Kidus Girma is an organizer at Sunrise Movement Dallas, the local center of a national youth movement that is fighting against climate change. Over the past few weeks, organizers have joined Sunrise Dallas on a 400-mile march from New Orleans to Houston highlighting petrochemical pollution on Louisiana’s infamous Cancer Alley. A protest outside Senator Ted Cruz’s Houston home followed the march. Girma was among a handful of activists arrested.
The idea was to put pressure on national leaders, including President Joe Biden, and draw public attention to an issue that affects everyone.
“Whether we are talking about housing, work or food security, everything revolves around the well-being and health of our environment. Sunrise dreams of the extent of the solution – the extent of the crisis, ”says Girma. “Just look at the last week of US climate disasters. At this point, it’s almost no news whether we’re talking about the forest fires on the west coast and in Arizona and Utah, or the heat dome [in the Pacific Northwest.]”
Sunrise is pushing for action here at home too, calling on elected officials in Dallas to prepare the city for climate change and adopt more robust environmental policies. And Girma hopes that more North Texans get involved at all levels. “At least ecologically, the world is going to be really, very difficult,” he says. “It’s very, very difficult. And it only gets better when people get organized. “
I spoke to Girma this week, a few days before the Sunrise Movement Dallas was due to protest outside Exxon Mobil’s Irving headquarters. This interview has been compressed and edited for the sake of clarity.
A lot of people see climate change as a national or global problem, and it is, but Sunrise Dallas has also tried to get the city council to act here. Why this? What can cities and municipalities achieve in terms of climate change?
When the Texas Freeze happened, we spoke to members of the city council. And they talked about the buses that go around so people can get warmth. And in this conversation they always said: ‘This is an issue for ERCOT and the state, and maybe the federal government could do something. But that’s not a local problem. We can only try to warm people up [right now]. ‘ And it was just like that, basically not true. When we talk about energy consumption and energy consumption, we have to talk about building regulations. Because it’s not just about how much energy can be pumped into the grid. That’s how we use it too.
So the city of Dallas could make the decision to need heat pumps [a sort of air conditioner with a relatively low carbon cost] in all new buildings. It could decide to create subsidies for more efficient housing so that buildings can be upgraded. So the next time ERCOT says you need to cut your energy consumption – it’s not just a question of the failure of oil and gas, especially natural gas and coal. It is also the question: why do we have building codes and local guidelines that fail to meet the demands of our rapidly changing world? Sunrise is building a local coalition to focus on policies that Dallas City Council could adopt, including heat pumps, improved electrical grid systems, and better subsidies.
Tell me how you plan to campaign for some of these local solutions that you are talking about.
I think the first is to get easy [City Council members] to understand how much flexibility and power they have to change the environmental appearance of the city of Dallas. Another component is liaising with other organizations in the area to make sure people are seated around the table. The next step is to involve the public. For us, direct actions are always on the table. Then it goes to the election organization. We want our hands in everything. And we want officials to know that our hands are in everything.
Were you part of the group that marched from New Orleans to Houston? How did that go
That was really hot. Marching 400 miles is a lot easier to say than to do. It’s been six weeks of hardship and blisters. And also working with local communities along the way. Along the way, we were able to connect with communities and highlight stories that meant a lot to us. One of the places we stopped at was St. James Parish in Louisiana, it’s in Krebsgasse. It’s a predominantly black community that has been around for the past few years Fight against a petrochemical plant that is being built in their church.
President Biden had spoken about Cancer Alley during the election campaign and how he will put people first. He has the ability not to give [the chemical plant] permission. But he hasn’t pulled the plug since he took office. Politicians will tell you what they think they want to hear. You have to keep pushing them to actually keep their word.
You are unlikely to change the mind of someone like Ted Cruz. [Girma was among a handful of activists arrested protesting outside Sen. Ted Cruz’s house in Houston last month.] So what is the value of protesting at a certain politician’s home?
The point of direct action is not to move the target, it is always about too move the public. We’re not necessarily trying to get [politicians] to take three steps to the left. Of course, that’s always part of the goal. A few weeks ago, outside of Sen. [Chuck] Schumer’s office in Midtown. And now he is actively talking about creating a civilian climate corps. But our goal is always long-term. We are trying to change what is politically possible in the US, and that is not a political thing. It’s a people thing.
How old are you?
I’m actually old for Sunrise. I am 26.
Okay, but this is still young. You are a young person. Sunrise is a youth movement. You have high school students, you have a lot of very young people. Why has climate activism preoccupied so many young people?
If you look at any movement, be it the civil rights movement, the farm workers or the Chicano movement, it’s always young people. Once the books are written, we forget that little bit. It’s not really shocking that movements are built on young people’s shoulders. The world is getting really, really difficult, at least ecologically. It’s very, very difficult. And it only gets better when people get organized.
[ad_1]
