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The Climate Mobilization

2020 Candidates Talk Climate Emergency and Green New Deal

The Green New Deal has moved from the fringes to the center of the conversation for Democratic presidential hopefuls. Read statements from the candidates here.

The Green New Deal has moved from the fringes to the center of the conversation for Democratic presidential hopefuls. The majority of this crowded field supports the Green New Deal (GND)—a resolution that sets forth proposed goals and programs to strengthen the economy, invest in green infrastructure, and drive emissions to zero in ten years, sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

These candidates also speak about climate as an urgent, immediate threat. Some are even describing the climate situation as an “Emergency”—key framing for the challenges ahead. (Read more about Climate Truth and the “Climate Emergency” frame here.)

The statements from candidates—collected below—demonstrate an opening in the political discourse that is unique in the history of environmental and social justice movements: for the first time in decades, powerful people are listening.

These statements show how impactful the work of the Climate Emergency Movement has been thus far and also calls us forth to redouble our efforts, step into the moment, and hold power accountable.

Kamala Harris

Upon launching her presidential bid, California Senator Kamala Harris came out in favor of the Green New Deal and has repeatedly made strong statements in support of the concept:

“The Green New Deal is a bold plan to shift our country to 100% clean and renewable energy. We do not fight this fight for our generation alone but for generations to come,” Harris said in a tweet in January, followed by a tweet in February redeclaring her support, writing “I support the Green New Deal because we need a sense of urgency and a bold agenda to address the climate crisis.”

“First of all, climate change is presenting an existential threat to our nation … and the world,” Harris said in an interview with MSNBC. “We have an administration that is focused on spewing science fiction instead of science fact,” she said, adding “We as human beings actually have within our power the ability to change our behaviors—not in drastic ways, by the way—to reduce the effects of climate change, and this administration has failed us… This administration has failed to think about the future.”

Bernie Sanders

“I’m running for president because we need to make policy decisions based on science, not politics,” Sanders wrote in an email to supporters announcing his decision. “We need a president who understands that climate change is real, is an existential threat to our country and the entire planet, and that we can generate massive job creation by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”

A climate policy plan to be released from Sen. Sanders in the near future is expected to contain significantly more details on how he would move America’s economy to zero carbon emissions in an effort to ground the Green New Deal in additional substance, according to aides to the Senator.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren backs the Green New Deal and is quoted saying “Climate change is real, it threatens all of us, and we have no time to wait to address it head on.”

When asked on CBS what would constitute a national emergency if she were to be president. “Oh, let’s do a list,” Warren said. “Climate change, gun violence, student loan debt, right off the top. That’s what we ought to be working on. And we ought to be working on it together. Congress, the President, as a country, those are things we should be working on.”

Jay Inslee

Washington Governor Jay Inslee is the only Democratic presidential candidate running focused almost exclusively on fighting climate change. He believes saving the climate should be the number one priority of the next president and will soon introduce his own policy instead of giving his support to the Green New Deal.

In a recent fundraising email, Insless called climate change “our REAL national emergency,” and appears to be adopting the framing of TCM’s Climate Emergency Declarations Campaign.

On The Rachel Maddow Show, Inslee addressed President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over the funding of the U.S. – Mexico border wall and how this action could set a precedent for action to address the Climate Emergency:

“If the rules change, if the Supreme Court changes the rules, all of the presidents will have to follow whatever those rules are then. We know that climate is an emergency. […] We have a true national emergency; it is climate change. It demands an immediate response. But the best way to do it is to have Congress and the President to pass legislation to get this job done. And I will be proposing very specific proposals on how to do that.”

Calling the GND an “aspirational document,” he is quoted saying “I will be rolling out my own proposed policy. It will be comprehensive. It will be robust. It will have a sector-by-sector approach which will be targeted to reduction of carbon pollution and job creation.”

Cory Booker

At a campaign stop in Iowa, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker addressed the issue: “Doing nothing is not an option right now because our planet really is in peril. So the question is, what’s the United States of America going to do? Is it going to lead the planet in terms of dealing with this crisis? Or is it going to pull back from global leadership when we are the biggest economy on the planet Earth?”

In a tweet in February Booker added “The hard truth is climate change has imperiled our planet—it’s going to take bold action now to save it including dramatic investment in green energy that will create the jobs of the future. We can do this.”

Kirsten Gillibrand

In response to a story about the collapsing Thwaites glacier in Antarctica, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted:

“There’s nothing left to debate. Climate change is an immediate and catastrophic threat to our future. It’s time for bold action, now. We need a #GreenNewDeal.”


Julian Castro

“As President, my first executive order will recommit the United States to the Paris climate accord,” Castro said on Jan. 12. “We’re gonna say no to subsidizing big oil and say yes to passing a Green New Deal.”

