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It’s time to stop thinking of climate as a burden.
Solving it right solves every big problem we have.
Its urgency hastens the bend of that arc toward justice.
It will be a purpose-giving endeavor more thrilling than anything you’ve ever been a part of. https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
Solving it right solves every big problem we have.
Its urgency hastens the bend of that arc toward justice.
It will be a purpose-giving endeavor more thrilling than anything you’ve ever been a part of. https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
In The Ink today, I talk with @VarshPrakash, leader of the @sunrisemvmt.
We discuss her discovery of the natural world, her theories of change and power, how climate is altering childhood, and why environmental rescue isn’t a burden but a panacea. https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
We discuss her discovery of the natural world, her theories of change and power, how climate is altering childhood, and why environmental rescue isn’t a burden but a panacea. https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
. @VarshPrakash is a phenom, a fount of wisdom, and this interview is chock-full of her insight. Let me share highlights:
Today @VarshPrakash is one of the most influential political leaders we have.
But not long ago, her attitude to politics was: Ew.
She had to think her way out of the MarketWorld ideology of avoiding political change in favor of private initiatives.
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
But not long ago, her attitude to politics was: Ew.
She had to think her way out of the MarketWorld ideology of avoiding political change in favor of private initiatives.
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
In particular, I wish every person in America would memorize this sentence of Varshini's:
"If you think about the entity that can affect the most number of people in the United States, it is the federal government." https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
"If you think about the entity that can affect the most number of people in the United States, it is the federal government." https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
I asked Varshini how @sunrisemvmt, from its founding, sought to distinguish itself from what had come before it.
The answer: Linking climate, at every step of the way, to other pursuits of justice.
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
The answer: Linking climate, at every step of the way, to other pursuits of justice.
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
Among pundits, there is a tendency to cast "wokeness" as being in tension with broad electoral appeal.
But @sunrisemvmt's theory of change was the opposite. If you don't take an intersectional approach, don't understand other crises as causes and effects of this one, you lose.
But @sunrisemvmt's theory of change was the opposite. If you don't take an intersectional approach, don't understand other crises as causes and effects of this one, you lose.
I am also fascinated by @VarshPrakash's and @sunrisemvmt's navigation of power -- and of working outside and inside the system.
They have no problem occupying @SpeakerPelosi's office. They have no problem joining @JoeBiden's task force.
There is an important lesson in this...
They have no problem occupying @SpeakerPelosi's office. They have no problem joining @JoeBiden's task force.
There is an important lesson in this...
We are all vicarious purists now.
Whatever approach to change is the one we happen to be pursuing today, is the approach we demand of others.
Those who work on the outside condemn those who go inside. And vice versa.
@VarshPrakash and @sunrisemvmt refuse this false choice.
Whatever approach to change is the one we happen to be pursuing today, is the approach we demand of others.
Those who work on the outside condemn those who go inside. And vice versa.
@VarshPrakash and @sunrisemvmt refuse this false choice.
People who do sit-ins tend to be skeptical of people who would join a task force. People who aspire to join a task force one day tend to avoid sit-ins.
But change is an orchestral number, and there is something very powerful about @sunrisemvmt's openness to many instruments.
But change is an orchestral number, and there is something very powerful about @sunrisemvmt's openness to many instruments.
And that straddling of worlds pays off.
When @VarshPrakash went "inside" to join @JoeBiden's climate task force, she was credited with helping to transform his program.
I asked her to take me into the "Zoom where it happened."
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
When @VarshPrakash went "inside" to join @JoeBiden's climate task force, she was credited with helping to transform his program.
I asked her to take me into the "Zoom where it happened."
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
And she is clear on November:
"Joe Biden is not the candidate whom I would have wanted, but Joe Biden gives us some leverage and the political terrain within which we can fight and pass a Green New Deal. It’s far, far more likely than with Donald Trump." https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
"Joe Biden is not the candidate whom I would have wanted, but Joe Biden gives us some leverage and the political terrain within which we can fight and pass a Green New Deal. It’s far, far more likely than with Donald Trump." https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
I asked @VarshPrakash about a criticism I often hear about the Green New Deal -- one I don't agree with, but feels important to answer head-on:
That it tacks too many additional issues on to the core issue of climate -- racial justice, a jobs guarantee, etc.
