Ending the Oligarchy in Orlando

I’ve attended many of these Campus Climate Network organizer trainings before, but coming as junior director of outreach this time felt different.

Helping direct my student organization Students Fighting Climate Change at UT Austin for the first time this past fall has been filled with many high moments, but I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge its challenges too. Not only do I have to provide answers to questions now, I'm a decision-maker for where our movement heads on campus. It feels like being in a bubble organizing with a close group of five, even in the blue dot that is Austin, it’s like screaming in an echo chamber that won’t scream back. This has been the reality of climate organizing in Texas (which I'm sure isn’t just exclusive to my state).

One of the Orlando trainers, Alicia Colomer, was awe-inspiring not only because of her campus divestment success story, but because of her triumph over hopelessness. What kept bringing her back was a fierce dedication to her campaign with relentless tenacity, continuously returning to the cause amidst uncertainty.

My favorite community saying that weekend was “we can do hard things.” Out of context, it sounds cliché. But with a campaign that feels like staring up at a mountain, it was something so simple that I needed both to hear and to tell myself so I could keep walking towards the summit. I was reassured by the stories of the giants that came before us, not just in the climate movement, but those across all movements which fought for the privileges we enjoy today.

Although presently our work is being threatened, it is ourselves, and only ourselves, that we must rely on to rebuild power from those pieces. It is the only option. I will never forget wheat pasting “From Minneapolis to Orlando, Kick ICE Out” flyers at night downtown, embodying organizers past, convicted in the same belief that we (and they) are on the right side of history.