Going forward

We are pleased to see Democratic presidential candidates taking this issue seriously, and urge all readers to let your voices be heard demanding policy that offers bold, immediate solutions to the Climate Emergency.

The Climate Mobilization will continue to demand a rapid elimination of carbon emissions and drawdown of carbon from the atmosphere by 2030 with justice at the center. Our mission is to initiate a WWII-scale mobilization to protect humanity and the natural world from climate catastrophe.

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Zakaria Kronemer

Climate Survival Farming and Food Sovereignty Coordinator

Zakaria Kronemer is a farmer from Richmond, Virginia with roots in community organizing and climate activism. In 2017, he began working with farmers and other communities in rural Virginia to develop a robust campaign against the construction of two fracked-gas pipelines. It was through this struggle —and the relationships built along the way—that connections between food, land, and climate justice were revealed to him. He teamed up with other BIPOC farmers and set out to build an alternative, regional food-system founded on sovereignty, security, ecological stewardship, and human dignity. Zakaria most recently worked as a field manager and program lead with Real Roots Food Systems—an emerging organization striving to increase participation in our food system. He envisions a food system that people can meaningfully participate in without needing to become a farmer, chef, or professional, in which nutrient-dense, healing food is not a luxury or a lifestyle, but a right.

Daisy Carter

Kentucky Movement Incubation Coordinator

Daisy Carter (she/they) is a New Orleans native, queer multi-disciplinary artist and climate justice organizer working at the intersections of mutual aid, disaster resiliency, African-American herbalism, and grassroots organizing. Daisy is inspired by the black radical movements of the so-called U.S and African diaspora, reimagining what healing + self-determination look like for frontline, BIPOC (black, brown, and people of color) communities who are most vulnerable to climate disaster. For the past few years, they have been organizing around mutual aid, environmental + climate justice, and building BIPOC and marginalized leadership throughout Kentucky. In 2021, they founded Rise and Shine, a community-led mutual aid organization building power and solidarity with low-income, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities in Bowling Green, Kentucky and beyond. She has also led numerous political campaigns, direct actions, and led outreach + communications strategy for organizations such as The Sierra Club, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. At the Climate Mobilization, she is supporting programming, the development of the Movement Incubation Program, and the creation of climate survival outreach projects.

Alexia Leclerq

Network Coach

Alexia (she/they) is an environmental justice organizer based in Austin, TX. They graduated summa cum laude from NYU (’20), where they self-designed a major titled “The Politics and Economics of Inequality.” Their research focuses on political ecology, environmental justice, AAPI communities, inequality, postcolonialism. As an organizer and researcher they have spent the past 5 years working on various issues from preserving the Colorado River, water rights, fighting land use policy and zoning that enforces race-based discrimination, conducting ethnographic research on climate health, to organizing mutual aid, youth programming, and shaping national legislation alongside members of the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance; today Alexia continues to work as an organizer with PODER, a grassroots EJ org. Alexia is also the co-founder of Start: Empowerment, a BIPOC led social and environmental justice education non-profit working with youth, educators, activists, and community members to implement justice-focused education and programming in schools and community spaces. S:E curriculum and programming has reached over 2,000 students, been recognized by the NYC Department of Education, and taught in universities. In 2021, their work was recognized by the prestigious Brower Youth Award.

Emmett Hopkins

Co-Leader and Director of Operations & Programs

Emmett manages operations and leads Climate Mobilization’s intersectional organizing around transportation justice, where he works with local community groups to build commitment, alignment and action among frontline constituents who rely on public transit and active transportation modes. He brings over a decade of experience collaborating with diverse stakeholders to activate power towards equitable, climate-friendly transportation systems, build mutual-aid-based community food systems, ensure equitable access to public lands, and mobilize resources towards a just transition. In 2021, Emmett developed an online platform for collaborative, community-scale visioning of a just, zero-carbon future. In 2022 he helped launch a transit riders union in Sonoma County, CA, which has engaged in mutual aid, storytelling, and a successful campaign to win fare-free buses and expanded frequency.

Suha Dabbouseh

National Organizer

National Organizer Suha Dabbouseh leads national strategy for The Climate Mobilization. They are originally from Chicago but have lived, organized and rebel-roused in seven states and 11 cities. Suha received their law degree from CUNY-School of Law where they focused on social justice lawyering representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay. While practicing law, Suha had worked to advocate on behalf of domestic violence survivors, transgender clients and fighting employment discrimination. Their passion is building people power and organizing to dismantle structural inequities.

Matt Renner

Executive Director of The Climate Mobilization

Matt has worked as a nonprofit executive in clean energy, climate policy, and journalism for over a decade, focusing on the near-term social and economic impacts of climate change. He leads organizational expansion and works closely with the communications and organizing teams. Matt earned a BA in political science from UC Berkeley, where he was deeply inspired by the work of Professor George Lakoff.

