05 March, 2019

Adults failed to take climate action. Meet the young activists stepping up.

Despite being barely two years old, the Sunrise Movement has outpaced established environmental groups in the push to radically reshape the political landscape around climate change. Closely allied with new congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youth-led Sunrise Movement has helped set out a sweepingly ambitious plan to address climate change in the form of the Green New Deal.
Lily Gardner, 15, a Sophomore at Henry Clay High School and a student organizer in the Sunrise Movement, stands for a portrait at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate on February 28, 2019. Growing up in Eastern Kentucky’s ‘Coal Country’, Gardner says that she witnessed firsthand generational poverty as a result of the fossil fuel industry.
Lily Gardner, 15, of Lexington, Kentucky - "We are advocating
 for what is necessary to ensure that I have a livable future at all."
The movement comprises a small core team of young organizers, supported by a larger group of several hundred volunteers. The group’s elevation of the Green New Deal has clearly riled Trump, who has falsely but repeatedly claimed that the plan would result in the banning of cars, air travel and even cows.
The Guardian spoke to Sunrise members on how the organization has shaken the political and environmental establishment in the US.


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