Rhiana Gunn-Wright
@rgunns
Followers
30,891
Following
2,133
Media
694
Statuses
7,654
Senior Fellow @RooseveltInst , tweets + opinions are mine.
DC/Chicago
Joined March 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
I VOTE
• 574808 Tweets
#2024MAMAVOTE
• 508886 Tweets
गोपाल मिश्रा
• 125435 Tweets
Libya
• 100257 Tweets
Nobel
• 98975 Tweets
LOVE MONEY FAME OUT NOW
• 70456 Tweets
Artist of the Year
• 70215 Tweets
Super Eagles
• 59351 Tweets
神奈川県警
• 54952 Tweets
アトラス彗星
• 47396 Tweets
Choice - Female Award
• 44799 Tweets
#njkopw
• 44751 Tweets
BOOKEXPO X OHMLENG
• 37161 Tweets
#tomorrowxtogether
• 35083 Tweets
#スポ男
• 32054 Tweets
Daron Acemoğlu
• 27814 Tweets
レモンポップ
• 25062 Tweets
千葉県北西部
• 24519 Tweets
地震速報
• 22804 Tweets
棚橋引退
• 18069 Tweets
棚橋弘至
• 14861 Tweets
ペプチドナイル
• 12369 Tweets
ノミネート
• 10256 Tweets
Simon Johnson
• 10018 Tweets
the disparity between this photo and the pictures i’ve seen of gaza city since october is devastating. it really makes the decimation so much clearer.
Gaza City this time last year. Now almost completely destroyed. The scale of the loss is beyond comprehension. A crime against humanity in the truest meaning of the words
3K
15K
43K
100
7K
15K
the US had a uniquely fragile economy largely because we have a uniquely racialized approach to capitalism that is invested in upholding white supremacy and sexism coupled with deep deregulation (esp. for corps) + disinvestment based in neoliberal theories of political economy.
538
2K
13K
tell me again how climate change and racial justice aren't connected. i got time today.
BREAKING: The EPA has stripped Oklahoma's tribes of regulatory sovereignty over environmental matters and handed it to the state's governor.
This is a huge deal.
@tihuachang
has the exclusive report for
@tytinvestigates
:
1K
15K
12K
53
3K
10K
i’m clearly not on twitter much, and this is gonna be a thread so bear with me 😂 but i’ve been seeing a lot of coverage accusing the green new deal of being a "wish list" of progressive policies for including anything unrelated to climate. it's just not true. 1/
144
1K
3K
maybe "do not trash your colleagues in a NYT article" should also have been addressed in the meeting.
85
545
3K
i hate when white people tell me that trump is only issue that matters this election. like hold on there billy some of us took the rest of the history classes in college, bud.
39
271
2K
cops got treated like black people for *two* weeks and here we are –
WATCH 🚨 New York police boss Mike O'Meara went off on the media today:
"Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect ... Our legislators abandoned us. The press is vilifying us. It's disgusting."
40K
39K
142K
38
369
2K
i’ve been asked to give my take on IRA so here it is: the bill contains some very good, very needed investments: in renewable energy, in a green bank, in electrifying key tech in homes, in credits for EV purchases, etc.
it also weds those investments to very major harms 1/
25
345
1K
omg it's just hitting me that
@sunrisemvmt
did this. the coalition they built made this happen. i'm gonna cry. i'm so so so proud of you and all your sweet smart climate babies
@VarshPrakash
@evanlweber
@DJaye
@erin_bridges_94
28
162
1K
why is no one talking about immigration in the context of climate change? we need an immigration system that can actually handle millions of people fleeing from homes that are no longer habitable WITHOUT giving people the tools to lock them up.
#DemDebate
23
336
1K
we gotta stop fucking around.
27
496
1K
i tried to let this go, but i am still so pissed off that speaker pelosi disparaged the squad in that NYT article. it was so unnecessary, so against the call for "unity" amongst dems, and so needlessly cruel. 1/
40
197
1K
i know that i just tweeted an oscars acceptance speech for an op-ed 😂 but i did something i never thought i could do so i'm gonna celebrate it and reflect on it for a bit.
i'm not just somebody's analyst anymore.
