SUNRISE 2.0 MEMO

Why do we need Sunrise 2.0?

The Sunrise Movement has achieved things in our first five years that were supposed to be impossible. In the next ten years, we’re gonna need to achieve more supposedly "impossible" things — because everything we love depends on it.

As 2021 comes to a close, we've won more for climate justice than has ever been won in the United States. From organizing hundreds of miles long marches to hunger strikes and mass mobilizations across the country, young people are leading us into an even fiercer era of the fight for the Green New Deal. 

But we're painfully aware that all we have won will not be enough, and we know that our movement will need to transform in order to build the power we need to WIN a real Green New Deal.

What are some things that are changing in Sunrise 2.0? 

It may seem like the oil and gas industry still controls the purse strings — and the state of climate policy — on Capitol Hill. But when we reflect on where we started and how far we've come, it's clear: Climate change is finally a top issue in American politics. And the Green New Deal is now a household name — a transformative policy framework that has inspired thousands of activists across the country to organize.

The challenge ahead of us now is to actually pass the Green New Deal and the policies we need to stop and possibly reverse climate change. And to win, we need a different strategy, story, structure, and culture at Sunrise.

How are you developing Sunrise 2.0?

This reinvention of Sunrise's DNA goes through a process called "frontloading" which gathers learnings from the movement to create a new foundation. The frontloading team truly looks like the movement we know we need to build if we're going to win: majority BIPOC, majority working class, from small towns as well as big cities. The youngest member is 16! Since last fall, they have been working to develop a new draft of the DNA that they believe will serve Sunrise well in the next four to five years. 

Part of this new DNA includes supporting our local hubs to fight for Green New Deal legislation on the state and local levels to help lay the groundwork for winning at the federal level in the years to come. Marriage equality, marijuana legalization, and raise the minimum wage movements have adopted the same kind of state-to-federal strategy.

Both staff and volunteers are revising the plan and going through a feedback process with the movement. Sunrise members will vote on whether to ratify the Sunrise 2.0 next year. While strategy and structure may be changing, Sunrise 2.0 will continue advocating for the Green New Deal, electing more GND champions, and building on the goal of passing a climate agenda that meets the moment of the climate crisis. 

How can I help usher in Sunrise 2.0?

In January, movement leaders will sit down and analyze the budget, our organizational capacity, and the frontloading plan. They'll have to make tough decisions about what Sunrise can and cannot take on and how bold and ambitious we can be. 

Simply put: How much money we raise at the end of this year will determine how much we can take on. That's why supporters like you, giving what you can to invest in this work, are so important.