Episode 150: Sunrise co-founder William Lawrence shares some lessons and insights from the growth and development of the Sunrise movement

The Sustainability Agenda

Sunrise co-founder William Lawrence looks back on his days at Sunrise and explores some of the lessons and insights from the organisation’s growth development—and makes the connection with wider trends in left politics in the United States. This interview explores key elements of Sunrise’s strategy, as well the organisation’s methods of organizing. William highlights some of the organisations key successes -- raising the importance of climate in American political discourse, making it a leading priority for the Democratic Party, as well as some of the work that remains to be done. A fascinating insight into the development, growth, and challenges faced by one of the most successful and inspiring youth driven climate change organisations in the world.

William Lawrence is an organizer and social movement strategist. He was a co-founder of Sunrise Movement, where he helped shape and popularize the Green New Deal. He currently works as a strategic advisor for Dream Defenders, a social change organisation fighting for a world without prisons, policing, surveillance and punishment--and he is developing a new popular organization in his hometown of Lansing, Michigan. William’s detailed analysis in Convergence magazine https://bit.ly/3vSYlCz and https://bit.ly/3FuJn9c -- what he calls an exercise in “practice of learning in public.”