I'm an organizer for Sunrise Movement, the group of kids who put the Green New Deal on the map and catapulted climate change to the top of the Dem 2020 agenda. AMA!

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With no changes to our current climate crisis policy, economic development is at high risk on our current path. Already built infrastructure is at high risk of being destroyed as well as being outdated by inadequacy to changing conditions and requiring rebuilding to keep our communities safe. Businesses like farms will face higher losses from variable conditions, and we will all be subject to higher disaster tolls.

right on. see: large portions of the midwest rn. absolutely horrific. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/18/weather-woes-cause-american-corn-farmers-throw-towel/?utm_term=.d91b990507a8

The idea that we have to choose between our economy and saving our planet is a false choice, one that's been pushed for decades by the fossil fuel executives who are only interested in protecting their wealth. That's why a core aspect of what we're fighting for in the Green New Deal is a federal jobs guarantee and a jobs training program for fossil fuel industry workers in transition. We could create millions of jobs and strengthen our economy by investing in mobilizing our work force to move every sector away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.

How do you plan to engage voters in 2020, and how can we (adults who can already vote) help support that work?

We did electoral work during the 2018 midterm elections through a fellowship program we called Sunrise Semester. During this program young people 18+ devoted their summer and fall to to canvassing and phone banking for climate champions in five states. That program included just over 70 fellows and for the 2020 election cycle we're planning to run that same program with (hopefully!) over 300 fellows. We're still working out the details and which states we're going to based in but if someone you know might be interested you can send them this form to sign up: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/im-interested-in-sunrise-semester-2020

To what extent does your group take embedded CO2 into account when calling for big stimulus projects?

Manufacturing all electric cars, retrofitting every building in America, building better rail networks, etc. all cost an enormous amount of CO2 at a time when we have about a decade to get CO2 levels down.

How will your group address the issue of prioritizing projects, so they don't cost us more CO2 than they save in the next 10 years?

Sunrise's role isn't to write the legislation, our role is to call attention to the crisis and hold our politicians' feet to the fire as they step to do their jobs––call in the experts, write the legislation and take these concerns into account.

We are excited that progressive groups like New Consensus are starting to get in the game of policy writing though! You should check out what people like Rhiana Gunn-Wright have to say about nitty gritty policy questions like this.

What are your plans around the upcoming Democratic primary debate?

We're really fucking angry that the DNC has refused to hold a climate debate *and* banned 2020s from taking part in a non-DNC climate debate. It's a total failure of leadership and shows how horrifically out of touch they are with the American public (Democratic, Republican and Independent voters alike!).

The first debates are in Miami this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Volunteers all across the country are hosting watch parties and taking part in a social media campaign with the goal of making sure #ClimateDebate is a trending topic on twitter throughout both nights of the debate. The DNC needs to know how bad they're failing our generation.

That being said, the watch parties are a great space to dip your toes into Sunrise and meet some cool people in your community!! Check out the map and sign up to attend here (scroll down to the Miami debates section): https://www.sunrisemovement.org/changethedebate

If you had to name one thing that is your biggest challenge running Sunrise to achieve your goals what would be? People, money, tech, something else?

Money is definitely a HUGE challenge. Sunrise is only 2 years old and we've decided to go up against fossil fuel executives who are literal billionaires and will stop at nothing to protect themselves and their wealth. Oh and they have Fox News, most of Congress, and the White House working for them.

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They have decades of experience under their belts and we managed to put a huge dent in their strategy. Since putting the Green New Deal on the map in 2018, every single conversation that you hear on tv or read about in the paper is no longer about whether this crisis is real – it's about which solution is best. So they're hitting back hard against the Green New Deal, and they're beating us on the mass media front.

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But we can win if educate and build a movement of millions and mobilize people at a scale we haven't seen since the civil rights era. Digital tools are expensive and right now we're trying to build out our capacity for content creation (videos, graphics, animations explaining our strategy etc). Our movement is growing super fast and there are lots of competing needs that require funding.

Do you have student organizations going? As a former college Republican, now progressive (soon to be law student,) I’m surprised at the lack of on campus infrastructure of progressive groups compared to what the Right built up after 2010.

Yeah this is something we're thinking critically about as we structure our late summer and fall 2019 campaigns. We've been partnering with an org called iMatter to do youth organizing at the high school level but we don't have anything structured for college campuses yet. Right now college students can just register a regular Sunrise Hub (sunrisemovement.org/hubs) but we are thinking about a more streamlined campaign strategy that can be replicated across college campuses! Stay tuned :) but also if you have any neat ideas let us know!

Hey Aracely! Thanks for doing this. I'd love to hear your personal story. Why do you care about the climate emergency?

Hi :) I grew up in Brooklyn NY in a neighborhood called Sunset Park. It's a working class, mostly Hispanic and immigrant community and it's right on NY harbor––so when Hurricane Sandy hit back in 2012 the neighborhood, and the city at large was devastated. Here's the thing though: black and brown, and low income communities like mine are still recovering and it's been over 6 years. The one train that serves my neighborhood is still under repair and stations flood all too often making it difficult for people to go about their daily lives. This story is the same for so many people all across the country and across the world. The way our economy and society is structured today we know that as the climate crisis worsens the wealthy and their families will be fine while the rest of us will lose everything.

It's time for drastic change and we have a very small window of opportunity to make it happen.

Thanks for your questions, sorry I didn't get to all of them. If you want to continue the conversation or learn more about Sunrise and what we're up to you can head over to our website sunrisemovement.org <3

Sunrise does such a great job of keeping climate issues in the face of legislators, are there other effective ways you have seen for people to support the effort, maybe more locally?

Yeah totally! Sunrise hubs (local chapters of the movement) are autonomous. The hub members at each location develop their own political strategy, outreach rhythms etc. There's lots of work to be done locally: we can win municipal or state level climate legislation in line with the goals of the Green New Deal, we can bring the conversation about the climate crisis and its solutions to our classrooms, libraries and houses of worship.

Another big think that needs to change is how the climate crisis is reported on in the news, especially how much air time it gets. Pretty much everyone understand that climate change is the biggest existential threat our species has ever faced. Yet news coverage of it is depressingly low. Everyone needs to be treating this as an emergency and that includes the media. Something you can do to help change this is by writing a Letter to the Editor, especially if your local newspaper barely covers climate change.