By Nathaniel Weinzapfel

“When the people rise up, the power comes down," chant demonstrators at a recent protest from the nation-wide climate change organization called the Sunrise Movement.

Launched in 2017, the Sunrise Movement was founded to, “shift the Overton window on climate policy” and promote strong environmental policies such as the Green New Deal. The movement organizes multiple protests for this cause and has many hubs throughout the country, including in Bloomington, Indiana.

Sunrise Movement protest from 2019 calling for Democratic Senators and Representatives to support the Green New Deal. (Photo courtesy of Steve Ahlquist from Upriseri.com)

Sunrise Bloomington member Alyson Alde, a student at Indiana University studying Environmental Health, recently spoke with WFHB to help better explain what the Sunrise Movement is and how the Bloomington movement differs:

“The sunrise movement is a nationwide movement led by climate activists. And our goals are to promote sustainability and climate justice. Specifically for our Bloomington hub, we have the goal right now to encourage IU to disclose how much they have invested in fossil fuels, to divest and then to reinvest into sustainable organizations," says Alde.

Informational pamphlet concerning the goals of Sunrise Bloomington displayed on the homepage of their website (Photo courtesy of Sunrise Bloomington)

As Alyson stated, Sunrise Bloomington seeks to have Indiana University “Disclose, Divest, and Reinvest” and Alyson provides an understanding of what that means.

“Indiana University is a public institution. Where their investments are, is not public information. So our first demand is to disclose. So we want Indiana University to disclose how much money they have invested in fossil fuels. Once we've reached that goal. Our next goal is to demand that Indiana University divest from any fossil fuel industries, and then with that money that they have divested we want them to reinvest into sustainable companies and sustainable organizations rather than organizations that are causing the destruction of our planet," said Alde.

Over the past few years, Sunrise Bloomington and other organizations have sought to have meetings with the Indiana University Foundation to help further their cause. Alyson explained what purpose the meetings hold in the overall goals of Sunrise Bloomington:

“With our meetings we are hoping to meet with the IU Foundation. And by we I don't just mean the sunrise movement, Bloomington hub. I mean the entire community, the IU community, the Bloomington community, the Indiana community. We want to have an open dialogue with the IU foundation to make sure that the money that we pay with our tuition is going to sustainable organizations rather than to fossil fuel industries. And we want that conversation to be an open and public conversation," she said.

Back in October, the Indiana University Foundation and Sunrise Bloomington had actually organized a face-to-face meeting to discuss these goals. However, the meeting was cancelled by the IU Foundation due Sunrise’s call for the meeting to be public and for the community to participate. Sunrise was motivated by the need for transparency, with IU hoping for a more private meeting. Despite this setback, Alyson is hopeful for a future meeting:

“I think that the Indiana University Foundation, based off what they're saying publicly about their goals for sustainability. I think that they are taking the climate crisis seriously. And the next step to prove to us that they are taking the climate crisis seriously is to divest from fossil fuels," said Alde.

Protests have occurred multiple times over the years to hold Indiana University accountable for their effect on the climate. Shown here are IU students protesting last spring to make the Universi...