The Heart of The Movement

In between navigating their twenties as young people under Trump’s America, at the heart of the current youth climate movement lie the untold stories of Black and Latine organizers working to push our government to act with the scale and urgency with which the climate crisis demands. But given the shifting political environment, these young people aren’t just fighting to stop climate change… they’re also organizing to prevent this country, the U.S., from falling into a pit of authoritarianism that will not only make life increasingly more difficult and oppressive for communities across the country but also make stopping the worst effects of climate change nearly impossible.

This project aspires to tell, in the fierce urgency of now, the stories of these young people. Who are they and what motivates them? How were they pulled into climate organizing? How have they pivoted in their organizing in response to Trump’s aggressive acceleration towards authoritarianism? How are their communities being impacted? What does organizing look like under this administration? And finally, where do we go from here?

Toni Cade Bambara says, “The role of the artists is to make the revolution irresistible.” I hope this project moves the audience and viewers away from hopelessness and towards action. I want to make the case that organizing and movement-building work; it is how we build towards a society where people and the planet, not corporations, not authoritarian, not fascist and not dictators, are able to thrive.