Let's Talk About the Tennessee Valley Authority by Rocky Top Sunrise

The Battle Against the Byhalia Pipeline

Hale and Cassie are joined by Justin Pearson, one of the co-founders of grassroots movement Memphis Community Against The Pipeline (MCAP). They dig into the movement's fight against the Byhalia Connection Pipeline and the ongoing environmental injustices happening right now in Memphis, Tennessee.

Check out Memphis Community Against the Pipeline

Go to a rally against the pipeline on Saturday, May 1 at 2 pm CT in Memphis

Sign the petition to tell city council members to vote to protect Memphis' drinking water on Tuesday

Volunteer with MCAP

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Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Regrounding Ourselves in the Movement

Hale, Isabella, Owen, and Cassie join forces for a regrounding episode where we talk about what we are doing as a Movement here in Tennessee and what the larger fight looks like within the context of the Biden Administration. We also preview our next episode which will be on the fight against the Byhalia Pipeline in Memphis. (+ some ridiculous outtakes on the big dumb boat and the Kentucky Creation Museum)

Check out Memphis Community Against the Pipeline to get a preview of what is going down before the next episode

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

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Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Karl Marx and the Tennessee State Legislature

The Tennessee State Legislature has been up to no good, so we decided to give y'all a bit of an update...with a twist. Cassie updates us on a few highlights (or lowlights) of what they've been up to while Hale puts everything into the context of a broader, approachable, Marxist perspective. Sunrise Movement isn't just pushing for progress on climate change, we are trying to realign the nation to a place where people are culturally receptive to the socialist(ish) underpinnings of the Green New Deal, which is why understanding what's underneath the actions of the status quo Republicans are doing is so crucial.

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

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Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Grading Biden

Rick Herron, climate guru and Hub Coordinator for Sunrise Nashville, joins Owen and Cassie to help us grade how the Biden Administration has done so far, and what we would still like to see. We are cautiously optimistic but still have a long...LONG way to go.

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

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Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

The Intersectionality Between Climate and Reproductive Justice

Hosts Isabella and Hale speak with Osub Ahmed, a senior analyst at the Center for American Progress, on the intersection between the climate crisis and reproductive rights. This is often an overlooked subject both in media and day-to-day conversations. That's why we decided to dig deep and dissect the important relationship between the two.

Read the Environmental Reproductive Justice research

Check out In Your Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

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Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Tennessean Insurrectionists and the Importance of Antifascism

Journalists Abby Lee Hood and Matt Bastin join to talk about Tennesseans' involvement in the undemocratic coup attempt by MAGA insurrectionists that took place at our Capitol last week. We explore the moment we are in and where to go from here, including how it is more important now than ever to include antifascism into everything we do. Not only is supporting antifascism the right thing to do, but we will never pass a Green New Deal or any other progressive legislation if we don't both practice antifascism and push for democratic reforms.

Read Matt and Abby Lee's piece in Tennessee Lookout that inspired this episode

Support Abby Lee

Support Matt

Read Angela Davis' Abolition Democracy Beyond Empire Prisons & Torture

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Join DSA

Volunteer for The Equity Alliance

Find out what Native Land you are living on

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

How the Left Can Change Tennessee

Matthew Park, Co-Executive Director of Change TN, joins Cassie and Owen to talk about how the Left should be engaging with the upcoming race for the Chair of the Democratic Party and all the local races across the state in 2021. As Matthew says, local municipalities are the true labs of democracy - that's where we need to be building the bench so that we can truly change Tennessee for the better.

Get involved with Change TN

Follow Change TN on Twitter and Facebook

Find out what Native Land you are living on

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

As Georgia Goes, So Goes the South

Erica Darragh, Communications Lead for Sunrise Atlanta, joins Hale and Cassie to talk about the upcoming Senate runoff elections in Georgia and how crucial they are to us winning a Green New Deal. There’s so much we can learn from the incredible organizing that led to Georgia’s turnaround, and it gives us a lot of hope for Tennessee and the rest of the South. Be sure to do whatever you can to support Warnock and Ossoff in Georgia with your time, money, or both. Let’s bring this home.
Volunteer for and donate to Reverend Raphael Warnock.
Volunteer for and donate to Jon Ossoff.
Support Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight.
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Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form
Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.
Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Why The Way You Talk About Climate Change Matters

Hosts Owen and Cassie talk about how to talk about climate change and why it matters. The media often frames human-caused climate change as a “belief” instead of asserting it as truth and attempts to provide balance to an issue in which only one side is based in fact. We cut through the bullshit and talk about how to frame climate change in ways that will actually bring solutions.

We also want to urge anyone who has not voted yet to make a plan to get to the polls on Tuesday, our climate and our democracy depend on it. Check govotetn.com for polling information.

Sources and Recommended Reading/Media:

The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media

A Decade of Discourse on Environmental Politics

Why You Still Don't Understand The Green New Deal

Media Attention for Climate Change Around the World

End Climate Silence

Media Coverage of the Greenhouse Effect

Michael Mann - Trump Would Be 'Game Over' for the Climate

Find out what Native Land you are living on.

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Let's Talk About the Tennessee Valley Authority

Hosts Hale Masaki and Isabella Killius talk TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), the largest energy provider in the country, and a government agency born out of the New Deal that was once an admirable public program, but is now tied too closely to corporate interests and has little input from the people it is supposed to serve. They are joined by two guests, both strong advocates for a more democratized and sustainable TVA: Bri Knisley, the campaign coordinator for Appalachian Voices and co-convener of the Tennessee Valley Energy Democracy Movement, and Jason Carney, owner of Energy Electives and President of the Tennessee Solar Energy Association.

Get involved with Tennessee Energy Democracy Movement.

Check out Jason Carney's Energy Electives.