29
23
1K
i know people think defunding the police is too radical, but it's what the folks who are most policed are saying that they want. so if what's the folks who are most affected want, why does it matter if *you* think it's wild?
16
225
1K
i love how our government can’t pass any climate policy but i’ve watched at least two commercials trying to use the climate crisis to sell me stuff.
late stage capitalism can fuck right off, please and thank you.
16
182
1K
this CANNOT be all we get from Dem leadership
NEW: Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a president of the United States “has the responsibility to heal,” quoting former President. George H. W. Bush following the Rodney King riots and Former President Barack Obama’s following the killing of Eric Garner.
892
378
1K
61
211
1K
that's 86F. big yikes.
Temperatures within the Arctic Circle have hit an astonishing 30C this afternoon.
304
5K
5K
15
379
1K
i've alluded to having to handle some personal issues the last few months, and enough time has passed (and i've received enough emails asking where i've been 🥴) that i want to just let y'all know what's up.
i've been recovering from an eating disorder since fall 2019.
108
11
1K
so next time someone tells you that the GND is just a "laundry list" of random policies, remember: ISSA 👏🏾TRAP 👏🏾 we ain't gotta choose between equity and climate action. this mobilization is big enough for all of us.
thank you for coming to my TED talk.
24
162
1K
electability is affirmative action for white men.
The Q-poll result that interests me most…
Who did best in debate?
Warren - 28%
Biden - 15%
Harris - 8%
Sanders - 8%
Who is most electable?
Biden - 49%
Sanders - 12%
Warren - 9%
Harris - 6%
280
463
2K
22
178
1K
oh don't mind me – just crying in a hotel bar watching the fire in the everglades. why did y'all let me start working on climate?! it's an exercise in getting your heart broken over and over again.
57
90
1K
why do people keep saying this? it's so ahistorical. lynchings used to be afternoon outings. folks would mail pieces of flesh from the victims to their families as keepsakes.
we *can* have shared values, but we have to WORK to establish and maintain them. it ain't a given.
We have long had ugly margins in this country, but we are a fundamentally decent people, with shared values. We treasure our identity as a nation of immigrants. With our voices and our 2020 votes, we must send Donald Trump and his mob back to their dark corner.
14K
11K
58K
23
199
969
AND rejected policies and leaders that threatened them, the structures have no resiliency – they're crumbling RAPIDLY.
it's almost like when royalty only used to marry each other to keep the bloodline pure, only to end up destroying the entire dynasty.
4
74
942
that's one of the funniest things about this moment. the same folks who love to talk about how "only the strong survive" now act like evolution has nothing to teach us about society or government. nothing and no one survives by doing the same thing forever.
6
89
919
and we have reaffirmed these choices for decades in some cases and for centuries in others. but the disasters we're facing now exploit (and honestly thrive on) these structures. and because we have invested in them so deeply and for so long –
5
76
867
i like many aspects of the biden plan, but i feel like we're still sidestepping important questions of power and its allocation. the key to mitigating environmental racism – and the climate crisis more broadly – is redistributing power to communities of color. 1/
13
150
897
i'm in TIME magazine. with an illustration of my face!
this is so surreal. shoutout to
@TIME
for including me among such incredible leaders and for recognizing that *women* are out here doing this work.
25
171
885
and can i just say i'm SICK of folks erasing all of the working class POC who have been leading on climate for years just so they can paint climate as a white, elite issue in order to block the
#ClimateDebate
. it's disingenuous, gross, and disrespectful.
12
171
865
doing my first cable news interview at 3:30. wish me luck!
(and please pray i don't cuss, y'all. it'll be real hard to develop the GND if grandma gunn takes me out first.)
35
23
856
unlinking employment from health care means people can move for better jobs, to escape the worst effects of climate, AND re-enter the labor mkt without losing HC from Medicaid (dumb asset limits 😡) 5/
6
98
832
i'm still shook that i wrote this. it was very hard – to write and to be this vulnerable.
i am proud of it though, so please read? at least then it might be worth having this knot in my stomach for the last 4 days 😂🥴🥺
55
187
859
*these things have been clear for a very long time to a lot of people (which is another thing that makes this crisis so infuriating.) we just didn't listen to them.
