Varshini Prakash

Prakash was born to and raised in Massachusetts by parents from Southern India;{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/09/17/older-generations-broke-climate-young-people-fix/eDldPRIKVOadSXQLiQws0H/story.html|title=Older generations broke the climate. It's up to young people to fix it|last=Prakash|first=Varshini|website=The Boston Globe|date=17 September 2019|url-access=limited|access-date=10 March 2023}} her father was from Tamil Nadu.{{Cite web|date=22 December 2020|title=Varshini Prakash on Redefining What's Possible|url=https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2021-1-january-february/feature/varshini-prakash-redefining-whats-possible|access-date=10 March 2023|website=Sierra Club|last=Prakash|first=Varshini|language=en}} She first became aware of climate change when she was 11 while watching news coverage of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which impacted Chennai, where her grandparents lived.{{Cite web|last=Solis|first=Marie|date=18 November 2019|title=How a 26-Year-Old Activist Forced the Democratic Party to Get Serious About Climate Change|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-a-26-year-old-activist-forced-the-democratic-party-to-get-serious-about-climate-change-v26n4/|access-date=10 March 2023|website=Vice|others=Photos by Nathan Bajar}}{{Cite web|last=Adabala|first=Srihita|date=26 March 2020|title=Meet Varshini Prakash, Leader of The Sunrise Movement|url=https://nextgenpolitics.org/meet-varshini-prakash-leader-of-the-sunrise-movement/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031172212/https://www.nextgenpolitics.org/meet-varshini-prakash-leader-of-the-sunrise-movement/|archive-date=31 October 2020|website=Next Generation Politics}} Growing up, she wanted to become a doctor.

Prakash went to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she began organizing around climate issues. In late 2015, devastating floods in South India seized her attention, having caused flooding up to the level of her grandparents' apartment in Chennai. To help combat climate change, Prakash became a leader of the school's fossil fuel divestment campaign. Prakash also worked with a national organization, Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network. In 2016, a year after she graduated, UMass Amherst became the first large, public university to divest.{{Cite magazine|last=Elton|first=Catherine|title=Varshini Prakash Is Trying to Save Boston From Climate Change|url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2020/03/03/varshini-prakash/?fbclid=IwAR1ddTC-UIuCYvw3jWxBbwe_ONWQxSZSx4gUhr9OUxzaULwavnVyeDBq4e0|access-date=10 March 2023|date=3 March 2020|magazine=Boston|publisher=Metro Corp}}

In 2017, Prakash launched the Sunrise Movement, an American youth-led political movement and 501(c)(4) that advocates political action on climate change, with seven other co-founders.{{Cite web|last1=Hyland|first1=Véronique|first2=Naomi|last2=Rougeau|first3=Julie|last3=Vadnal|date=6 June 2019|access-date=10 March 2023|title=27 Women Leading the Charge to Protect Our Environment|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/a27733802/women-in-conservation-list/|website=Elle Magazine}}

In 2018, she became the Sunrise Movement's executive director after the group organized a protest occupying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office asking that a congressional task force be established to address climate change.

As part of her work with the Sunrise Movement, Prakash advocated for proposals like the Green New Deal.{{Cite magazine|last=Inslee|first=Jay|date=2019|title=Varshini Prakash Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List|url=https://time.com/collection/time-100-next-2019/5718838/varshini-prakash/|access-date=10 March 2023|magazine=Time}} In 2020, the organization endorsed U.S. senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary for the presidency. Prakash was named as an adviser to Joe Biden’s climate task force in 2020.{{Cite web|last=Specter|first=Emma|date=26 October 2020|title=Why 2020 Is a Climate Election|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/why-2020-is-a-climate-election|website=Vogue|access-date=10 March 2023}}{{Cite web|last=Rathi|first=Akshat|date=15 September 2020|title=The Activist Trying to Bend the U.S. Congress Toward Climate|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-15/sunrise-movement-and-varshini-prakash-pressure-joe-biden-on-climate|url-access=subscription|access-date=|website=Bloomberg}}{{Cite magazine|last=Teirstein|first=Zoya|date=20 May 2020|title=How Climate Leftists and Moderates Are Working Together to Beat Trump|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/climate-leftists-and-moderates-are-working-together-to-beat-trump-2020-1002931/|access-date=|url-access=subscription|magazine=Rolling Stone}}{{Cite web|last=Calma|first=Justine|date=14 May 2020|title=How the climate movement is trying to fix Joe Biden|url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/14/21258678/joe-biden-climate-change-task-force-sunrise-movement-varshini-prakash|access-date=10 March 2023|website=The Verge}} She is also an advisory board member of Climate Power 2020, a group that includes Democrats and activists advocating for increasing the interest American voters take in climate action.

