-by Matt DaSilva,
Development Lead for Climate Defiance
Climate Defiance is a youth-led activist group that engages in non-violent direct action. Our mission is to humiliate climate criminals to strip them of their power and bring about the end of the fossil fuel era.
What does that look like? Take a look at a few of our actions and see for yourself.
A small group of activists found their way into Harvard’s vaunted Institute of Politics to call coal baron Senator Joe Manchin a sick fuck.
Climate Defiance took the stage right as Exxon CEO Darren Woods was to be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the CME STEM awards.
Since launching in April 2023 with a blockade of the White House Correspondents Dinner, Climate Defiance has gone after multiple members of the Biden administration, including Pete Buttigieg, climate advisor Ali Zaidi, and longtime Democratic Party power broker John Podesta.
Our actions are the type of in-your-face, blunt, and direct interactions that are so often missing in our polite political society. More importantly, they get results.
In September of 2023, we chased the Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau— who personally signed the disastrous Willow Project— through the streets of Manhattan. Two weeks later, he resigned. His replacement was far more progressive. Earlier this year, the Biden administration, in conjunction with the Dept of the Interior, protected 28 million acres of public lands in Alaska.
Following a spate of interruptions, John Podesta called us into his office. We repeatedly brought up CP2, a planned natural gas terminal in Louisiana that would be absolutely catastrophic for the Gulf. The following month, the Biden administration announced a pause on that project, and even cited the influence of youth climate activists in the decision.
Our work of holding climate criminals accountable will be even more important in the years ahead. The Trump administration promises to throw a deluge of shit at us on a daily basis. But we are ready. Our organizers have been traveling the country over the past week, meeting with activists young and old, seasoned and green, to train on how to effectively disrupt business as usual. There is energy out there, and we are tapping into it.
And before the Biden administration hits the skids, we may have a few more tricks up our sleeves to make sure they’re doing everything in their power to safeguard our future against Trump’s MAGA death cult…
To join our mailing list and hear what we’re up to, please click here. If you can afford to make a donation, please do so here. We’ll use the funds to hire more organizers, get eye-catching art for our actions, improve our social media presence, and other essential tasks. We will not use the funds for a fancy K Street Office or an insane compensation package for a figurehead who shows up at fancy conferences every once in a while and then retreats to said fancy K Street Office.
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