How a Climate Group That Has Made Chaos Its Brand Got the White House’s Ear

"How a Climate Group That Has Made Chaos Its Brand Got the White House’s Ear" originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment.

Quotes:

In less than a year, Climate Defiance has drawn the admiration of activists and the ire of government leaders and CEOs. It may be a sign of an appetite among activists for more peaceful but confrontational direct action.
The youth-led direct action organization born last March has a laser-focused mission: to use disruptive, strictly non-violent direct actions to speed the end of U.S. reliance on fossil fuels. It’s part of a growing ecosystem of climate organizations that are using direct action to try to increase the political urgency to act on climate change, and get power players and the American public to respond to the science that shows meeting global climate goals requires a phase-out of fossil fuel use. It enters the scene following groups like Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for the Future and the Sunrise Movement—climate action-oriented organizations that have made waves nationally and globally.
“You’re burning my future,” Climate Defiance co-founder Michael Greenberg said to a country club attendant.
- “Oh god, get the fuck over it,” the attendant responded.
Climate Defiance’s no-bullshit tone seems to have struck a similar chord with activists who, like the group’s donors, felt jaded or uninspired by what they perceive to be slow progress of climate action. Many members of the group are relatively new to climate activism.