This Is What a Winning Climate Movement Looks Like

Youth at the 2023 March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City.Michal Tvrdon

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In February, the U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) received a letter from Piper, a sixth grader in Colorado, who shared her essay underscoring the impacts of climate change. Here are some of her words:

Global warming is real and very impactful. 

Global warming really can hurt and change us, the earth, and wildlife.

Think about all of the fields of crops that have trouble growing, or how our water supply is dwindling due to global warming. … Think about how much the sea levels are rising and about the people who live by the ocean and have to live and see that happening right before their eyes.

Lastly, think about the solutions.

Think about how animals will start thriving again and how humans will live in a safe healthy world. Think about how that could impact your life and make it change for the better.

Think about a better world.

Piper’s words arrive at a complicated moment for the climate movement. Across the country, environmental groups are being pushed into what can only be described as strategic retreat, with many pivoting away from federal advocacy to avoid becoming the target of a hostile audit.

38% of USCAN members report that they are currently modifying their organizational language, stripping away terms like “climate change,” “equity,” or “environmental justice.” Over a third of our network is now forced to invest in digital security, legal counsel, and audit avoidance — rather than the programmatic work that nourishes our communities.

At a time when it feels like we are in retreat, and when it could even make sense to give up, young people like Piper remind us that they aren’t about to give up on their future without a fight.

Youth Organizers Are Still Delivering Wins

Despite prevailing narratives of pessimism, there is a growing edge of the climate movement that is winning.

Youth organizers within and beyond the U.S. Climate Action Network are not sitting around. They are building power, shaping narratives, and — even in an increasingly hostile political environment — securing meaningful change.

Take the landmark case Held v. Montana, for instance. Led by USCAN member Our Children’s Trust, 16 young plaintiffs challenged the Montana government’s promotion of fossil fuels — and won. The court affirmed that access to a clean and healthy environment is a state constitutional right.

This was the “strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court,” according to Michael Gerrard, founder of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

Or consider the recent Advocacy Day organized by another USCAN member, the Rachel Carson Council. RCC brought 90 students from across the country to Washington, D.C., where they met directly with federal lawmakers, pressing for bold climate action and environmental protections.

Meanwhile, youth-led member organizations like Mission Green Global — founded by Arushi Surve while she was still in high school — are demonstrating what grassroots action looks like on a global scale. From Serbia to Egypt, young organizers are building Mission Green Global chapters to coordinate clean-ups, transform trash into art, and channel their concerns into visible, collective action.

Why Winning Matters

At a time when it is easy to focus on setbacks, these wins demand our attention. They are not simply meant to be applauded. Each one is proof of a movement adapting in real-time — and an invitation to keep the momentum going.

The climate movement cannot be sustained by guilt or fear alone. As environmental humanist Sarah Jaquette Ray writes in “A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety,” no one wants to join a movement underpinned by guilt, fear, or nihilism. Movements grow when people see that change is not just necessary, but possible.

This is exactly what the youth in USCAN are showing us daily: that change is still possible, even in a moment defined by constraint. They continue to adapt, persist, and win.

To be clear, this does not mean ignoring reality. The threats facing the climate movement are real and immediate, whether in the form of steep funding cuts or the undermining of climate science. But we cannot allow these constraints to become the defining story of this movement.

Young people certainly aren’t. They are choosing to act anyway.

The future that 11-year-old Piper imagines — a safe, healthy world — is not out of reach. It is already being built by young people in courtrooms, classrooms, communities, and coalitions across the country. The question is whether we choose to recognize and amplify their leadership — and invest in what they are building.

Building the Infrastructure to Win

USCAN believes wholeheartedly in the power of the collective. Movements cannot rest on any one group or generation. If we do not hold one another up, we will be forced to stand alone.

This is why our network exists: we are the connective tissue that allows climate organizations to remain aligned and effective.

USCAN is the largest civil society coalition of environmental groups in the country. In the last year, we distributed eight mutual aid grants to support members in crisis, ranging from disaster relief efforts to meeting emergency budget gaps. This month, we are attending a historic international conference on the global transition away from fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia. There, we hope not just to share experiences from our members and communities in the U.S. who are leading this fight daily but to learn from global movements who have confronted power and demanded a brighter future — rooted in justice.

Even as external conditions force caution, USCAN is a shared space where environmental and climate groups can coordinate strategy, mobilize and share resources, and project a bold, unfaltering collective voice.

If young people are driving the movement forward, then networks like USCAN ensure they are not doing so in isolation. We ensure that wins are not one-off moments, but part of a broader, sustained trajectory toward change.

To young leaders: keep going. You are not only imagining a better world — you are already building it. Your leadership is shaping our world in real-time.

To our partners, donors, and allies: this is not the moment to pull back. On the contrary, this is the moment to step forward with the same urgency young people are showing every day. They are counting on you to match their courage with commitment — not just in words, but in action. If we believe in youth leadership, then we must invest in the conditions that allow them to thrive.

Share the facts and the science, share the urgency — but share, also, the wins. Because momentum matters, and people are drawn to movements that feel alive, determined, and capable of change.

This is what a winning climate movement looks like.