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Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

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Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Elect Marquita Bradshaw to Win a Green New Deal

We have a special edition episode of Rocky Top Sunrise for y’all - Marquita Bradshaw, Democratic Candidate for Senate in Tennessee, joined Cassie on a broadcast for Sunrise Movement to hype a massive day of action we will be having for her on Thursday, October 8th. Marquita is a groundbreaking candidate: a working-class, lifelong environmentalist who will fight for a Green New Deal and help us to flip the Senate, but only if we put in the work to get her there.

Join our Day of Action and sign up for any and all future phonebanks, no experience necessary - training provided!

Find out what Native Land you are living on.

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

We Are Wide Awake

Joining us on the pod today is Victoria Manning, the brains behind Sunrise Tennessee’s latest action against Senator Lamar Alexander where we got up at 4 in the morning to make noise outside of his house because of the injustice of him agreeing to participate in the Supreme Court nomination vote. We talk about the action and we also put it into the broader historical context of why direct actions are a crucial strategic tool for Sunrise and all mass movements to use to make meaningful change. We also dive into what the left should push for when it comes to the Supreme Court, and why electing people like Marquita Bradshaw to the Senate is so important to winning an equitable future.

Find out what Native Land you are living on.

Phonebank for Marquita Bradshaw with us!

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Who Has the Power

We've been feeling a lot of anxiety lately, so we decided to get real with y'all in this episode. Hosts Owen and Cassie talk about the fear we’ve been experiencing during this tumultuous time and how that anxiety relates to our overall political theory. We cover some tricky topics, but we hope you’ll hear the nuance of our worldview and understand that we are all in this fight together. There’s a lot to be anxious about but we still have so much hope for a better world. Please note that the views expressed in this episode are the views of the hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sunrise Movement or The Tennessee Holler.

Find out what Native Land you are living on.

Phonebank for Marquita Bradshaw with us!

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

COVID19 and Why We Need Medicare for All to Solve Climate Change

Hosts Hale Masaki and Isabella Killius dive into the intersections between COVID19, climate change, and Medicare for All with Stephanie Kang, a good friend of Sunrise Tennessee, Nashville Native, and health policy adviser to Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. Congresswoman Jayapal is the lead sponsor of Medicare for All in the House of Representatives.

Email MidTN DSA's M4A Working Group at m4amidtn@gmail.com to join the fight for Medicare for All here in Tennessee.

Find out what Native Land you are living on.

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

We Are On Stolen Land

Hosts Hale Masaki and Owen Reed are joined by Crystal Cavalier of the Indigenous People's Movement to talk about the deep intersections between environmental justice and Indigenous rights and what IPM is doing to fight for a better world. We can’t fully realize a Green New Deal until we root out the injustices committed against Native Americans by white colonizers, injustices that still continue through the present day. The impulse to destroy our natural environment for fossil fuel is the same impulse that drives colonization, which is directly tied to white supremacy. If we don’t fully understand these connections and attack them head-on, we won’t be able to create the society we desperately need through a Green New Deal.
Check out and support Radicalize The Vote.
Find out what Native Land you are living on and familiarize yourself with tribal history.
Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form
Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.
Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

A Better World with Matthew Park - Candidate for District 15 State House

Hosts Isabella Killius and Cassie Jackson interview Matthew Park in a special episode! Matthew is a candidate for State House running in District 15 in Knoxville. He is one of the most thoughtful and inspirational candidates running in Tennessee right now, and he's the only candidate to be endorsed by Sunrise Tennessee's statewide coalition because of his strong stances on climate and his progressive, moral vision for what Tennessee could be. Join our conversation to hear how he will get us there when he wins. If you live in House District 15, be sure to VOTE for Matthew on August 6th so that he wins his primary! Click here if you have questions about your polling place, and feel free to DM us on social media if you have any questions.

Donate, Volunteer, and check out Matthew Park's incredible issues page.

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Join Sunrise Tennessee!

Rocky Top Sunrise is a proud member of The Tennessee Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Why Abolition is an Environmental Justice Issue

Hosts Isabella Killius and Hale Masaki explore the intersections of racial justice and environmentalism within the context of slavery and how slavery was never eradicated, it simply evolved. In the second half of the episode, lifelong organizer Taz Gaines joins as our special guest to dive deep into these issues and to establish why abolition and the fight for justice are crucial to winning a Green New Deal. 🌅

Check out Taz’s Podcast!

A Dose of Healing

Sources and further reading:

Southerners on New Ground (SONG)

A Green New Deal for Decarceration

What’s happening with polling places in Kentucky?

Transform Harm

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Join Sunrise Tennessee!

Rocky Top Sunrise is part of The TN Holler Podcast Network. Visit tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

We're Here To Stay

We are all anxious about climate change. But what can we do about it? That's what we want to explore on this podcast - we want to go deep, and talk about the work we need to do and that's already being done to realize an equitable, livable future for all of us (and create millions of good jobs in the process!). Sunrise Tennessee podcast hosts Sri Adabala, Isabella Killius, Hale Masaki, and Cassie Jackson talk about this and more on our first episode of Rocky Top Sunrise! We also chat with our friend and special guest, Rick Herron, about how we can win a Green New Deal (starting right here at home!) and build a world where we all can thrive.

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form: https://bit.ly/sunrisetennessee

Video on The Intercept with AOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9uTH0iprVQ

The Green New Deal: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/green-new-deal

Follow us @sunrisemvmttn on Facebook and Twitter!

Rocky Top Sunrise is part of The TN Holler Podcast Network. Visit www.tnholler.com to keep up with The Tennessee Holler's relentless coverage that seeks to lift up progressive voices and shine a light on injustices throughout Tennessee.

Rocky Top Sunrise

By The TN Holler Podcast Network

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