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Arizona Lawmaker Calls Climate Reform ‘Anti-God’

May 8, 2024
Tyler Verlade from Sunrise Movement Tempe discusses Arizona’s bill to stop climate change reform after their record-breaking heatwave last year.
the details
An Arizona bill seeks to ban climate change reform, describing environmental initiatives as “Marxist” and “anti-God.” Republican Senator Anthony Kern said he introduced Senate Bill 1195 to prevent tax dollars from being...
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Show transcript
00:00
Hello, I'm Liam and I'm a survivor of the Arizona heat
00:04
If you've never been to Arizona during the summer,
00:06
don't worry. We actually have some footage to show you what
00:09
the full experience is like.
00:12
It's hot, it is hot and it's only getting hotter due
00:16
to bozos. Like this guy,
00:17
the only thing more disappointing than Devin Booker in the playoffs is
00:22
representatives like Anthony Kern.
00:24
He's got one of those faces that's like,
00:26
where was he on January 6th?
00:28
Oh, wait, he was there in the flesh.
00:32
He's the guy behind the new Senate Bill 1195 that is banning
00:36
climate change research and reform because it is anti-god and it is
00:42
furthering Marxist idea. Yeah.
00:44
Yeah. Well, luckily we have a young smart person on
00:48
the show to break down what's going on.
00:51
We have Tyler Varde Day from the sunrise movement.
00:54
Tempe to tell us all of the things Anthony Kern is depriving
00:58
us of. Hello,
00:59
Tyler. Hi. Hi.
01:02
Thank you for joining us.
01:04
Of course. Lovely to be here.
01:05
Thanks for inviting me.
01:07
Of course. A lovely voice of reason.
01:09
Ok. So homeboy is calling climate change research anti-god.
01:15
how did,
01:15
how did this happen?
01:16
What went wrong? Yeah,
01:19
I mean, if we're thinking about like,
01:20
what went wrong with the bill,
01:21
or like,
01:22
why we're at this point,
01:24
it's just the fact that we let Anthony Kern create
01:27
a climate bill. So SB 1195 is the bill that
01:31
we're kind of talking about.
01:32
It prohibits using public money for quote unquote furthering Marxist ideologies,
01:37
which is defined in the bill as basically any kind of
01:39
effort to avoid, or address the climate crisis.
01:43
The actual quote,
01:44
he was talking about how we need to protect taxpayer dollars from
01:48
the quote. Move in our country to bring in Marxism,
01:51
anti-god pro Marxist ideology,
01:53
anti freedom, anti constitution saying that climate action and climate research
01:58
are all of those things and that this was a quote,
02:00
good pro freedom bill which the audacity that this man has to
02:05
write a bill like this and say all of that to
02:08
just bolster climate denialism in one of the state's most vulnerable to
02:12
the climate crisis in this country.
02:14
But also just in the last few weeks,
02:16
he's been showing us exactly why he shouldn't be in office.
02:19
He, I don't know if you saw the tiktok but
02:22
he invited some random people on the,
02:24
onto the Senate floor to pray in tongues to ask God
02:28
to revoke the night,
02:30
the 1864 in your total abortion ban.
02:32
He just got smacked with nine felony charges for four fraud
02:37
and conspiracy for trying to overturn the election.
02:39
He doesn't care about climate,
02:41
the climate crisis. He doesn't care about kids,
02:44
families, vulnerable communities,
02:45
anyone, he's just a huge grifter with no spine and will
02:49
just do anything he can to make every Arizonan's life as miserable
02:53
as I'm sure he is.
02:54
Yeah. Yeah. Well,
02:55
like, what, what are the good things that could like
02:58
could be stopped?
02:59
It's, it's climate research I saw there is a lot of
03:01
other things, what,
03:02
what are being deprived of right now in terms of what it
03:05
prohibits and what the actions are.
03:08
SB 1195 would allow Arizona residents to file a lawsuit against any
03:13
public entity that they believe violated the provisions of the law,
03:17
even if they don't live in the entity's jurisdiction or aren't involved
03:21
with the university at hand or whatever.
03:24
And because the criteria for what qualifies as a violation is
03:27
so broad, it could be applied to any program.
03:30
but it would prohibit a ton of actual tangible actions that
03:33
can help us stop the climate crisis.
03:36
things like building out infrastructure,
03:38
encouraging people to bike or walk places or take public transportation,
03:42
anything limiting greenhouse gas emissions,
03:45
even studying the climate crisis and possible solutions.
03:49
For example, U of A is currently creating a climate action
03:53
plan that would get the university to net zero carbon emissions by
03:57
2040 which is amazing.
03:59
But under this law,
04:00
they would be able to just be sued by any Arizona resident
04:03
just looking at Anthony Kern.
04:05
I go, like,
04:06
this guy's not going to make it to 2040.
04:07
So, why is he writing a law for it?
04:10
Yeah. Like I said,
04:11
he just wants to make people as miserable as he feels.
04:14
He is speaking of the man who won't even survive to 2040
04:19
it prohibits those really good things,
04:20
but he also threw in weird fake things that he just made
04:24
up. Like one of the examples in the language is that
04:28
it prohibits creating a limit on how much clothing a person can
04:31
buy. And I have absolutely no idea where he got
04:35
that impression that so anyone is going to try to put that
04:38
in place, especially when we are all currently busy fighting for
04:43
fundamental human rights that Anthony Kern is trying so hard to get
04:46
rid of. Hi.
04:47
Yeah. Well, there is good change that we can do
04:50
and we can follow you guys and you can get involved in
04:52
person. How does that work?
04:55
Yeah, absolutely. So Sunrise Movement is a national org.
04:58
The Sunrise Movement Tempe is just one of our hubs.
05:01
You can find your local hub join a welcome call
05:05
if you want to connect or just learn more.
05:07
at Sunrise movement.org,
05:10
You can also find us on socials at Sunrise movement.
05:12
It's usually sunrise MVMT.
05:15
But even if you're not ready to join the movement or
05:19
you don't think sunrise is a specific fit for you.
05:22
Start going to your city council meetings,
05:24
school board meetings, any community gatherings and start learning about your
05:27
community and what you need.
05:30
There is power and solidarity and through solidarity.
05:32
We will win. Well,
05:34
thank you so much for your time.
05:35
I'm so sorry you have to deal with Anthony Kerr or whatever
05:37
his name is. And we'd love to have you on again
05:40
So please enjoy your day and stay cool.
05:43
Of course. Thank you so much.