I can’t believe I’m actually saying it. After 7 years of building and leading Sunrise, and over a decade in the youth climate movement, I will be transitioning from my role as Executive Director of in Fall 2023.
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Varshini Prakash 
@VarshPrakash
Co-founder, Exec. Director of . Fighting for a #GreenNewDeal, building a mvmt to stop climate change & create jobs for all. Tweets my own.
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And finally, thank you to every young person who believed in a better day, who took risks, made mistakes, & poured your hearts into fighting for a more stable, just, free present & future. Your courage changed the world and will change it again sure as the sun rises each morning.
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It’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve alongside all of you. Thank you for any role you played, large or small to support the fight for climate justice. Thank you for the ways you’ve championed us and challenged us to grow and improve. I am so grateful.
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I’m so excited for what these young people will achieve over the months and years to come. While I’ll be stepping out of my ED duties, I’ll be changing my role to support our team in other ways - more on that later!
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🤝 Create communities of belonging and invest more deeply in our members, especially those who are BIPOC and working class, through a new membership democracy structure and constituency organizing programs specifically for Black and Latine youth.
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🏫 Help young people realize their own power by winning concrete victories in their schools & towns – think free public transit, municipalized power, city-wide gas bans, electrified school bus fleets – by leveraging hundreds of billions of federal dollars our movement helped win.
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Here’s just a taste of what they’re planning:
💪 Transform Sunrise to a powerful vehicle for thousands of trained, committed, and diverse leaders and organizers that will ramp up the urgency on ending the fossil fuel era.
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They have navigated the turbulent terrain of a global pandemic, engaged in honest conversations about race and class that build our power, redesigned our strategy for a new political moment, and emerged prepared to take another swing at fighting for a livable future.
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I always planned to stay in Sunrise until I could pass the torch to a future generation of youth leaders to lead the next phase of our work. I feel confident in saying that that time has come. The intelligence, passion, and commitment I see in the next Sunrisers are exceptional.
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I’m so proud of the ways our organization has shaped the climate movement and, even, changed our world. And still, after ten years of sprinting alongside many other young people, everything inside of me is calling for rest and the time to learn and dream again.
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2 years later, the climate mvmt won the largest national climate bill in world history – which, while flawed & insufficient, was the first time the fed govt had acted on climate. Now, we need to ensure these bills are just the starting point of the decade of the #GreenNewDeal.
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We fought to keep climate at the center of American politics through sit-ins, office visits, and the media. We delivered a mandate to the Dem establishment that, to get the votes of our generation, they had to deliver on a climate plan in line with what science & justice demand.
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I remember demonstrating in ’s office, how dozens of youth were arrested in the halls of Congress with signs reading “Dems, what’s your plan?” and reporters calling from around the country wondering what “the Green New Deal” was.
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What we’ve accomplished over the last few years is the stuff of dreams and magic for me. Six years ago, my friends and I launched Sunrise with a tenacious vision - make federal climate action rooted in racial & economic justice a priority in American politics for the first time.
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Big love to who just dropped this powerful essay for anyone wanting to build movements that are joyful & relentless about winning.
He digs into the causes for the internal problems our orgs face AND offers specific solutions. So much resonated with me. Check it out!
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Our people and communities deserve organizations and movements that exude joy, build power, and secure critical victories for working people.
Don't miss our latest by @MauriceWFP on #BuildingResilientOrgs
w/ @_convergencemag & @npquarterly forgeorganizing.org/article/buildi
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BREAKING: wins in #PA12! She’s on her way to becoming the first Black woman ever elected to Congress from Pennsylvania.
Nothing — not even millions of dollars from AIPAC — can stop a movement.
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The trailer for debuts today! A film about shifting the paradigm on climate action with - a microcosm of the climate justice movement that’s changing history and the future. In theaters December 9!
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(WATCH): The trailer to Rachel Lears’ new documentary ‘To The End’ debuts on over one thousand screens in theaters today, but we’ve got your first look at it here deadline.com/2022/10/to-the
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Stopping the #ClimateCrisis is a question of political courage, and the clock is ticking. Watch the trailer for #ToTheEndFilm, a new documentary from the team behind . In theaters December 9.
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@ToTheEndFilm is “a rallying cry about the climate crisis” and will ignite you to take action. See it in theaters December 9.
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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they wish bedbugs on you, then you win 😈😈😈
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New documents obtained by my committee @OversightDems show Big Oil executives ridiculing youth activists who are fighting for climate action and even wishing that kids from @sunrisemvmt get bed bugs. It's just appalling.
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Because the work is not over, we also came with a message. Chuck Schumer & Joe Manchin made a dirty handshake deal with Big Oil that we need to stop.
No more expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure or sacrifice zones in the name of action on the climate crisis. #StopTheSideDeal
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We, the people, can make big things happen. And I'm here to make sure our elected leaders know the work ain't over.
Stop the side deal. Declare a climate emergency. Establish a Civilian Climate Corps. Green New Deal now
Together, we can.
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Ordinary people have more power than we know. When we organize, every now and then we can make the impossible inevitable.
There is so much more work to be done. It won’t happen unless people, especially young people, believe we can build and wield power.
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This legislation happened because of our movement for a Green New Deal led by young people, workers, frontline communities & everyday people.
Not Joe Manchin or any one politician.
Here to make sure that story is told & our demands can continue to be heard.
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Here representing the millions of young people who knocked doors, sat in offices, striked from school, marched, talked to neighbors, friends, strangers, made their voices heard demanding the govt finally act on the crisis that has defined our lives.
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I hope you can do the same.
And of course, we'll be back to win the rest - sure as the sun rises each morning.
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I’m equally committed to savoring this bittersweet moment and claiming what we have won.
I’ll never be satisfied while people hurt.
But I know we owe it to ourselves & each other to honor the fruits of the fight we've waged.
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There’s much more work to do - pipelines & permits to fight, Civilian Climate Corps to build. Big Oil still strangles our democracy.
The IRA isn’t enough. Ultimately, physics doesn’t care about historical precedent.
I’m committed to that struggle, whatever its form.
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This isn’t the bill of our dreams but it never would have happened w/o our "Green New Dream" as once called it😉
I’m grateful for the shoulders we stand on & our ancestors who taught us + paved the way.
Thank you to all who fought with us through victory & loss
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Together, we made it impossible for our politicians to ignore the existential threat of climate change any longer.
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Elected climate champions like , , , and many more. We ran for office and learned how to govern.
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We’re here because of movements and organizing.
Millions of young people across America and the world showed up to vote and turned out their friends and families.
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5 yrs ago, when we launched they called us naive and told us our ideas were impractical. But we knew the adults in the room were failing us, and our homes and lives were on the line.
It’s clear now, without the Green New Deal there would never be the IRA.
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Today marks the passage of the largest climate investment in US history. The bill is flawed, it’s the floor not the ceiling, & there are many fights ahead.
All the same, I can’t help but feel grateful for the journey that brought us here & so proud of what we have won together
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Finally, a climate bill has passed the Senate.
This isn't the bill my generation deserves but it is the one we can get. It must pass to give us a fighting chance at a livable world.
Youth leaders to Congress - Pass this bill, then get back to work.
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Young ppl turned out BIG in 2020, demanding leaders listen to us. Congress is now deciding our future.
This climate bill is not enough. It's deeply flawed. But it must pass. Then, Congress must get back to work.
Here's what youth leaders say to Congress:
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The system is rigged when one man, who profits off of fossil fuels, can hold life-saving climate legislation hostage.
But if 50 Senators are actually committed to voting for a package that reduces emissions by 40% by 2030, Congress must pass it immediately.
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MANCHIN says he’s reached agreement with Schumer on a reconciliation deal that deals with climate, energy, tax and health care.Show this thread
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Big love and appreciation to these Congressional staffers fighting for our future and making history.
We're gonna need a movement rising inside and outside the halls of Congress to turn the tide. Thanks for your work!
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Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done.
We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations.
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