Support Climate Efforts
by Supporting Young Activists
A contribution many of us in RC can make to combating climate change is to support young people in youth-led climate justice movements.
There are many such movements all over the world. The one I’m most familiar with is the Sunrise Movement. This group was critical in pushing climate justice into the public eye and is now dealing with the challenges of success, including rapid expansion, public scrutiny, attacks, and burn-out [exhaustion and discouragement]. Many RCers are finding ways to be involved.
Co-Counselors who know young activists are backing [supporting] them by providing practical things—like transportation, food, and logistical support for public events.
Others are offering counseling support. I listen every week to a young woman who is a Sunrise leader in my state. In addition to listening to her work through problems, I’ve been teaching her Co-Counseling and we’re now exchanging time [taking turns listening to each other]. She has a place to worry and complain about her work without putting an additional burden on her fellow activists.
A Sunrise leader to whom I taught Co-Counseling when he was living in my city has been too overwhelmed to reach out for help. I’ve persisted in making myself available, and we have agreed to share half an hour on the phone every week—with me giving him more of the time, as a contribution to the movement.
An RCer in my city has been hanging out [spending unstructured time] at the Sunrise movement house, building relationships and offering relaxed, loving attention. He and I are talking about inviting more local Co-Counselors into that project.
It looks like bringing RC to young activists where they are—in flexible, informal ways—is going to work better than trying to recruit them into RC classes.
There are now Sunrise hubs all over the United States. I encourage any of you who are struggling to find a role in the climate movement to get to know some of the young people, make yourselves available, build relationships, and offer attention and support in whatever way works best in the situations you encounter. If anybody would like help in this process, I’d be glad to do whatever I can.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA <pamelahaines1@gmail.com>
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion
list for RC Community members