Climate Defiance is a climate movement organization which uses direct action protests to demand stronger climate change mitigation policies. 

ABOUT THEM: They are young. They are livid. They are no longer willing to be disposable. They have been sold out by their politicians. They have been betrayed. But they refuse to lose hope. They come from many walks of life but are united in fighting for a thriving and just world. They came of age in a time of great tumult. A global pandemic. A deadly assault on democracy. Mass shootings with their morning coffee. And hovering above it all, an existential crisis that threatens every fiber of every being in every corner of the world. Their leaders have failed to save them. So they will save ourselves. They aim not to work within the current political reality. They aim to change it. They can do it. They have leverage. The laws of nature do not care what’s “realistically feasible.” And neither do them. They will use mass-turnout, non-violent direct action to force their politicians to take action at the scope and speed necessary to avert the worst impacts of this crisis.

MISSION

End fossil fuel extraction on federal lands and waters. End sacrifice zones and usher in a just transition for those most impacted. Stand in solidarity with their sister-struggles for racial and economic justice. Deploy mass turnout, disruptive direct action to compel politicians to act with the urgency this moment deserves.

Elevate climate change to a top-three political issue in American politics. Make support for any fossil fuels as unacceptable on the left as opposing abortion or gay marriage. Move the Overton Window (the accepted terms of debate). Make clear to Democratic lawmakers that the youth vote will only deliver for them if they deliver for them.

They need consistent, mass-turnout, nonviolent disruption to stop business as usual and compel politicians to act. When they engage in direct action —whether through a strike, a blockade, or a mass occupation — they break through. People see them. People tune in. People engage. Their movement grows. Direct action puts the state in a double-bind: allow the action (and the disruption) to continue or crack down, further driving up public support for the cause.