Our 2022 grantees disrupted normalcy and created breakthroughs

New York Communities for Change (NYCC) has built a multi-racial, cross-class base of activists pushing for climate justice in New York City. Building on past successes, such as the gas ban on new construction in New York City, NYCC is in the midst of its “Tax the Rich for a Green New Deal” campaign, calling on the New York State government to invest in climate programs like Green Social Housing by raising taxes on the rich.

The Washington DC chapter of the global Extinction Rebellion movement has been responsible for some of the most disruptive climate protests in US history. It is currently engaged in a protest to electrify DC and move the city away from fossil gas. DC’s recent ban on gas in new buildings was a partial win for the group, but it has even bolder demands, and big plans to keep escalating.

Youth vs Apocalypse trains and organizes youth activists in the Bay Area. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of environmental racism, the climate crisis, and other forms of injustice, Youth vs Apocalypse has built a powerful, multi-racial base of youth leaders in some of the Bay Area’s most heavily impacted communities.

The Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance brings together many of the most active climate and forest defense groups in the region. In Fall 2022, with CEF Support, the Alliance held a direct action training camp at the site of a proposed sale of old growth forest to a timber company; the threat of escalated direct action was enough to halt the sale entirely. In 2023, the group will build on this momentum and scale up its forest defense efforts across the region.

The No Coal, No Gas Campaign has built up a network of climate activists opposing fossil fuel power across the New England Region. The group has taken several bold disruptive actions against the Merrimack Generating Station in Bow, NH, including its December 2022 blockade of a coal train headed for the power plant. The No Coal, No Gas Campaign is working to scale up its activities to end fossil fuel power in New England entirely.

The A22 Network launched in April 2022 with its Spring Uprising, and has achieved major success across the globe. Eleven groups, including Just Stop Oil UK, Letzte Generation in Germany, and Save Old Growth in British Columbia, took coordinated disruptive action and made major narrative interventions in their home countries. This mobilization laid the foundation for the A22 Network, allowing it to keep recruiting, building momentum. The network will continue to escalate and expand its capacity throughout 2023.

Scientist Rebellion is an international network of scientists who have concluded that disruptive civil resistance is the only way to force elected leaders to take action at the scale and speed demanded by the climate science. The group achieved breakthrough success in Spring 2022, generating hundreds of news articles and tens of millions of views on social media, and in Fall 2022 they generated international headlines with their protests at COP27 in Egypt and their blockades of private jets at airports across the globe. Scientist Rebellion plays a critical role within the global climate movement by normalizing and legitimizing disruptive protest as the most rational response to climate breakdown and government inaction.

Futuro Vegetal is a Spanish collective organizing against animal agriculture due to its outsized impact on the climate crisis. They are demanding an immediate halt to government subsidies for animal agriculture, with those funds going toward sustainable plant-based food systems instead. Their actions have made meat consumption a top political issue in Spain, leading to a ban on new factory farms being passed by the Spanish government in December 2022. They are planning another major mobilization for April 2023 in Madrid, continuing to build pressure toward their demands.

West Virginia Rising organized a blockade of Joe Manchin’s cash cow coal plant in West Virginia, calling attention to the clear conflict of interest behind Manchin’s opposition of bold climate policy.

Alternatiba Paris was one of the anchor groups for the “March pour le Futur” mobilization on April 9, 2022. The march brought nearly 100,000 French people into the streets on the eve of France’s national election to ensure that climate was on the forefront of voters’ minds as they entered the voting booth.

The Green New Deal for Montgomery County, Maryland, campaign is preparing the next generation of climate organizers. The campaign provides training and support for high school organizers, who are primarily Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, to put pressure on the Montgomery County government to enact climate policy. The group is currently organizing at the intersection of climate justice and housing justice, advocating for the construction of widespread green social housing within Montgomery County.