Since Donald Trump declared that he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, elected officials around the country have been engaged in something they usually try to avoid: serious conversation about climate change. In fact, the leaders of 300-plus U.S. cities and 22 states have now pledged to uphold the goals of the global climate deal.

This unlikely behavior follows a presidential election where climate change received virtually no attention — just 82 seconds during the debates, which was actually an improvement on the 2012 debates. Despite the positive trend of recent weeks, however, climate change is still quite far from being a campaign issue for most politicians. For their part, climate activists have tended to avoid making it one, rallying around specific issues rather than candidates.

One group of climate activists is seeking to change all that. Calling themselves Sunrise Movement, this group — founded by a core team of eight organizers, most under the age of 30 — plan to recruit and train a nonviolent volunteer army, hundreds strong, that will shake up the 2018 midterm elections and make 2020 the first presidential election about climate change. I spoke to co-founder Varshini Prakash about how Sunrise came together, the importance of not choosing between elections and protest, and why climate deniers don’t stand a chance when you are speaking to people’s needs.

How did Sunrise come about?

Back in 2015, a bunch of us were working in different parts of the climate movement. Some of us were leading campus-based fossil fuel divestment campaigns working to stigmatize the fossil fuel industry and revoke its social license to act. Others were figuring out how to build political power in red and purple states. And another set of us were working on place-based extraction or pollution fights. What we all had in common is that we found ourselves asking one question again and again: Are we enough? Are we building the movement we need to stop the climate crisis? Are we getting active participation by the millions? Are we winning? Clearly, the answer was no. So, a group of us coalesced around a singular objective: to build a mass popular movement capable of ending Big Oil’s assault on our climate, economy and democracy.

We met several times to figure out the parameters of this new movement, and we were well on our way to having a full plan. And then, in November, the election happened and everything changed. Like most progressives, we had entertained the thought of Donald Trump winning, but never quite got to a place of sitting down and figuring out how the world might look different, and how we would react and respond if he did. We had had a plan to focus on building popular support for climate change, anticipating that a Democratic president would be pushed to take action on climate if a majority of Americans wanted it and made enough noise. But our world had turned upside down, and there was no way that popular opinion and action would push a Republican trifecta government to care about climate change. When the dust settled we came to an important realization: we have to figure out how to win elections.