Chants of “fossil-fueled dirty liar, Trump has set our house on fire!” and “We don’t want your false solutions, we are sick of your pollution!” resounded across University Drive as Sunrise Movement organizers led Boise State students and Idaho citizens alike in climate centered slogans.
Described as a “Walk Out Against Trump”, Sunrise Movement members Lauren Legarreta and Amanda Thompson explained that there are six years left to turn the climate crisis around.
“We are committed to putting pressure on legislators and policymakers because this is not just an issue that we care about — this is our future,” Legarreta said. “This needs to be on the ballot [for the] next presidency and we can’t just hope for it to be there. We need to force it there, we’re going to organize and mobilize and we’re going to be here loud and proud.”
“We feel that the Democratic Party failed us with this election by pandering to more moderate people,” Thompson said. “Our generation really needs to see a radicalized left in order to feel confident [that] a president that we’re electing will help us [with] the climate crisis. I fear that a lot of our generation did not feel that with this current election, and that’s ultimately why Kamala was not able to be elected.”
Thompson believes that the climate crisis should be an issue all parties should be addressing.
“Even though we live in a red state, the climate is for everybody,” Thompson said.
“The only positive that I can see from the results of the election is that this does give us lots of power and opportunity to reframe the Democratic Party,” Legarreta said. “That is really dire right now, especially when it comes to climate policy, especially when it comes to green new deals.”
Bridget Gibson, a sophomore Political Science major explained that she attended the walk-out because the clock is ticking on the climate crisis.
“When we looked towards the future we have very limited time left with climate change coming in, and it is a threat to everybody,” Gibson said. “We need to fight and do what we can because he’s [Trump] a complete climate denier and we have to fight against that and put community efforts into organizing to get our future back.”
For Environmental Studies major Pia Goodell, climate change was one of the major issues she felt passionately about when voting in the 2024 election.
“I’m here to show my distaste towards the election. When I decided to vote, it was primarily about climate change policies and women’s reproductive health,” Goodell said. “I wanted to show that you can show your contention towards an election without throwing an insurrection.”
Another attendee, Juliana Puzio, believes it’s time for the youth to prioritize the environment and put effort into ending the climate crisis.
“It’s time to stand up and rise against people in power that aren’t caring about our rights or the environment, and to tell people that voted for Trump because of other reasons, that the climate is also an argument,” Puzio said.
Fellow protestor Saloman Jones said he felt embarrassed by the number of men who voted for Trump.
“I’m here to support people having an active voice and making sure that their voice is heard,” Jones said. “After a very embarrassing election — especially my demographic being men under 30, having an insane jump in voters and a majority of them voted for Trump. It’s embarrassing. Super disappointing.”
Legarreta and Thompson found the event to be a success overall and while they did not give details for future plans, they hope to be involved in organizing Sunrise events in the future.
On Nov. 13, 2024, Political Science professors Charles Hunt, Jaclyn Kettler, Lori Hausegger and Alex Artiles served as panelists for The Institute for Advancing American Values (IAAV). Panelists answered questions from students and provided insight into voting trends and election results.
Hunt explained that during the panel, faculty used their expertise to give context for election results and illustrated how integrated various levels of government are.
“The hope is to provide as much perspective as possible on some of the results that we saw last week and that we’re still seeing trickle in at multiple levels of government as well,” Hunt said.
This event was open to the public and Hunt strongly encourages students from any discipline to attend.
“We hope that people who aren’t just Political Science or Public Policy majors come and experience this, maybe I’m biased because I’m a political scientist, but I think this stuff matters for everybody,” Hunt said.
Another key focus of the event was language that is accessible to students outside of the Political Science department.
“We’re not just going to be talking like academics to other academics or just to poli-sci majors. We want to try to put this in a perspective that people will understand,” Hunt said.
