Warren, Markey, and Pressley to Join Launch of Sunrise Movement's 250-City Road to a Green New Deal Tour

Three prominent Massachusetts Democrats will join community and labor leaders in Boston Thursday night to kick off the youth-led Sunrise Movement's 250-city Road to a Green New Deal Tour.

Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, along with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, are among many politicians and activists slated to speak at the tour's eight major stops throughout April and May. Markey--who introduced the Green New Deal resolution with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in February--and Pressley will attend the launch at the Strand Theatre in Boston. Warren, a 2020 presidential hopeful, will join via video.

As Common Dreams reported last month, the national tour, which is cosponsored and supported by several local climate groups, aims to make the Green New Deal a key focus on the 2020 election.

"First, we put the Green New Deal on the map and changed the conversation on climate policy in this country," Sunrise Movement executive director Varshini Prakash said in a press statement. "Now it's time to transform the 2020 election into a referendum on climate action, and give every single American a chance to hear from their leaders and their neighbors about how the Green New Deal will improve their lives."

"We're building a groundswell of support for the Green New Deal in every corner of this country," organizers explain on a tour webpage. "We'll gather in libraries, university campuses, churches, and living rooms to learn about the ambition, prosperity, and promise of a Green New Deal, hear from political and community leaders, and discuss the pathway to make the Green New Deal become reality."

The historic resolution that Markey and Ocasio-Cortez unveiled earlier this year, which is backed by dozens of other lawmakers, aims to transition the U.S. economy to 100 percent clean and renewable energy over the next decade--which leading scientists warn is necessary to prevent climate catastrophe. The broad measure also calls for government support for the communities on the front lines of the climate crisis and policies designed to further economic justice.

The launch of the national tour in Boston comes on the heels of a new video narrated by Ocasio-Cortez, released Wednesday by The Intercept. The congresswoman delivers a powerful message from the future, painting a picture of what the world could look like if elected officials pursue ambitious climate and economic policies demanded by a growing number of Americans.

"The first big step was just closing our eyes and imagining it," Ocasio-Cortez says in the video. "We can be whatever we have the courage to see."

After Boston, the tour will head to Detroit; Des Moines; Los Angeles; Paradise, California; New Orleans; Richmond, Kentucky; and Washington, D.C. There will also be town halls in communities across the country.

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