Meet Jay Ting Walker

YES Co-Chair

About:

By day, Jay Ting Walker (he/him) is a Community Organizer at a Pennsylvania environmental non-profit Clean Air Council. By night, Jay is a proud member of the Green Party of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh DSA, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, and Bike Pittsburgh. Jay serves as one of the Green Party of Pennsylvania’s delegates to the GPUS National Committee. He studied Biology and Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he was active in environmental activism. In his free time, Jay is passionate about ultimate frisbee, board games, Age of Empires 2, and watching soccer.

Why are you a member of the Green Party, and why did you join the Youth Caucus?
I've been a Green for 9 years because I believe strongly in Green values, and I don't believe that any of them can be achieved in a capitalist society.

Which of the Green Party’s four pillars or Ten Key Values are you most passionate about?
I'm most passionate about the pillar of Peace. My father was drafted to fight a pointless war in Vietnam and it destroyed him. I think about this pillar constantly.

What ideas do you have to see your committee of focus reach its full potential?

  • I think having consistent meetings for both the Steering Committee and Caucus Committees is the key to our success.

  • I think we should develop goals for each of our active committees and have been engaged in a similar process with my county party.

  • I have been working on data centers and the fossil fuel infrastructure that goes along with them for my day job. I've been lucky to attend some conferences and have multiple speaking opportunities on the topic. I think this is a hot topic around the country right now. I think it'd be great to see YES engage in this area for some outward-facing work.

What role do you see for the Young EcoSocialists in the Party? How do you see this caucus shaping the future of the Green Party?
As I said at the start, I think YES is the future of the Green Party. I think it's an important incubator for young leaders in our party. I also think by focusing on genuine on-the-ground grassroots organizing, our caucus can shift the direction of the national party away from being a skeleton crew focused on vanity projects and towards being a national federation of organized Green Parties that have a local presence. I think we can do this mainly by organizing our caucus and building Green Party organizations in our local area.