Radical Environmentalists Beg for Media Mentions

June 22, 2021

Yesterday, a group of radical climate activists known as The Sunrise Movement made a bit of a stir in Houston when they showed up to protest on Senator Ted Cruz’s front lawn. According to Houston Police, eight of the protestors were eventually arrested for trespassing on private property. If the Sunrise Movement sounds familiar, they have been generating some media coverage this year, much of it not particularly good.

Earlier this month, news reports surfaced that the group was being torn apart by internal divisions.

The creative director at the left-wing Sunrise Movement claimed Tuesday that he was fired after accusing leadership of ignoring Black members’ demands, generating internal conflict within the group dedicated to youth activism against climate change.

Alex O’Keefe said he was terminated after sending a letter with demands from the “Sunrise Black Caucus” calling on Sunrise Movement to “publicly reckon with the movement-wide crisis we are in [and] dismantle our white, owning-class culture.”

“As a national leader, I’ve seen Sunrise grow from a scrappy movement to a giant nonprofit co-opted by mega donors. Seeking only media relevance [and] proximity to Biden,” O’Keefe wrote on Twitter. 

Not surprisingly, a week after this controversy, the Sunrise Movement began to try and create some more controversy of its own by publicly breaking with the Biden Administration and demanding a meeting with the President.

The Sunrise Movement is growing frustrated with President Joe Biden’s lack of progress on his climate policies — and the fact that oil and gas executives seem to have his ear.

The youth-led climate group sent a letter to the White House demanding a sit-down with the president and vice president. The letter, sent on June 4 and shared exclusively with HuffPost, asks Biden to prioritize meeting with them rather than a Republican Party looking to strip climate provisions from his infrastructure plan.

By any objective metric, the Sunshine Movement should be delighted by the Biden Administration, which is systematically dismantling America’s energy independence and working to eliminate essential fossil fuels. But as evidenced by being arrested on a Senator’s front lawn, it would seem the Sunshine Movement – like many radical environmentalist groups – is primarily motivated by media coverage and the ensuing money it likely generates.