Varshini Prakash

Varshini Prakash
Born1992 or 1993 (age 31–32)
Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst (BA)
Known forFormer executive director and co-founder of the Sunrise Movement
Political partyDemocratic

Varshini Prakash (born 1992/1993) is an American climate activist and the founding executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a 501(c)(4) organization which she co-founded in 2017.[1] She was named on the 2019 Time 100 Next list,[2] and was a co-recipient of the Sierra Club John Muir Award in 2019.[3]

Early life and education

Prakash was born to and raised in Massachusetts by parents from Southern India;[4] her father was from Tamil Nadu.[5] She first became aware of climate change when she was 11 while watching news coverage of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which impacted Chennai, where her grandparents lived.[6][7] Growing up, she wanted to become a doctor.[6]

Prakash went to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she began organizing around climate issues.[6][7] In late 2015, devastating floods in South India seized her attention, having caused flooding up to the level of her grandparents' apartment in Chennai.[4][5] To help combat climate change, Prakash became a leader of the school's fossil fuel divestment campaign. Prakash also worked with a national organization, Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network. In 2016, a year after she graduated, UMass Amherst became the first large, public university to divest.[6][8]

Career

In 2017, Prakash launched the Sunrise Movement, an American youth-led political movement and 501(c)(4) that advocates political action on climate change, with seven other co-founders.[6][9]

In 2018, she became the Sunrise Movement's executive director after the group organized a protest occupying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office asking that a congressional task force be established to address climate change.[6]

As part of her work with the Sunrise Movement, Prakash advocated for proposals like the Green New Deal.[10] In 2020, the organization endorsed U.S. senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary for the presidency.[7] Prakash was named as an adviser to Joe Biden’s climate task force in 2020.[11][12][13][14] She is also an advisory board member of Climate Power 2020, a group that includes Democrats and activists advocating for increasing the interest American voters take in climate action.[13]

Prakash is co-editor of the book Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can, released August 2020.[15][16][17] She also is a contributor to The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crisis.[18][19] Prakash appeared in Rachel Lears' 2022 documentary film, To the End, which focuses on the effects of climate change. The film debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival[20][21] and was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022.[22]

In September 2023, Prakash stepped down as Sunrise executive director, succeeded by Sunrise activist Aru Shiney-Ajay. [23]

Recognition

Prakash was named on the 2019 Time 100 Next list of emerging global leaders.[10] She was a finalist for the 2019 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award from the University of California, Los Angeles.[24] She received Dickinson College's Rose-Walters Prize for Environmental Activism with a college residency in the 2021–2022 academic year.[25]

References

  1. ^ Pascoe, Alley (May 2021). "Who Will Save The Planet? Meet The women Rallying For Climate Justice". Marie Claire Australia. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  2. ^ "TIME 100 Next 2019: Varshini Prakash". Time. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  3. ^ "Sierra Club Announces 2019 National Award Winners". Sierra Club. September 16, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Prakash, Varshini (September 17, 2019). "Older generations broke the climate. It's up to young people to fix it". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Prakash, Varshini (December 22, 2020). "Varshini Prakash on Redefining What's Possible". Sierra Club. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Solis, Marie (November 18, 2019). "How a 26-Year-Old Activist Forced the Democratic Party to Get Serious About Climate Change". Vice. Photos by Nathan Bajar. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Adabala, Srihita (March 26, 2020). "Meet Varshini Prakash, Leader of The Sunrise Movement". Next Generation Politics. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020.
  8. ^ Elton, Catherine (March 3, 2020). "Varshini Prakash Is Trying to Save Boston From Climate Change". Boston. Metro Corp. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  9. ^ Hyland, Véronique; Rougeau, Naomi; Vadnal, Julie (June 6, 2019). "27 Women Leading the Charge to Protect Our Environment". Elle Magazine. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Inslee, Jay (2019). "Varshini Prakash Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List". Time. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Specter, Emma (October 26, 2020). "Why 2020 Is a Climate Election". Vogue. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  12. ^ Rathi, Akshat (September 15, 2020). "The Activist Trying to Bend the U.S. Congress Toward Climate". Bloomberg.
  13. ^ a b Teirstein, Zoya (May 20, 2020). "How Climate Leftists and Moderates Are Working Together to Beat Trump". Rolling Stone.
  14. ^ Calma, Justine (May 14, 2020). "How the climate movement is trying to fix Joe Biden". The Verge. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  15. ^ Ottesen, KK (September 22, 2020). "'Adults are asleep at the wheel' in climate crisis, says co-founder of youth-led activist group". Washington Post.
  16. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can by Edited by Varshini Prakash and Guido Girgenti. Simon & Schuster, $18 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-982142-43-8". Publishers Weekly. June 2, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  17. ^ Stephenson, Wen (October 12, 2020). "The Hardest Thing About the Green New Deal". The Nation. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  18. ^ The new possible : visions of our world beyond crisis. Philip Clayton, Kelli M. Archie, Jonah Sachs, Evan Steiner, Kim Stanley Robinson. Eugene, Oregon. 2021. ISBN 978-1-7252-8583-5. OCLC 1236337736.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ "Varshini Prakash on Redefining What's Possible". Sierra Club. December 14, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  20. ^ Dennis Harvey (January 23, 2022). "'To the End' Review: A Doc on Pushing For Climate Policy Change". Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  21. ^ Leslie Felperin (January 23, 2022). "'To the End' Review: Rachel Lears' New AOC Doc at Sundance – The Hollywood Reporter". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  22. ^ Jill Goldsmith (April 19, 2022). "Tribeca Festival 2022 Lineup With Jon Hamm, Ray Romano, Bryan Cranston – Deadline". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  23. ^ Frazin, Rachel; Budryk, Zack (September 26, 2023). "Meet the new leader of the Sunrise Movement". The Hill. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  24. ^ "Previous Candidates: Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award". UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability. The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  25. ^ "Sunrise Movement Leader Varshini Prakash to Receive Dickinson College's Rose-Walters Prize for Environmental Activism" (Press release). Dickinson College. April 28, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2023.