Here Comes the Sunrise

The Sunrise Movement is an organization of young activists advocating urgent efforts to address the climate crisis.  A thousand or so lobbied members of Congress recently.  A Think Progress story put it this way:

Spearheaded by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the idea of a Green New Deal has burst into the political mainstream over the past few months, upending congressional climate politics. The proposal responds to recent climate science by calling for a rapid transition away from oil, gas, and coal, and simultaneously seeks to ease the nation’s worsening income equality.

A recent poll suggests that the Green New Deal proposals could have overwhelming bipartisan support with the American public--over 80%.  Despite some powerful opposition,  the proposal to establish a Select Committee on climate is gaining support, thanks to the incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Republicans trying to preemptively kill the Green New Deal idea got surprised when they tried to get their own government officials to say the goals were impractical, only to have those officials say, no, it could be done.

Though Republicans dispute it, there is economic logic to the Green New Deal combining new clean energy efforts with new jobs in clean energy.  A new international study maintains that a major switch to clean energy to meet UN climate goals would mean more jobs, not fewer:

“Our findings show that if we take action to limit climate change, we will have more jobs by 2030 than by not doing anything,” said Guillermo Montt, author of the study and a senior economist in the research department of the International Labor Office, a special UN agency that focuses on labor issues. “More jobs will be created than those that are lost, so the economy and countries as a whole stand to gain.”  Green New Deal proposals pay attention as well to job dislocations that might result.

Thanks to a coincidence of the Sunrise Movement's lobbying at the same time as a major convention of Earth scientists was in Washington, there's evidence that's there is also major support from scientists.  Speaking of the Sunrise Movement, one such scientist quoted by the TP story said:“What I do admire about that is the fact they are using new language. It’s not just, ‘Look at the sad polar bear,'” she said. “This is not talking about climate change like it’s this isolated issue. It’s talking about it in the context of all these other things that people care about. And I think that’s absolutely the right way to look at it.”

Another prominent scientist, Dr. Peter Gleick, went to Capitol Hill himself to discuss climate initiatives:

He met with Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and a senior staffer with another member of Congress. Huffman had reached out to Gleick to discuss opportunities and critical issues that the 116th Congress might pursue related to climate change, including water issues, an issue on which Gleick is one the leading experts.

(I quoted that mostly because Huffman represents my district.)

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There have been marches and other advocacy on climate issues before, without much visible effect.  But this time may be different, due in part to the nature of the Blue Wave and the fact that some of the newcomers made addressing the climate crisis a major part of their campaigns.

But also due to the urgency.  The Sunrise Movement popularizes the slogan "12 Years," the time the latest UN report allows to prevent the worst climate cataclysm future.  But in fact time is much shorter than that.  The decisions to change must be made right away. Jonathan Watt's summary of the climate summit in Poland ran in the Guardian under the headline:UN climate talks set stage for humanity’s two most crucial years/Decisions made from now to 2020 will determine to what extent Earth remains habitable."

Dino Grandoni wrote in the Washington Post: "The next presidential election is nearly two years away. But it's already clear that climate change will be a higher-profile issue in the 2020 race than it was in the previous presidential contest."

While noting that this isn't a very high bar, he points out that thanks to the announced policy of the current administration, the US withdrawing formally from the Paris Agreements can happen as early as the day after the 2020 election.  That's a tangible marker of the overall urgency.

Another reason climate will be higher on the 2020 agenda, Grandoni said, is the Sunrise Movement, and the Green New Deal.  And this applies not just to the presidential race, but campaigns for the House and the Senate.  According to another Post reporter:

Democrats preparing to run for president have been rushing to shift their plans for combating climate change, highlighting an issue once considered a political liability, especially in Midwestern swing states won by President Trump.

Aides to a half-dozen senators considering a 2020 campaign met with supporters of the Green New Deal, an effort pushed by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that could turn into a litmus test for Democratic candidates, organizers said."

Meanwhile, there is a new documentary from National Geographic, viewable on line, that shows how Americans are already working to address the climate crisis, and finding new jobs and careers in the process.  It's called From Paris to Pittsburgh.  Here's a direct link to the documentary--just scroll down to Nat Geo Specials.