Her answer is
.
That it tacks too many additional issues on to the core issue of climate -- racial justice, a jobs guarantee, etc.
Her answer is
.
I was struck by the way she explained how the climate crisis and racial injustice are both causes and effects of each other.
Climate makes racial injustice worse, with its concentrated effects on marginalized communities.
BUT also: racial injustice delays climate solutions.
Climate makes racial injustice worse, with its concentrated effects on marginalized communities.
BUT also: racial injustice delays climate solutions.
I haven't heard this latter point as much. I think it's worth unpacking.
To paraphrase William Gibson, the ruinous climate future is already here; it's just not evenly distributed.
And because those it's hitting hardest now are those we listen to least, we dither in solving it.
To paraphrase William Gibson, the ruinous climate future is already here; it's just not evenly distributed.
And because those it's hitting hardest now are those we listen to least, we dither in solving it.
Or, as @VarshPrakash says: "We would have had a Green New Deal a decade ago if Black lives mattered, because of Hurricane Katrina. We would have seen the carnage that resulted from it as the greatest call to action."
The marginalized are an early-warning alarm for social change.
The marginalized are an early-warning alarm for social change.
. @sunrisemvmt is powered by young people.
I asked @VarshPrakash how childhood is changing under the doom of climate. Her answer shook me.
She hears children contemplating suicide because of climate.
Can a movement to solve it be a life-giving antidote?
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
I asked @VarshPrakash how childhood is changing under the doom of climate. Her answer shook me.
She hears children contemplating suicide because of climate.
Can a movement to solve it be a life-giving antidote?
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
But, she says, "For every one of those really sad stories, you hear a million amazing stories like we had in our campaign to elect @JamaalBowmanNY to office. Sunrise made 800,000 of his 1.3 million calls to voters. These are literal teenagers on Zoom."
And then we came to my favorite part of the conversation.
I think this idea we get to toward the end has the potential to change how many people feel about climate...
I think this idea we get to toward the end has the potential to change how many people feel about climate...
The rhetoric around climate is so often of catastrophe and burden. It is the language of broccoli, of sacrifice, of sin, of homework.
But hold up: Wouldn't this be a thrilling, energizing, justice-accelerating, unifying endeavor?
COULDN'T THIS BE FUN?
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
But hold up: Wouldn't this be a thrilling, energizing, justice-accelerating, unifying endeavor?
COULDN'T THIS BE FUN?
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
Because the fight for climate is a fight to give you nice things.
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
And the worst thing about the climate battle -- the urgent timeline -- is actually the best thing about climate: it will force us to solve other issues standing in the way of our being whole before we would have.
Varshini: "This timeline is hastening our move towards justice."
Varshini: "This timeline is hastening our move towards justice."
Until this conversation with @VarshPrakash, I had never thought of it like this. But it's true:
We haven't been living right on a whole bunch of dimensions. Maybe this is the dimension that forces us to live right on other dimensions. https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
We haven't been living right on a whole bunch of dimensions. Maybe this is the dimension that forces us to live right on other dimensions. https://the.ink/p/to-solve-everything-solve-climate
Thank you for reading.
If you like what we're doing at http://The.Ink , please sign up for the free emails -- and perhaps consider subscribing.
Your support allows this fledgling little newsletter to chug on.
If you like what we're doing at http://The.Ink , please sign up for the free emails -- and perhaps consider subscribing.
Your support allows this fledgling little newsletter to chug on.
Subscribers can join a live video chat with me today at 1 p.m. New York time. https://www.crowdcast.io/e/live-chat-with-anand-3
And, last but not least, I urge you to check out @VarshPrakash and @sunrisemvmt's brand new book.
It is inspiring and pregnant with hope. It reminds us, even in this dark hour, that the world can and will be remade. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winning-the-Green-New-Deal/Varshini-Prakash/9781982142438
It is inspiring and pregnant with hope. It reminds us, even in this dark hour, that the world can and will be remade. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Winning-the-Green-New-Deal/Varshini-Prakash/9781982142438