Prakash is co-editor of the book Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can, released August 2020.{{Cite news|last=Ottesen|first=KK|date=22 September 2020|title='Adults are asleep at the wheel' in climate crisis, says co-founder of youth-led activist group|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/adults-are-asleep-at-the-wheel-in-climate-crisis-says-co-founder-of-youth-led-activist-group/2020/09/21/960327f0-e7ac-11ea-bc79-834454439a44_story.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=|newspaper=Washington Post}}{{Cite web|date=June 2, 2020|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can by Edited by Varshini Prakash and Guido Girgenti. Simon & Schuster, $18 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-982142-43-8|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-982142-43-8|access-date=April 23, 2021|website=Publishers Weekly|language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Stephenson |first1=Wen |title=The Hardest Thing About the Green New Deal |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/climate-green-new-deal-2/ |access-date=April 23, 2021 |work=The Nation |date=October 12, 2020}} She also is a contributor to The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crisis.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1236337736|title=The new possible : visions of our world beyond crisis|date=2021|others=Philip Clayton, Kelli M. Archie, Jonah Sachs, Evan Steiner, Kim Stanley Robinson|isbn=978-1-7252-8583-5|location=Eugene, Oregon|oclc=1236337736}}{{Cite web|date=December 14, 2020|title=Varshini Prakash on Redefining What's Possible|url=https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2021-1-january-february/feature/varshini-prakash-redefining-whats-possible|access-date=April 23, 2021|website=Sierra Club|language=en}} Prakash appeared in Rachel Lears' 2022 documentary film, To the End, which focuses on the effects of climate change. The film debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival{{cite web|author=Dennis Harvey |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/festivals/to-the-end-review-1235158133/ |title='To the End' Review: A Doc on Pushing For Climate Policy Change |publisher=Variety |date=January 23, 2022 |accessdate=May 20, 2022}}{{cite web|author=Leslie Felperin |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/to-the-end-review-sundance-2022-1235079660/ |title='To the End' Review: Rachel Lears' New AOC Doc at Sundance – The Hollywood Reporter |publisher=Hollywoodreporter.com |date=January 23, 2022 |accessdate=May 20, 2022}} and was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022.{{cite web|author=Jill Goldsmith |url=https://deadline.com/2022/04/tribeca-festival-2022-lineup-film-tv-1235005218/ |title=Tribeca Festival 2022 Lineup With Jon Hamm, Ray Romano, Bryan Cranston – Deadline |publisher=Deadline Hollywood |date=April 19, 2022 |access-date=May 20, 2022}}

In September 2023, Prakash stepped down as Sunrise executive director, succeeded by Sunrise activist Aru Shiney-Ajay. {{cite news |last1=Frazin |first1=Rachel |last2=Budryk |first2=Zack |title=Meet the new leader of the Sunrise Movement |url=https://thehill.com/newsletters/energy-environment/4224721-senate-pitches-stopgap-with-disaster-aid-funds/ |access-date=14 December 2023 |work=The Hill |date=26 September 2023}}

Prakash was named on the 2019 Time 100 Next list of emerging global leaders. She was a finalist for the 2019 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award from the University of California, Los Angeles.{{cite web|url=https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/pritzker-genius/previous-candidates/|title=Previous Candidates: Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award|website=UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability|publisher=The Regents of the University of California|access-date=10 March 2023}} She received Dickinson College's Rose-Walters Prize for Environmental Activism with a college residency in the 2021–2022 academic year.{{cite press release|url=https://www.dickinson.edu/news/article/4678/sunrise_movement_leader_varshini_prakash_to_receive_dickinson_college_s_rose-walters_prize_for_environmental_activism|title=Sunrise Movement Leader Varshini Prakash to Receive Dickinson College's Rose-Walters Prize for Environmental Activism|date=28 April 2021|access-date=10 March 2023|publisher=Dickinson College}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.npr.org/2020/10/28/928810660/how-i-built-resilience-varshini-prakash-of-sunrise-movement Interview in the "How I Built This" podcast]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYKnfrSKXTA Profile by Forbes]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prakash, Varshini}}

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:American climate activists

Category:American people of Indian descent

Category:American people of Indian Tamil descent

Category:American women activists

Category:American women founders

Category:Sierra Club awardees

Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst people