They are “an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on [our] politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.”

Founded in 2015 with community organising principles by Sara Blazevic and Varshini Prakash, the movement currently has over 400 chapters across the United States. 

In these hubs, young people teach each other about the power of grassroots activism. They work to recruit more people into the movement, elevating the urgency of climate change and challenging US politics to take climate change seriously.

You might not have heard about the Sunrise Movement, yet, but it’s likely that you know about the Green New Deal, a collection of proposals to address climate change and economic inequality in the US, made famous by representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

The Green New Deal has been Sunrise Movement’s focus since 2017. In November 2018, they organised a sit-in, attended by Ocasio-Cortez herself, in Democratic Party leader Nancy Pelosi’s office to protest the party’s refusal to prioritise climate change legislation.

The movement has played an important role in publicising the Green New Deal and addressing climate change in the political milieu. In the 2020 US elections, they campaigned until the last minute to make sure candidates that supported taking action against climate change were elected into office, from the smallest local council to the head of state.

Through community organising and grassroots action, the young people of the Sunrise Movement continue to demonstrate the strength of ground-up movements and prove those who undermine young people’s political power wrong.

If you, like the youth of Sunrise Movement, support grassroots action and want to make sure our planet is liveable for generations to come, you can show your support by donating to one or multiple of the organisations we picked below. All organisations are vetted by our research team and are amongst the best in their field.