HHS Environmental Club Looks to Become “Hub” for Sunrise Movement

The Hanover High School Environmental Club is beginning the process of creating a “hub” for the up-and-coming program called the Sunrise Movement. According to their official website, https://www.sunrisemovement.org/, the program is a “movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process”.

At HHS, the Environmental Club would create a “hub”. This would be a place to, according to Environmental Club leader Sydney Stearns, “ educate people in the community about the issue and how to take action. Our biggest priority is to advertise[,] so as many people know about the Green New Deal and other Sunrise objectives as possible. This is a very pressing issue, as our world needs to start using renewable sources of energy now or else we will run out of fossil fuels”.  This would include a variety of different awareness programs that will further be developed as the hub gains momentum. The Sunrise Movement at HHS would start in conjunction with the Environmental Club, but will ideally split into its own program.

The most recent action that the Sunrise Movement is involved in is the Green New Deal. Released on February 7, 2019, the deal is sponsored in the House of Representative by Rep. Alexandria Occasio-Cortez (NY-14) and in the Senate by Sen. Ed Markey (MA). The main goal of the Green New Deal is to increase jobs involving renewable energy and create more sustainable ways of living and energy use and production. It’s five goals, as outlined by Sunrise are: having zero greenhouse gas emissions, creating a large number of jobs that provide economic stability, increasing water and air quality around the world, promoting environmental justice, investing in new, sustainable building plans and practices.

Sydney Stearns recommends joining the Sunrise email list for more information, and the link can be found on their website (https://www.sunrisemovement.org/). She also says that anyone is welcome at Enviro Club meetings which happen during Monday’s Activity Period in Ms. Kornfeld’s room.