38
56
814
now that the weaknesses are now so clear*, will we have the strength to make different choices, adopt different paradigms, and to elect leaders who can imagine something different than what we have and steer us there? that's the scariest part.
7
75
799
got a new *professional* headshot for the first time since i was 23. i'm still cat filter forever tho
33
5
809
lira and i joined
#TeamWarren
! it's such an honor.
it does mean that
@AbdulElSayed
have to battle rap to the death now though. better get those bars ready, bruh!
I am proud to have
@RGunns
, one of the architects of the
#GreenNewDeal
, in this fight. Together, we can root out the corruption in Washington that's holding up progress and fight to defeat the climate crisis.
77
522
2K
43
89
743
i got a job, y'all! so excited and honored to work with the brilliant + kind team at
@rooseveltinst
. they're a dream ☺️
49
20
741
the first piece of GND legislation is out! i'm so happy and proud. it's a great bill.
Today,
@AOC
and
@SenSanders
' their Public Housing
#GreenNewDeal
Act. It would:
🏢Improve housing for millions of low-income residents
👷🏽♀️Create 240,000 jobs
🏭Cut carbon emissions as much as taking 1.2 million cars off the road
Let's make it happen.
41
587
2K
11
104
706
folks may be mad that the GND is not all about climate. but this is what a commitment to justice and equity means! this is what just policy looks like, especially in an economy as disfunctional as ours. don't like it? take it up with the leaders who let things get this bad. 11/
5
98
694
it's wild seeing words i wrote in a Google doc in a book – a *real* book. this makes me feel a little less dumb after basically cracking a bottle over my own head 🙃🥴😂
23
32
706
and yet this is the only major climate legislation in front of us at what is likely the last opportunity to pass major climate legislation for the foreseeable political future.
it’s all very…american
12
50
699
ugh i see this cycle all the time. hire POC. everyone feels good about progress. POC raises relevant issues about systemic oppression. leadership gets peeved and tries to hush them. POC keep raising objections. leadership singles them out as troublemakers.
7
116
646
why would america be any different? do we really think that we are that exceptional?
4
44
647
i am actually incensed about this franzen piece. the hoops i see my climate writers who are women and POC go through to get published and the New Yorker is going to spare space for jonathan franzen to talk about climate? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY *sexism and racism* WHY WHY WHY
12
98
663
and miss me with the "but we're already near full employment!" argument. go to my hood in chicago. if the black unemployment rate was the national unemployment rate, it would be a crisis. 7/
10
59
644
it just so happens that lots of the policies that we need to help people participate in this economy are the same policies that people will need to benefit from the greening of our economy. and in fact they become MORE necessary in the context of a GND. 3/
5
71
635
person: do we have to deal with climate AND economic justice at the same time?
me: yes.
them: but doing both makes it too big and hard! can't we tackle the equity stuff later?
me: *stares blackly at the last 200+ years of US history* umm...
17
131
660
but i've seen people too many lose jobs, lose respect, even die because they said their opinions out loud. and i'm not talking about cancel culture. i'm talking about people – regular marginalized folks – who had the nerve to speak before they were asked to.
2
48
637
the wildest thing about this to me is how we’re supposed to all keep acting normal. like everything’s the same, just on the miniature stage of your home.
i wish that we could stop, and just collectively grieve. to be allowed to mark this moment and wonder what comes next.
22
76
640
oh man – i haven't tweeted about the green new deal recently. so here goes:
the green new deal is the most 🔥🔥 jobs plan out there. tell ya friends. tell ya moms. tell ya biden.
8
93
620
this is the first time i've celebrated juneteenth – day off and everything – and it feels wonderful. i am so proud to be black that pride doesn't feel like a big enough word. having the day to *celebrate* my lineage and history feels amazing.
we keep on freeing ourselves.
4
37
627
similar case with paid family leave: how are women going to fully participate in the GND and make bank from the explosion in trades and other nontraditional jobs if they can't access affordable child care? how we gonna get to full employment? 6/
6
66
590
i recorded this less than 2 hours ago. life comes at ya fast 😂 a million thank yous to
@jonfavs
for being such a gracious host!
also if it's bad, go easy on me please. i've never done anything this public before and i was so nervous that i thought i might black out.
