Varshini Prakash

Varshini Prakash (born 1992/1993) is an American climate activist and 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 corecipient of the Sierra Club John Muir Award in 2019.[3]

Varshini Prakash
Born1992/1993 (age 28–29)
Massachusetts, U.S.A.
EducationUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst (BA)
Known forExecutive Director and Co-founder of the Sunrise Movement
Political partyDemocratic

Early life and education

Prakash was born and raised in Massachusetts to 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] While there, she became a leader of the school's fossil fuel divestment campaign. Prakash also worked with a national organization, Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network. In 2017, 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 advocates 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]

Recognition

Prakash was named on the 2019 Time 100 Next list of emerging global leaders.[10]

References
  1. "Who Will Save The Planet? Meet The women Rallying For Climate Justice". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  2. "TIME 100 Next 2019: Varshini Prakash". Time. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  3. "Sierra Club Announces 2019 National Award Winners". Sierra Club. 2019-09-16. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  4. Prakash, Varshini (September 17, 2019). "Older generations broke the climate. It's up to young people to fix it". The Boston Globe.
  5. "Varshini Prakash on Redefining What's Possible". Sierra Club. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  6. Solis, Marie (November 18, 2019). "How a 26-Year-Old Activist Forced the Democratic Party to Get Serious About Climate Change". Vice.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. Adabala, Srihita (March 26, 2020). "Meet Varshini Prakash, Leader of The Sunrise Movement". Next Generation Politics.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. Elton, Catherine. "Varshini Prakash Is Trying to Save Boston From Climate Change". Boston Magazine.
  9. Hyland, Véronique, Naomi Rougeau and Julie Vadnal (June 6, 2019). "27 Women Leading the Charge to Protect Our Environment". Elle Magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. Inslee, Jay (2019). "Varshini Prakash Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List". Time.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. Specter, Emma (October 26, 2020). "Why 2020 Is a Climate Election". Vogue.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. Rathi, Akshat (September 15, 2020). "The Activist Trying to Bend the U.S. Congress Toward Climate". Bloomberg.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. Teirstein, Zoya (May 20, 2020). "How Climate Leftists and Moderates Are Working Together to Beat Trump". Rolling Stone.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. Calma, Justine (May 14, 2020). "How the climate movement is trying to fix Joe Biden". The Verge.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  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 2021-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. Stephenson, Wen (12 October 2020). "The Hardest Thing About the Green New Deal". The Nation. Retrieved 23 April 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: others (link)
  19. "Varshini Prakash on Redefining What's Possible". Sierra Club. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
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