Why I Joined the Sunrise Movement
Voices are stronger when united
From Climate Ignorance to Enlightenment
I remember feeling depressed about the state of the world a few years back when I finally overcame my climate ignorance.
As I learned more about climate change, I began to understand the sheer scale of the consequences of burning fossil fuels for so long and how little time we had to try to address the problems.
I noticed that people did tend to talk more about it than when I was in high school, but I rarely heard much urgency in their voices.
I would listen to the news anchors on mainstream media gloss over it only to quickly move on to the next BREAKING NEWS story about what new trouble the Kardashians had got themselves into, or something of that sort.
I would hear our politicians offer incremental solutions to the problem — or none at all. Some would even call it a hoax, or throw a snowball in the Senate to prove that it wasn’t anything to worry about. Suffice it to say, this led to a whirlwind of emotions that I still feel sometimes to this day.
I learned three important facts around that time:
- People generally were either underinformed or misinformed regarding climate change.
- People generally felt like they could do little to make an impact and that we just needed the right leaders to come along to help solve everything — or felt like we were doomed regardless.
- The fossil fuel industry would do everything in their power to ensure the continuity of points 1 and 2 to maximize profits and continue to socialize the losses.
Enter the Sunrise Movement
In the span of a few short years, the Sunrise Movement has gained national attention. They understand what few in the media and in politics seem to understand — or if they do, they certainly don’t give it the attention it deserves — which is that we have a very limited window in which to act.
“…if the planet was brought to the brink of climate catastrophe within the lifetime of a single generation, the responsibility to avoid it belongs with a single generation, too. We all also know that second lifetime. It is ours.” — David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming¹
If we go by the “gold standard” of climate predictions, i.e., the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, then we have just a couple of decades at most to limit global warming to 1.5°C, or else risk much more extreme weather events, climate refugees, water scarcity, habitat loss, sea level rise, etc. However, we are currently on track for anywhere between 2 to 3°C warming by 2100. So, clearly what we’re doing isn’t working to keep warming below the 1.5°C threshold, which is further evidenced by the fact fossil fuel emissions reached an all-time high in 2018.
The young people that make up the Sunrise Movement understand this very well — after all, it is their future livelihoods that are being directly affected by climate inaction. They understand that aggressive climate action is needed, and what the consequences will be if we fail to act with urgency. Furthermore, they’re not just complaining about the dire situation we are in, they’re coming forward with solutions that can help us tackle this massive problem in a substantial way.
The crowning achievement thus far of their movement has been successfully pushing the idea of a Green New Deal (GND) into the public spotlight, which now has over 89 House co-sponsors and 11 Senate co-sponsors at the time of this writing. When Senator Ed Markey was asked during the announcement of the GND about the failure of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (a cap and trade bill) he sponsored back in 2009, he remarked that “we didn’t have this movement in 2009…this is now a voting issue across the country.” It’s important to note that the GND resolution is just that, a resolution without any binding legislation yet, but it’s certainly a major step forward in the right direction.
In order to make the GND a reality and put legislation behind it, they also understand that pressure will need to be applied to both Democrats and Republicans, and it’s working. Recently, Sunrisers from the Bay Area went to Senator Feinstein’s office to ask her to support the GND while other Sunrisers in Kentucky confronted Senator McConnell for taking millions in fossil fuel donations, i.e., bribes. This is what it’s going to take in order for the movement to be successful — pressuring politicians from all across the country to support the vision of the GND. By doing so, they will also help increase public awareness regarding climate issues and the urgency we all should feel in supporting comprehensive climate legislation.
By comprehensive, I mean that it addresses all the interrelated issues of climate change, such as how it tends to affect poorer communities more severely (who tend to lack adequate resources to begin with), how it will lead to greater national security concerns as climate refugees flee their homelands that are becoming more uninhabitable by the day, how our current agriculture and land use practices only exacerbate the problem, and how transitioning to renewable energy sources will inevitably lead to loss of jobs in fossil fuel industries — and those individuals must not be left behind.
Finally, and probably most importantly, they don’t accept incrementalism. After Senator Feinstein rebuked the young Sunrisers and told them the GND wouldn’t pass in the Senate, she proposed her own GND alternative plan that called for reducing emissions on a more gradual scale. This watered-down plan was quickly criticized by the Sunrise Movement and other environmental groups for not being in line with what the climate scientists are telling us is actually needed to avoid catastrophic warming. In response to the criticism, Senator Feinstein said she would not introduce her climate resolution to the Senate. Although climate denial and “business as usual” would certainly lead to the destruction of most life on Earth in the future, incrementalism to address the problem essentially amounts to a slower death.
From Movement to Revolution
The climate movement is unique in that it is the first movement in history that affects every human being on the planet, as well as all future generations. This means that the potential positive impacts of such a movement on human civilization could be dramatic.
Every great movement in history, whether it’s the civil rights movement, women’s rights movement, LGBT movement, or more recently, the Me Too movement, all started with either a single, powerful action by an individual (e.g., Rosa Parks) or actions led by a group of individuals (e.g., Seneca Falls Convention) to demand change within society. As more people joined the respective movement, the more powerful it became until their opposition caved and acquiesced to their demands.
The climate movement is unique in that it is the first movement in history that affects every human being on the planet, as well as all future generations. This means that the potential positive impacts of such a movement on human civilization could be dramatic. It is now gaining in strength with every new person that is willing to fight for systemic change, and will only continue to do so as more people begin to feel the impacts of climate change. Environmental organizations like the Sunrise Movement are helping to grow the climate movement at a much quicker rate and do not show signs of slowing down. The political establishment will eventually be forced to listen to us when enough of our voices are ringing in their ears demanding climate action.
This is why I joined the Sunrise Movement. I want to be one of those voices. I know it is necessary if we want to continue to have a habitable planet and ensure that our children can enjoy the beauty of nature as we have experienced it. It’s really that simple.
Even if Sunrise isn’t for you, everyone must still do their part. It is not only our politicians that will be judged by the actions they choose, or don’t choose, during these times — it is all of us. You can do your part by utilizing your skills to help the climate movement grow into a climate revolution.
So, if you’re a writer, write about it.
If you’re a painter, paint about it.
If you’re a singer, sing about it.
If you’re a teacher, teach about it.
I think you get the idea.
If you’re not sure how to help, at least support those who do and try to follow their lead. And most of all, don’t listen to those who try to tell you individual actions don’t matter — saying that is a slap in the face to all those individuals of past movements who stood up to demand change in our society, and we must do it once again.
Then, and only then, will we begin to make the changes necessary to save ourselves, our future generations, and the rest of the species on this beautiful planet that we hope will always be our home.
Interested in joining the Sunrise Movement? Learn more here: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
References:
[1] David Wallace-Wells. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. Tim Duggan Books, 2019.
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