Extended Bio

Mariyah Jahangiri

Co-Leader and Network & Movement Building Director

Mariyah is a first-generation Pakistani community organizer who is on a life-long journey of working to create alternative, anti-capitalist models of collective healing, popular education, community organizing, and mass movement. She has been inspired by studying social movements and organizing in many movement ecosystems and geographies – most recently in Cape Town, Iowa, Puerto Rico, Atlanta, and currently in Los Angeles. At Climate Mobilization, she started as a Network Organizer where she leads programming, coaching, and other resource development for a learning hub of 43+ local decarbonization and climate justice campaigns. She also recently developed strategy for youth, BIPOC-led, climate movements alongside the Network Support Team at Power Shift Network, and organized with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network to base-build in Wilmington and San Pedro alongside low-income API communities most impacted by extractive industries in Los Angeles. Mariyah has spent the past 7 years leading campaigns for Just Transition, abolition, food sovereignty, housing justice, undocumented workers’ organizing, reproductive justice, and Palestine solidarity as well as being involved in mutual aid projects, across more than 15 geographies.

 

Rebecca Harris

Co-Leader and Director of Resource Mobilization

Rebecca has been with Climate Mobilization since 2019 leading our organizing efforts. In this role, she has coached dozens of local climate groups, coordinated organizing trainings, and launched the campaign for a national Climate Emergency Declaration. In July 2021, she collaborated with Acton, MA residents to launch Housing and Climate Justice for Acton, a renters rights and climate justice group led by public housing and Section 8 renters and other low-income residents, and has already won several campaigns. Along with a history of social movement organizing, Rebecca previously worked as a journalist covering equity in Chicago public schools and as the Development and Communications Manager at Latino Union of Chicago, an immigrants’ and workers’ rights organization. She is a 2017 graduate of the Reframe Mentorship in strategic communications and a 2019 participant in the Anne Braden Organizer Training Program.

Marina Mails

Co-Leader and Director of Operations
Marina manages operations and volunteers for both The Climate Mobilization and Climate Mobilization Project. She brings broad experience working in non-profit organizations, health care settings, and running her own private counseling practice. Before joining Climate Mobilization, Marina maintained a practice focusing exclusively on climate-related emotional coping, helping people make bold choices for lifestyle and professional change in response to the Climate Emergency. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Wake Forest University and a Masters in Counseling from UNC Greensboro.

Meghann Beer

Co-Leader and Director of Resource Mobilization and Strategy

Meghann brings more than 20 years of nonprofit management and fundraising experience to The Climate Mobilization and Climate Mobilization Project. For over a decade Meghann has worked as a nonprofit consultant helping organizations expand their capacity, secure revenue, develop successful strategies, and effectively evaluate their programs, enabling them to create greater positive change in the world. She has also worked as an executive director, designed and facilitated international service learning experiences, and taught university courses in fundraising and nonprofit management. Meghann earned a MPA in Nonprofit Management and Comparative and International Affairs from The School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, in Bloomington, IN and a BA in Art History and American Studies from Tufts University in Boston, MA.

Cris Lagunas

Strategy Director

Cris is helping to grow the Climate Emergency Movement by supporting creative campaigns and extending the reach of the movement’s message. Cris is a co-founder of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, an organization dedicated to using direct action tactics to expose, challenge and dismantle the immigration detention system.Cris got his start in organizing when he was 15 years old, getting involved in a local group of fellow undocumented youth.

Extended Bio

Zack Burley

Policy Associate

Zack provides policy support for the Climate Mobilization team, and brings a versatile set of policy skills and experiences in labor organizing, journalism, legislative politics, and legal practice to the climate emergency movement. Zack earned a JD from Denver University Sturm College of Law, is a founding organizer of the Political Workers Guild of Colorado, and formerly served as a legislative aide in the Colorado General Assembly.

AriDy Nox

Co-Leader and Director of Narrative Strategy

 AriDy Nox is a multi-disciplinary black femme storyteller and social activist with a variety of forward-thinking creative works under her/their belt. They create out of the vehement belief that creating a future in which marginalized peoples are free requires a radical imagination. Their tales are offerings intended to function as small parts of an ancient, expansive, awe-inspiring tradition of world-shaping, created by and for black femmes. They have over a decade of experience as a young social activist and organizer, within reproductive justice and racial justice frameworks with organizations like the Young Women of Color Leadership Council with Advocates for Youth, the Toni Cade Bamabara Collective at Spelman College and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. They bring creativity, enthusiasm and a tremendous capacity for organization to her/their role and deep belief that times of apocalypse are opportunities for rebirth. We need first imagine the world we want in order to create it.