Brand New Local Sunrise Movement Chapter Calls for Climate Strikes

November 19, 2019 – The nation’s leading youth organization combatting climate change, the Sunrise Movement, now has a hub in Nevada County, and is organizing two consecutive Climate Strikes to be held in Nevada City on Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) and Friday, December 6. The purpose of these demonstrations is to raise awareness about the climate emergency, to promote a Green New Deal, and to show solidarity with young people and future generations who will face the worst impacts of climate change.

The Sunrise Movement, led by young people ages 13 to 35, is a nation-wide organization made up of over 270 local hubs and growing. The Nevada County hub of Sunrise is in a formational stage, getting its initial bearings through grass roots meetings, and orientation from the national organization through online training sessions.

These two local strikes will be part of demonstrations taking place around the world, as millions take to the streets to call for emergency action on climate change. Global strikes are taking place in response to the COP25 international climate conference, taking place in Madrid this December. The goal is to decide on how to implement the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, with its agreed-upon goal of keeping atmospheric warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration intends to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the only country in the world to abandon the 1.5 degree goal.

Get Involved!

Nevada County students, teachers, parents, and community members of all ages are invited to gather from 10 a.m. until Noon on either or both days at Calanan Park and the Broad Street Bridge to call for strong action on climate change. People are invited to bring signs or banners or simply show up.

Young people who want to participate are invited to contact Nevada County Sunrise via email, Facebook, or Instagram; contact information is included below. We will help to get you involved in planning and participating in our events. First up: there will be a “Signs for Strikes” banner-making event for young people before the November 29 strike. Contact us for time and place. The local Sunrise group is organizing the November 29 and December 6 climate strikes with support from adult allies aligned with other local organizations including the Nevada County Peace and Justice Center and Earth Justice Ministries.

Background Information

According to the Sunrise Movement website: “Sunrise is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of new jobs in the process. 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…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.”

To find out more about the Climate Strikes or about Sunrise, check out Nevada County Sunrise on Facebook or Instragram, email nevadacountysunrise@gmail.com, or go to strikewithus.org

The strikes will be taking place at 10 am to highlight that by 2020 we will have just ten years to cut global fossil fuel emissions in half if there is any hope of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees C.

When people say that there are only twelve years left to take action (as of 2018), or 11 years (as of 2019), or soon to be 10 years as of 2020, it does not mean we have until 2030 to act, but to cut emissions in half. it is based on a 2018 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), based on consensus among thousands of scientists in climate-related fields from every country on earth. There is overwhelming scientific consensus that the earth is warming and that this measurable warming is largely caused by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued an alarming report, emphasizing that the current 1°C increase of atmospheric warming since pre-industrial times is already causing massive harm through rising seas, extreme weather, and other climate-related impacts. The report stated that “there is no documented historical precedent” for the urgency and scope of action that must be undertaken to avoid the most catastrophic impacts by limiting atmospheric warming to 1.5°C (2.7 ℉) above pre-industrial levels. The only way to meet this goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.1 If emissions rates stay on the current trajectory, climate scientists predict that average global temperatures will rise by 4°C or more above pre-industrial levels in this century. Meanwhile, global emissions continue to accelerate, increasing by 2.7 percent in 2018 alone.