PRESS CONTACT: [email protected]
Young activists from Sonoma, Kern, and San Diego counties will come together to march 266 miles from Paradise to San Francisco to pressure Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein to support an ambitious and equity-focused Civilian Climate Corps. The CCC would employ thousands to combat the climate crisis and is the first piece of implementing a Green New Deal.
The weeks-long march kicks off on May 28th in Paradise and will include actions in Santa Rosa, Sacramento, and San Francisco. Seven Sunrise activists are marching, and they’ll be joined by hundreds of supporters—including activists, political leaders and environmental justice groups—along the way. The CA march is occurring in coordination with a 400-mile march across the Gulf South.
WHAT:
A march to demand an ambitious and equity-focused Civilian Climate Corps
TIMELINE:
Marchers leave May 28 from Paradise and will cross through the city of Sacramento and Marin County before crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco on June 14. Contact [email protected] for more details about exact arrival times and specific action locations.
WHO:
Sunrise Movement organizers from across California
WHY:
It’s no mistake that this march begins in Paradise, CA. The 2018 Camp Fire that devastated Paradise was fueled by a climate crisis that has in turn been fueled by corporate greed and a history of genocide and erasure of CA’s Indigenous people. Sunrise youth activists are marching to demand a CCC that will help Paradise and the rest of CA build back better while building resilience for the fires that have yet to come. COVID-19 has left millions of Americans out of work and facing economic insecurity in a meager job market. Already there are more than 150K people living without homes in CA, yet the worsening climate crisis will cause more and more of our neighbors to be displaced by wildfires each year
There are millions of us looking for good work, and so much that needs to be done. It will take all of us to build a renewable energy grid, restore our parks, and retrofit old buildings as well as carbon-intensive transit infrastructure. A federal jobs guarantee will help end the COVID-19 recession and curb the most disastrous effects of the climate crisis. It’s time for our elected officials to be brave and pass bold legislation in the interest of the people they represent.
Youth in Sunrise hubs across the state of California stand alongside climate justice activists around the nation who are calling for a robust and equitable Civilian Climate Corps. California has a reputation as a leader in the fight against climate change — it’s time for Senator Dianne Feinstein and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to prove this reputation is deserved by playing leading roles and passing this critical legislation.
“Imagine a world where millions of people, recent high school graduates and middle-aged alike, could work on projects protecting communities from sea-level rise, taking care of the elderly, distributing fresh produce in food deserts, restoring wetlands, and rebuilding after climate disasters, while getting paid a living wage, having access to healthcare, and getting apprenticed to continue their career. That’s the world we are marching for.”
– Nikayla Jefferson, march co-organizer
The CA march will stop in a number of cities and towns in northern CA to hold protests, rallies, and visioning sessions with members of those communities. Throughout the march, they will be joined by political leaders, environmental justice groups, and others in support.
“I’m tired of inaction while watching my city burn. Living in California is terrifying, in the past 4 years alone I’ve had to pack more than ten evacuation bags.”
– Madeline Ruddell, Age 16, Sonoma
“Something needs to be done if we want to avoid living on a dead planet.”
– Maricruz Ramirez, 29, Bakersfield
“I’m marching because when I’m a mom, I know I’ll have to tell my kids a story about how when I was their age, fires would devastate my community every year. But then I want to be able to finish that story by talking about my power: The power I had to walk 266 miles and demand a CCC from our leaders.”
– Lola Guthrie, 17, Sonoma
For more information, contact: [email protected]
Follow updates from the marchers on social media:
Twitter – @smvmtgenonfire
Instagram – @sunrisegenonfire
TikTok – @jenna.hnz, @trek_tok17, @captsoapbox, @hope_endrenyi, @tejanorojo, @jeremy_o123, @babyjoshbenitez, @kidusgirma460, @kashishishishFollow – #generationonfire
