Climate activism as 'way of life': How the Sunrise Movement hopes to mobilize NYC

Climate week in New York City is ramping up as hundreds of world leaders gather to brainstorm ways of slowing down the climate crisis. But the climate movement's loudest voices aren't typically business of government leaders — they’re young people.

Two young activists with the New York City chapter of Sunrise Movement, which hopes to mobilize young people on climate change, joined "Morning Edition" on Thursday. Laura Beckman is a volunteer organizer with the local sunrise chapter. Ryan Chen, a senior at Fordham University, also volunteers with the organization.

An interview transcript is available below. It was lightly edited for clarity.

David Furst: Data from the United Nations and the Pew Research Center, among other sources, shows what many people already know — young people are among the most eager to act on climate change. But to both of you, what's the thing that pushed you into climate action? Laura, you go first.

Beckman: I think I was just tired of reading headline after headline about how much we were losing to the climate crisis. While I kept devoting hundreds of hours of my life to my day job — my graphic design job where the goal was just to sell more stuff that people didn't need — yet, we weren't putting enough talent and energy into this existential threat to humanity. So it was a gradual process of aligning my life with the person I wanted to be and the world that I want to see.

What about you, Ryan?

Chen: I've always cared about the environment ever since I was a kid. But I wasn't necessarily radical up until high school and college, where we saw the climate strike of 2019. But it wasn't until that December that I, or November, that me, Laura and a few other climate activists blocked the road to a private airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, where private jet aviation emissions account for 50% of aviation emissions. And so we blocked that road, and we were arrested. And so when we finally got out, I remember I was all alone. And I saw our jail support team and the people who got out before us, waiting for us. And I remember feeling the sense of relief, like oh, my God, these people are still here. And they really care.

Laura, how do you talk to other young people about climate change? And what's the mood you sense among them?

Beckman: You know, most of the time, especially in New York City, I don't need to convince them that things are bad. They know that things are bad, and especially Gen Z has grown up entirely with knowledge that we're in this crisis, what I need to convince them is that there is hope, and there's still time to change and that they can be a part of that. So I think that's always my emphasis, especially because for a long time myself, I thought that maybe my personal skills weren't useful or needed, because I'm more of an artist and creative, and I'm not a climate scientist. And then, you know, I joined the Sunrise hub in 2021. And I realize that there's so much that needed doing, we've seen changes from that as Sunrise Movement, in particular, because we just heard that the Biden administration approved a climate corridor that is going to create tens of thousands of good green jobs for young people across the country. And that's something that Sunrise had been pushing for for years now.

We've been seeing what scientists call the impacts of climate change. In New York wildfire, smoke filled the air this summer, temperatures across the globe are steadily getting hotter, in the face of all of these changes. Ryan, what keeps you engaged as an activist?

Chen: This constant knowing of what could happen if I don't do anything and also knowing that there are people constantly fighting alongside with me. You know, I always find it funny when people say like, 'oh, you're a climate activist?' Because I don't really see this as my personal activism, I see it as maybe a way of life.

Do you think those actions are going to make a difference?

Chen: Absolutely. You see these billionaires and these politicians back in their luxury homes and their private air jets, and they are rarely ever confronted? No one really ever knows who these people are. And to see these people finally uncomfortable, that's gonna say something for us. We're finally seeing who the real problem is.

Does that lead to an embarrassment that you think will make people want to make changes at the top? Or will that send people further into isolation and hiding behind gated communities and behind security and and not engaging?

Beckman: Naming and shaming does work, because part of the problem right now is that oil companies like BP, Exxon and Shell for many years have been leading communications campaigns to make people think that it's their own fault that we're in this climate crisis because they use plastic straws or because they have to drive a car to get to work. So, letting people know that this is not just something that's passively happening, that there are people in control and systems of power who are actively benefiting from climate destruction and from our suffering.

Laura, with climate week coming to a close, what's next for local activists?

Beckman: We're having a huge moment, the U.S. and the Biden administration are starting to feel the heat, because that's what we need to move past this moment of our leaders saying that they acknowledge that climate change is a crisis while continuing to approve new fossil fuel projects and continuing to drill on federal lands. And so we're really pushing for the point, for the actions, the scale of the actions to match the words. But I think coming up for us next is that we just hosted a new member workshop last night. And so we just know that there's so many people who are ready and and wanting to find a way to figure out how to get plugged in. So we're just trying to take advantage of that momentum and keep it going.

Laura Beckman and Ryan Chen are climate activists with the organization Sunrise Movement in New York City. Thanks for joining us.