New Pod! Trump hates the dictator in Venezuela but loves the one in North Korea, Mueller is nearing his end game, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein debates the Green New Deal with some student activists. Our guest is
@rgunns
, one of the architects of the GND.
13
18
163
53
25
600
y'all, please – a lot of people did a lot of work to save our democracy. please stop trying to appoint superheroes. we can give folks credit without erasing everyone else.
13
42
591
i hate how the order of the DNC primaries entrenches the belief that what white people want matters first and most. it's incredibly irritating – especially when people want to decide the fate of whole campaigns before significant numbers of POC even vote.
6
82
596
you want folks to wait 15 years again for the rights they deserve? all because it's too "complicated" to try to make policies address more than one crisis at a time? NOT IN THE YEAR OF MY LORD 2019. we ain't got to let folks suffer like that. 15/
3
58
548
you think black people being clustered in high poverty neighborhoods has nothing to do with blk vets being shortchanged by the GI bill? 13/
3
56
534
i’ve been in recovery from my ED for 16 months, and i am very proud of myself 🥳🥳🥳🥳
31
0
569
M4A: in WWII, migration patterns changed. thousands moved for jobs. why wouldn't that happen in GND, given how much industrial growth we'd see and the nature of the work to transition from power from fossil fuels to power from renewable sources. 4/
9
55
514
got to participate in the MSNBC town hall on the
#GreenNewDeal
with these ladies today. it was the best!
check it out tonight at 8 pm ET on
@allinwithchris
if you're interested! everyone on was a real smartie ☺️
27
46
520
we KNOW what happens when nat'l mobilizations make justice negotiable. you think the racial wealth gap ain't connected to agricultural and domestic workers (aka black people) being left out of social security? 12/
3
61
502
y’all – i’m trying to break out of my friday funk but folks are killing me when it comes to this feinstein-sunrise video. the full video does not make it better, imo. i actually tried to watch the whole thing before the shorter version but it made me too sad. 1/
18
60
484
we've got to talk more about how the refusal to acknowledge white supremacy and its history – the way it is woven into all of our systems – is destroys our ability to design effective policy, especially right now. 1/
10
132
509
ok he is literally the most delightful man on earth. i'm so sad i can't vote for him. please elect him, NY-16!!
You can hate me now.
But I won't stop now. 🎶
81
362
3K
7
57
508
is anyone else feeling incredibly powerless right now? that's the hardest part of this for me. every time i read any news about our government, i want to climb out of my skin. and it feels like there's nothing i can do about it.
it's fucking me up.
44
35
501
it's my birthday! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
i'm am grateful to have learned that i am a person, not an infinitely moldable piece of clay. and, finally, to have the courage to fucking act like it.
pour one out for a real one. or leave me a compliment!
74
4
503
i have had men talk to me for 30 minutes, uninterrupted, about projects that i have worked on – projects that i introduced to them –without asking me a single question. sometimes i interrupt, but even that doesn’t make a difference in some cases.
do men do this to other men?
63
31
499
just got an email from my HS saying that i won a distinguished alumni award. i wish i could go to all my classmates who told me that i only got into college because i’m black, kiss them sweetly on the cheek, hold their face in my hands, and whisper softly “how do you like me now”
22
13
509
the worst thing about working near politics is seeing how much people worship strategy. doesn't matter what you do, who you hurt, how much (or little) sense your plans make as long as they are "strategic."
it's like living in a low-rent game of thrones.
13
47
475
one of the weird things about amassing more power (/moving up in your career/becoming a leader/getting older) is that people want to hear what *you* think. you're allowed to speak clearly and without qualifiers. you have earned, somehow, the right to have an opinion. 2/
2
25
485
it's refreshing to have so many people finally see how police *really* act when you're not white. i will never forget my uncle telling me about how the cops yelled at a grieving mother – telling her to shut up – after her son was shot and killed on the next block.
