sign. However, the promise to our generation will not be fulfilled unless our generation stands up and demands it. The President cannot and will not act alone. We must stand behind him and demand action from Congress to make this vision a reality.

I promised to be president who would build a better future, who would move this nation forward. Who would ensure that this generation, your generation would have the same chances and opportunities that our parents gave us. That’s what I’m here to do. That’s why I ran for President of the United States of America… Part of that promise is an economy that leads the world in science, and technology, and innovation. Part of that promise is a clean energy revolution that protects our planet, protects our security, creates jobs of the future right here in the United States of America.

All across America, young people are demanding clean, green jobs.

Young people are disproportionately affected during times of economic downturns and the current economy is particularly worse for young workers. Recently the New York Times reported that teenagers aged 16 through 19 are at the highest rate of unemployment since 1948 and job losses to young adults never recovered from the 2001 recession.

But that’s not all. According to a recent Economist article, “As the recession drags on, ever more youngsters are likely to find themselves left in economic limbo. Young people with jobs are more likely to graduate from high school and earn higher wages as adults. So lack of employment now may portend an even bleaker future.”

Several studies claim that clean energy and climate legislation could create as many as 2 million jobs. Legislation with strong energy efficiency standards could also be a lasting employment boom across the country decades for decades.