Welcome to Sunrise
We're building an army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. Join us as we #ShineALight on politicians’ corrupt dealings with fossil fuel industry executives this August.
#ShineALight on Political Corruption
This August, young people everywhere will #ShineALight on politicians’ corrupt dealings with fossil fuel industry executives and their complete negligence in allowing climate change to continue unchecked. We’ll take the floor at politicians’ town hall meetings and fancy fundraisers with a simple goal: deliver powerful statements of truth that put our representatives on the defensive, and put climate change on the political agenda in our districts. We need you to #ShineALight on the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives in your district.
Sign up below to join an event in your area or plan your own and be sure to check out Sunrise's principles!
Who We ARe
Sunrise is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
We're building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.
We are ordinary young people who are scared about what the climate crisis means for the people and places we love. We are gathering in classrooms, living rooms, and worship halls across the country. Everyone has a role to play. Public opinion is already with us -- if we unite by the millions we can turn this into political power and reclaim our democracy.
We are not looking to the right or left. We look forward. Together, we will change this country and this world, sure as the sun rises each morning.
our Plan
Sunrise is part of the political revolution to make real the promise of a society that works for all of us, not just the 1%. Across the country, a surge of teens and twenty-somethings are getting involved for the first time. And we’re unafraid to take on entrenched elites from any political party.
Here's the plan. It only works if you get involved:
June 2017 - April 2018
We are building political power by
(1) highlighting climate impacts already being felt across the U.S.
(2) exposing the corrupting political influence of wealthy oil executives who have wrecked our economy and environment for their own gain and demanding that our politicians stand up for all of us.
(3) spreading the word about Sunrise and recruiting for our movement.
May - November 2018
Our nonviolent army of thousands of young people will go all-in as volunteer organizers for the 2018 midterm election.
We’ll focus in ten politically significant states, where we’ll continue grassroots organizing, demand that all candidates refuse oil, gas and coal industry money, and get behind candidates with a conscience and a spine. We may even run some candidates of our own!
We call ourselves Sunrise because we know this dark time in America will come to an end. The sun will rise again. We are rising out of darkness to illuminate the truth and expose injustice. We know that when enough people see the light, the fossil fuel billionaires and bought out politicians can no longer hide in the shadows, and eventually — we will win.
If we call out the fossil fuel billionaires running our democracy and build a genuinely populist movement to throw their corporate lackeys out of office, then we could be less than four years away from having a government of the people and a movement strong enough to pass our agenda. Join us to make it happen.
Trainings
From Lansing, Michigan to Orlando, Florida and beyond, we're making climate change an urgent priority across America. By ending the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politicians and by electing leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people, we will usher in a new day of American politics.
We know that's a tall order -- and that's why we need you to join us. If you're reading this, you have a stake in the future that we can create together. Join one of our upcoming trainings so you can bring the movement to your town or city.
We're hosting in-person trainings in a few crucial states this summer. We'll be in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Colorado on July 14-16, DC on July 28-30, Pennsylvania on August 5-6, and Florida on August 19-20. Learn more and sign up here.
Can't join in person? Jump on a Sunrise call on Thursday August 31st at 8pm ET/7pm CT to celebrate young people across the country shining a light on our politicians' negligence in action on climate change and corrupt dealings with Big Oil and find out what's next. Register below.
Events
One of Sunrise’s principles is “we grow our power through talking to our communities” — this is our highest value. In order to make our November actions a major moment, we need grow our movement and spread our word by talking to our neighbors and communities. Beginning in September, we’re sending teams of young people to key regions of the country to meet face-to-face with other young people and communities who are excited to join us. We’ll gather through hosting events at schools, faith groups, community centers, and any other scene where people gather, to discuss what we have to lose to climate change and what we have to gain in coming together in our movement to stop it.
If you'd like to a host a Sunrise Speaker on our fall tour -- or apply to be a speaker -- please register below.
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SUNRISE SEMESTER
Sunrise is building towards a massive youth intervention in the 2018 midterm elections we’re calling Sunrise Semester — and we want you to be a part of it. By May 2018, we’re looking to sign up at least 300 young people to take an eight-month break from you ordinary lives to defend life itself by serving as full-time volunteer organizers from June through the election in November.
After a one-week bootcamp at the beginning of Summer 2018 you will fan out to one of ten politically significant states where you’ll coordinate the efforts of our thousands of our existing members and help bring in new recruits to the youth army.
You’ll work from the following mandate: creatively expose the corrupting role of Big Oil on our elections, challenge candidates to refuse fossil fuel money and back Sunrise’s policy platform, and endorse and campaign for candidates with a conscience and a spine, from the local to the statewide and federal levels.
If you’ve ever thought of dropping it all — taking a gap year, taking a semester off from college, quitting your job— this is the moment. Our country is living through a dark hour. It’s up to us to make the sun rise. If you are ready to make this commitment, the movement will support you. We’ll offer free movement housing, living stipends, and student loan/debt fund so that Sunrise Semester is accessible to young Americans of all walks of life ready to make a difference in this time of need.