4
99
480
and just as important as those discrete bad things is the fact that it helps lock-in a dependence on cars, a dependence on environmental racism, and a dependence on extractive industries that does very little to move us towards a more just economy with new balances of power 3/
2
43
480
i've seen it happen to my mom. to my friends. hell, i've almost lost a job or two over it.
that stuff stays with you. it stayed with me, at least.
so when i got an email asking me to write an op-ed, i almost said no. i don't like putting myself in danger.
3
23
470
i loved this interview. not just because delong points that the political alignment you need to support centrist policies does not exist, but because he is open about the fact that centrist policies are often not the best or most effective policies.
7
127
461
same with the jobs guarantee. JG offers perhaps the simplest way to build a real workforce development system in this country, which is CRUCIAL to a GND and the transition to a green economy. 8/
4
54
442
endorsing a candidate is a personal decision. and ultimately,
@ewarren
makes me feel seen in a way that i haven't felt from a candidate in a long time. that's no disrespect to anyone – bernie and his supporters radicalized me and opened my mind in ways that have changed my life.
5
24
471
also that NYT piece only cites white men as experts. women and POC (and women of color!) work in climate science and policy too! TALK TO THEM. this debate deserves diverse perspectives!
8
63
465
I'VE NEVER FELT SO VALIDATED IN MY WHOLE LIFE. THIS IS WHAT I'M ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT WITH THE ISSUES IN TRADITIONAL POLICY MAKING! SHE STRUCTURES HER TEAM THE WAY I STRUCTURED MINE! WE ALSO READ AND CULTIVATE NETWORKS OF EXPERTS!
9
50
456
i'm getting emotional. the folks who upheld our democracy and gave the US – the world, really – a chance at climate action were young, black, and latinx.
don't ever ask me again why racial equity matters in climate policy. and don't dare tell me we don't have a shot at a GND.
4
63
462
the fact that the speaker of the house publicly disparaged four of the most public WOC in congress for leading the same type of activism and dissent that she did decades earlier, all while being lauded IN THE SAME ARTICLE as a symbol of women's power is absurd. 3/
2
63
445
folks like this shrug while young black students ask me how they can care about climate change while they're worried about police shooting them or bashing their heads in.
i know who i'm more concerned about listening to 🤷🏾♀️
15
70
459
it gives a single point of entry, offers opportunities for on the job training, can easily be coordinated with community colleges and public unis to provide paths for further upskilling, AND creates a paid way to retrain people. 9/
2
44
426
and again, miss me with the "but we can deal with that later. climate change is unique!" yes, but the great depression was also unique. when did at workers get included in SS? 1950. that's 15 years. FIFTEEN. 14/
2
48
428
is anyone else struggling to read books in quarantine? it feels like it requires a level of focus and a part of my brain i don’t have access to right now.
but i’ve been pretending real hard – really flexing those old college seminar skills 😂
70
3
442
my health insurer just told me to submit a claim via fax. FAX. IN 2019! and that's the fast option!
i'm over this. billions of dollars and they can't build a HIPAA-compliant online portal?! the audacity. I NEED MEDICARE FOR ALL STAT.
9
29
435
i've been wondering why i feel so much calmer and clearer these days. and i realized that it's because i haven't been actively bulimic in over five months.
i'm getting sober, y'all. how fucking wild 🥳
19
1
438
to be clear: this is bigger than pelosi. this happens to WOC all the time, in every sphere of life. people want us to fight for THEIR objectives in the ways that THEY deem acceptable while showing us off as a symbol of THEIR good character. but once we disagree, it's a problem.
5
72
426
obviously bummed today. but i'm so honored and proud to have been a part of
#TeamWarren
. senator warren is, and will always be, one of my heroes 💕
7
18
435
what i can offer is what i see as the facts:
-this bill contains investments that will help decarbonize and, in doing so, save some lives.
-those investments come at tremendous, racist costs, the full scope of which we don’t yet know but could very likely take some lives. 6/
2
62
433
plus it can be structured so states and localities DECIDE where they want to place workers, so it meets the demands of the transition AND lets communities put workers where they need them. (plus you can use it to increase job quality in sectors where workers are exploited.) 10/
5
45
392