Teen changing climate in Conn.

It’s late Thursday night and I’m talking to Bobby Callagy about his role in drafting legislation to give Connecticut’s climate initiatives a jumpstart.

As we’re talking, state Rep. Christine Palm, D-Chester, emails Callagy with a final draft of the long-awaited bill, the result of two years of their work together.

“I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed that we can truly make progress,” Callagy says from his home in Darien. “Last year was disheartening. We don’t want this year to be the same way.”

Two years of work would be a lot for anyone in Hartford. But Callagy is in high school. He doesn’t have to do this. But in his 17 years he’s noticed (whether it’s acknowledged by the State of Connecticut or not) that there is a climate crisis. Maybe it was the smoke from Canadian wildfires that was still choking Hartford as the 2023 session wrapped up with a zero in the win column for Team Green.

So Connecticut environmentalists decided to think bigger. The bill is 17 pages and 5,600 words long. A lot of legislators probably won’t make it past the first six words: “The state hereby declares a climate crisis.”

Among other things, it sets targets for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions goals, concluding with a 65% drop by 2040 from where we were in 2001. In 2040, Callagy will be in his early 30s. He’ll surely have an even louder voice in shaping policies by then.

But for now, he and his colleagues have to find a way to draw attention to their vision. House Bill 5004, “An Act Concerning the Implementation of Certain Climate Change Measures,” always needed marketing help. It got it recently from the unlikeliest of places.

Palm has already publicly thanked the Yankee Institute (which she and fellow Democrats call “the fossil-fuel-funded conservative think tank”) for slapping the bill with the label “the Green Monster.”

That a group named Yankee referenced the nickname for the wall at Fenway Park (which just happens to be in left field) means we’ll be hearing “Green Monster” almost as much as “fiscal guardrails” during this Hartford session. Hopefully, it will at least trigger deeper discussions about making Connecticut a healthier state. Unfortunately, some lawmakers are already fretting that declaring a climate crisis would give Gov. Ned Lamont the chance to flip the switch to run the state through executive orders, as he did during the early days of COVID-19.

Callagy seems to recognize his moment in time. Hostile presidential elections and a worldwide pandemic during his teen years shaped his mission. He is president of Voices of Gen-Z, a nonprofit that claims 50,000 subscribers to its social media platforms and registered 10,000 voters.

He will be voting in his first election this November. I don’t ask who he’s voting for. It doesn’t seem necessary. He tells me anyway.

“I will be voting for Joe Biden. I’m absolutely not voting for Trump. Obviously.”

He doesn’t hedge from throwing shade at Biden (“I think he could have done better in certain

A lot of legislators probably won’t make it past the first six words: “The state hereby declares a climate crisis.”

areas”). He’s also not hung up on age, despite the two front-runners for president having 60 years on him.

Callagy started collaborating with Palm, along with environmentalist Roger Kuhns and members of the Connecticut branch of the Citizens Climate Lobby, about two years ago. They had high hopes of passing recycling legislation last year, but it failed along with every other bill with a tint of emerald. The cause took a further hit in recent months as Gov. Ned Lamont pumped the brakes on his plan for Connecticut to stop selling new gas guzzlers by 2035.

It’s not easy being green, but such setbacks only seem to motivate Callagy. While discussing his contributions to the new omnibus bill, he says one phrase rapidly that grabs my attention: “I spent my entire summer vacation” working on it.

That’s not something most high schoolers do. Callagy leans heavy on the idea of convincing policymakers to save the planet for his generation, both in conversation and during his time navigating the State Capitol as an intern.

It’s not his sole cause. Among other things, he also champions gun safety. When I try to trace his origins as an activist, we keep pivoting to random turning points of the last five years. The big one we settle on is when he became a vegan at age 12, which was inspired by watching YouTube videos about industrial farming. He remains the only vegan in his household, but seems proud to have swayed his parents to consume less meat.

After graduating from The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., he will attend Columbia University, with thoughts of studying political science.

Of course, he’s already doing that. He’s seen enough about how hard politicians work to express apprehension about becoming one himself. He also knows there’s plenty to do behind the scenes.

Voices of Gen-Z came about because he got bored during COVID.

“I had nothing else to do.”

There’s plenty to do now. For the spring semester of his senior year of high school, Callagy gets to introduce lawmakers to the Green Monster, which will get a public hearing on Friday, March 8.

Imagine what he’ll get done during his next summer vacation.