Road to the Green New Deal --- various dates April-May 2019 --- various locations

April 12, 2019

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In 2018, young Sunrise leaders put the Green New Deal on the map and permanently changed the conversation on climate policy in this country. The political establishment is scrambling to keep up with thousands of people across the country who are eager to take action and bring the promise of the Green New Deal into reality. The Koch Brothers are desperately trying to erode the incredible, bipartisan support that poll after poll shows for the Green New Deal.

That’s why we’re launching Road to the Green New Deal, 8 massive tour stops and over 100 town halls all across America. Our goals:

Give every single American an opportunity to hear from their neighbors about how the Green New Deal will improve their lives.
Counter the lies coming from the Koch Brothers and their allies.
Grow our movement to transform the 2020 election into a referendum on climate action.

We’ll share stories about how the crises of climate change and inequality are threatening the people and places we call home. We’ll hear from political leaders about how the Green New Deal would protect communities across the country from the worsening impacts of climate change while boosting our economy. Then we’ll lay out the plan to make the 2020 election a referendum on the Green New Deal, so we can make the Green New Deal law in 2021.

Speakers will include political leaders who are championing the effort for the Green New Deal in Congress, movement leaders mobilizing thousands to join the fight, and local community leaders who are leading the way to the transition to a society that works for all of us and protects the air we breathe, water we drink, and places we call home.

Sunrise’s speaking tour is stopping in eight locations across the U.S. to bring the fight for a Green New Deal to every corner of the country.

BOSTON, MA 4/18

DETROIT, MI 4/19

Tlaib, El-Sayed lead hundreds in Detroit in support of Green New Deal (Detroit News)

DES MOINES, IA 4/22

LOS ANGELES, CA 4/26

CHICO, CA 4/27

NEW ORLEANS, LA 5/7

LEXINGTON, KY 5/11

WASHINGTON, DC 5/13

Other locations will be hosting their own town halls alongside tour stops.

DURHAM, NC 4/24

NEW YORK CITY, NY 4/26

PHILADELPHIA, PA 5/4

CHICAGO, IL 5/18 READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: BIDEN PLAN COMING BY END OF MONTH: Former Vice President Joe Biden laid out a timeline for unveiling his climate plan during an event in New Hampshire on Monday. Biden, who has already faced backlash from progressives after Reuters reported his climate proposal would consist of "middle ground" policies, said he's preparing a speech to lay out his environmental vision by the end of the month. "We need an environment revolution," he added.

MAKE THEM PAY: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rallied liberal activists Monday with a call to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate damage. "Just as the tobacco industry was ultimately forced to pay for the fraud they committed, the fossil fuel industry must be forced to do the same," Sanders said at the Sunrise Movement's last town hall supporting the Green New Deal. "We will not allow them to destroy this climate with impunity."

Biden wasn't there, but he was on some attendees' minds during the event at Howard University in Washington. Several threw veiled barbs at the former VP's forthcoming climate plan. "When folks, particularly conservatives — on both sides of the aisle — they say that calling for a Green New Deal is quote, too much, or too extreme, or too radical," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said, before someone in the crowd shouted, "No middle ground." Ocasio-Cortez called back, "No middle ground." READ MORE

AOC Headlines Sold Out Sunrise Movement GND Rally In DC (Our Daily Planet; includes VIDEO)

Getting coal country on board with the Green New Deal (Our Daily Planet)

Excerpt from Our Daily Planet: Scott Shoupe, who spent 22 years working as an underground coal miner in eastern Kentucky, warned that a major challenge in getting residents of coal country on-board will be persuading miners to sacrifice their high earning potential–traditionally miners have been able to begin a career in mining straight out of high school and make $60-70,000 per year. Even though coal jobs are on the decline, miners are still holding out that President Trump can bring back mining jobs and the Green New Deal will have to have carefully crafted policy specifics that offer mining communities a tangible alternative that’s harder for naysayers to label as “unrealistic.” READ MORE