2020 in Review
This year, despite the many challenges we face, we kept our movement strong! The pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives but it didn’t stop us from organizing, supporting each other, and voting.
We’ve emerged from 2020 stronger, wiser, and FIRED UP to fight for a better future.
Here are a few of our highlights from 2020!
We kicked off 2020 with our first-ever endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Though Sanders did not win the Presidential Primary, we continued to endorse many other Green New Deal champions — including Senator Ed Markey and Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Solomon Rajput, Charles Booker, Will Cunningham, Arati Kreibich, and Jamaal Bowman for U.S Congress. In the new year, we will continue to fight for policymakers that put our lives and futures over corporations.
On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we launched our Getting to the Roots of the Green New Deal presentation on Earth Day Live. Our team joined hundreds of youth organizers, Indigenous leaders, scientists, policymakers, religious leaders, journalists, and celebrities, for the largest climate three-day online mobilization in history to celebrate the environmental movement. We also released our original song and music video, We Rise, featuring members of our music team who wrote and produced the song.
Even with the schools and streets empty, the onset of the pandemic didn’t stop us from educating the public on the root causes of the climate crisis. We launched Getting to the Roots of Climate Digital — a campaign centering a new climate justice topic each week — featuring webinars, workshops, storytelling sessions, and infographics. We addressed topics such as racism, colonialism, ableism, industrial agriculture, and climate anxiety, with the goal of unpacking unjust systems that cause and perpetuate the climate crisis. With this campaign we launched a podcast called Zero Hour Talks where we feature our founders, directors, and prominent leaders in our movement. Listen to learn about our digital campaign and how we’re coping with COVID-19.
As a climate justice organization, we know that there is no climate justice without racial justice. This past summer, we partnered with the International Indigenous Youth Council, Future Coalition, and Extinction Rebellion Youth US to create mutual aid resources for protesters for the Movement for Black Lives. We provided healing spaces, signed demands, strategized, and gathered resources to support organizers in defense of black lives. We will not stop fighting for racial justice and we will continue to elect supporters of the BREATH Act. It’s time to legislate for black lives.
In light of the pandemic, we turned our #Vote4OurFuture Bus Tour a digital campaign. #Vote4OurFuture galvanized Americans to fight and vote for our nation’s 74 million children. We partnered with community organizers, led digital events, held roundtable discussions, phonebanked with 350.org, and more to increase voter turnout among first-time voters, marginalized voters, and young people.
Check out our biggest media hits of 2020!
For climate activists, coronavirus lockdown means more time to organize
The Teenagers at the End of the World
‘Climate Change Is a Barrier to Our Future’
As the smoke subsides, West Coast climate activists show what an effective response looks like
Politicians blew off Gen Z’s climate goals. The coronavirus shows we can act fast.
Next year, we’re fighting for a better future with an expanding team and new campaigns. For our movement to operate, we rely on supporters like you to help us fund our projects and plans — please consider donating today at thisiszerohour.org/donate!
