History of Sunrise Nashville
Feb 2019
Sunrise Nashville is Founded
The Nashville Hub of the Sunrise Movement was founded in early 2019. Our early focus was geared towards building broad support for the Green New Deal among both the public and elected officials. We encouraged both as an idea as well as the actual 14-page Green New Deal resolution that was introduced in Congress. This assisted our other goal of increasing the scale and urgency of the climate crisis within the political narrative.
2019
Climate Debate
Members of our hub protested and marched to the TN Democratic party office demanding as part of a larger campaign that state party officials vote to hold a Democratic Climate Debate. We held more educational trainings, town halls, and a variety of other events. We prioritized building good, real community.
May 11, 2019
Community Town Hall
We held a community town hall featuring speakers from partner organizations including then City Councilman Freddie O’ Connell. Current mayor Freddie O’Connell presented, and we continued to build relationships with partner organizations both in and out of the climate space.
Sep 29, 2019
South Summit
Sunrise held a series of regional summits across the US and decided to host their Southern regional summit in Nashville. Sunrise Nashville dedicated resources and hours towards the planning of the weekend training. Participants came from across the South came together to train and build community. The Monday following, we held a non-violent direct action which included a march followed by a sit-in. Nashville’s new mayor was about to have his first day in office, and climate was not discussed at all in the mayoral race. We wanted him to declare a climate emergency for Nashville. We marched from the capitol. We occupied his office most of the day.
Sep 30, 2019
Climate Strike & Sit-In at Mayor John Cooper’s Office
More than 100 members of the “Sunrise Movement” protested during the newly-elected mayor’s first day in office.
Youth climate change activists protest in Nashville, hold sit-in at Mayor’s office
“A group of activists marched through downtown to sound the alarm about climate change and have asked Nashville to declare a climate emergency. We applaud their activism and commitment to addressing this critical issue,” Mayor Cooper said. “We look forward to rolling out sustainability initiatives as we move forward.”
Success: Soon after, the Sustainability Chief position was created for the Nashville City Government. Now, Nashville has an all-encompassing sustainability plan called CARP or Climate Adaption and Resiliency Plan.
Dec 2019
Nashville Sustainability Director and Initiatives Announced
The mayor’s office announced “multiple initiatives to combat climate change,” including the new Sustainability Advisory Committee, which would begin meeting in the new year. “There is consensus in the scientific community that climate change is contributing to an increase in the number of, and intensity of, extreme weather events around the world,” Mayor Cooper told the committee at its inaugural meeting in January. He went on to outline city solutions, some already underway, including a plan to cultivate a fuller tree canopy and another to generate more renewable energy, adding, “We will do all we can to work toward a community-scale CO2 reduction target—30 percent by 2030 and 70 percent by 2050.”
– https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2020-3-may-june/election-2020/sunrise-movement-comes-nashville
April 2020
Nashville Tornado Aid
When the tornado of April 2020 occurred, our hub played a part in organizing communities in disaster response.
2020
Black Lives Matter Protests
With the death of George Floyd, Sunrise focused on Black Lives Matter movements.
2020-2023
Vanderbilt University Divestment Actions
We assisted Vanderbilt Divest Dores with a series of direct actions to apply pressure to Vanderbilt University to divest from fossil fuels.
2024
Vanderbilt University Palestinian Divestment Actions
We assisted Palestine Hurra Collective Nashville, Vanderbilt Divest Coalition, and more community groups plan and implement direct actions such as protests, assistance for the encampment, and a sit in in the dean’s office. Multiple students were expelled for this demonstration highlighting the oppressive hand of Chancellor Diermeier.
Read the full history here.
Sep 21, 2024
Rally for the Valley
We helped produce a community rally with our coalition of Clean Up TVA. Sunrise came together to sing, dance, and organize with other groups including Appalachian Voices; Young, Gifted, & Green; Memphis Community Against Pollution; Center for Biological Diversity; Energy Alabama; Sierra Club; Preserve Cheatham County, and many more. Our energy supplier, Tennessee Valley Authority claimed they were long-term planning on building a large amount of renewable energy. But their actions of currently permitting and planning natural gas plants showed their actual intentions.
Oct – Nov 2024
Endorsed Nashville Moves Transit Referendum
We endorsed the Nashville Moves Transit Referendum to provide funding for buses, bike infrastructure, sidewalks, and improved stoplight technology.
Success: The Transit Referendum passed and not long after we posted our endorsement. In addition, Al Gore endorsed the referendum using the same language we used in our endorsement noting that 51% of Nashville’s emissions come from transportation.
2024 – Current
Tennessee Valley Authority Efforts
As a part of Clean Up TVA, we have advocated for renewable energy at Nashville Electric Service Board Meetings, at TVA Integrated Resource Plan Public Hearings, and tabling around town. Since TVA is owned by the federal government, we appealed to Biden to promise renewable energy for TVA. When Trump came into office, he fired several board members and TVA currently has talks of going private. If TVA goes private, energy costs will increase.
June 2025 – Current
Sunrise Announced $10k in Community Solar
Due to the lack of options we had with TVA, we decided to focus on investing in Nashville directly. We announced that we would be donating $10k to low-income Nashville families to invest in a Nashville Electric Service (NES) community solar program. This program was built years prior with little investment, advertising, and community engagement. We continue to work with NES to publicize the programs and increase general sign-ups for the program.
Jul – Aug 2025
Antioch Rezoning Action
Sunrise showed up at city council meetings and organized residents to contact their city council person to oppose the deforestation on Franklin Limestone road to put in a massive warehouse in a working-class community. This forest also protects the health of the residents from the nearby quarry pollution.
Success: Due to our noise, we permanently deferred these deforestation bills.