Two UMass Dartmouth students held a town hall-style meeting on Tuesday evening to explain the Green New Deal to a diverse group of people at the university’s Charlton College for Business.

Esmeralda Bisono, a UMass Dartmouth senior, ran the meeting with sophomore Liz Anusauskas voluntarily as part of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led movement that advocates political action on climate change.

They outlined the goals and key strategies behind the Green New Deal — a proposed government program that aims to tackle the issues of climate change and economic inequality by adding millions of jobs in the renewable energy sector.

Speakers included Wendy Graça, President of South Coast Neighbors United, who spoke about fossil fuels; Jamie Jacquart, Assistant Director at UMass Dartmouth’s Sustainability Office, who spoke about climate issues and specific steps to address them; and Kimberly Wilson, Director at UMass Dartmouth’s Labor Education Center, who spoke about income inequality and organized labor.

The audience engaged with the speakers during the discussion portion of the town hall-style meeting.

Paula Charbonneau of Dartmouth compared the Green New Deal to her own Green/Rainbow party’s plan (theirs has been around longer).

“Even with [this] plan, there’s still a long way to go...we’re supporting you 100 percent, but we want you to know that there are other plans out there that push this even further,” she said.

Bisono agreed. “There are many parts of it that don’t go far enough, but I think that was the point of it,” she said. “It’s a beginning outline, just to see how people react to it. And obviously it’s gotten a big reaction...the fact that we’re even doing this says a lot.”

“I personally am thrilled that this conversation is coming to the forefront of the American public,” Charbonneau said.

The sentiment was echoed around the room. “I’m thrilled that this generation of youth...are active and interested,” said another audience member.

Bisono was happy with the way it all turned out. “I think the event went great,” she said. “I’m glad to see so many people here of all different ages and races.”

Anusauskas agreed. “I think it went really well. I was really glad to see that the community came, and was super engaged in this...people had comments, which I was really impressed to see.”