Two climate change activists were arrested Monday outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Brentwood home, during the final stages of a Sunrise Movement protest in which more than a dozen activists called on the Democratic presidential candidate to stop promoting fossil fuel drilling and release a detailed climate change plan.

The protest came just weeks after Harris boasted during a debate with former President Trump that under President Biden, the U.S. has “increased domestic gas production to historic levels.” Three wildfires are also raging in Southern California. The Airport, Bridge and Line fires have burned more than 117,000 acres combined.

To highlight the damage caused by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis that scientists say is causing bigger and more extreme fires in California and the western US, Sunrise Movement activists brought in badly charred sofa cushions from a home destroyed by the airport fire. Village of El Cariso in Riverside County.

“It was horrifying,” said John Henry Williams, an activist from Virginia who visited El Cariso Village on Sunday.

Sunrise activists began their protest on the side of the road, chanting slogans and making speeches in front of the home of Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. After about 45 minutes, they moved to the middle of the road, using their bodies and debris from the El Carizo village to slow, but not block, traffic.

Corinna McDonald, who fled the village of Mount Baldy to escape the Bridge Fire, described the fear she felt as she evacuated with her parents and grandfather, who has Alzheimer's, not knowing if she would have a home to return to.

When she returned and her family home was still there, she cried.

“I want to ask Kamala Harris: What are you going to do? What are you going to do for us?'” McDonald said. “She supports the Green New Deal, but she hasn't done anything. Actions speak louder than words.”

Corinna McDonald talks about her experience being evacuated from her home in Mount Baldy Village because of the Bridge Fire.

(Al-Seib/The Times)

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

But Harris has a long record of success on climate and clean energy.

As vice president, she helped Biden put together his Inflation Beat Act, his $370 billion clean energy bill, and It helped to ensure $15 billion to replace lead drinking water pipes nationwide. As California's Attorney General, she prosecuted fossil fuel companies for oil spills and other environmental crimes.

But in recent days, he has distanced himself from his past climate change positions in an effort to appeal to moderate voters in battleground states, irritating some climate activists, particularly the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

For example, Harris as a senator Co-organized by She supported the Green New Deal and called for a ban on an oil and gas drilling technique called fracking that is popular in Pennsylvania, but now says she won't ban fracking.

Some climate advocates say Harris' decision to promote gas drilling at a recent debate is a sore point, especially at a time when rising temperatures are causing heat waves, droughts, storm surges and crop failures. Scientists also say limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — a goal agreed to by nearly all countries as part of the Paris Agreement — will require drastic cuts in climate pollution. More than 40% by 2030.

“I've been doing it the good way. I've been sitting in the West Wing of the White House,” Williams said, referring to a meeting he held at the White House on Monday with John Podesta, one of Biden's climate change advisers.[Now] I'm doing it the dirty way. I'm in your street. I don't know what it takes. But I'm not going to give in. I'm not going to give up.”

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign website says she will “unite Americans to tackle the climate crisis.” Pictured above, VP Harris takes part in a debate on climate action in San Francisco in 2022.

(Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

The vice president's stance on climate remains significantly different from President Trump's.

The former president repeatedly denied climate science, spread misinformation about renewable energy and promised to implement policies that pro-fossil fuels. Election campaign support from major oil company executives.

In contrast, Harris frequently touts the Clean Energy Jobs and Inflation Reduction Act, and her campaign website says she will “unite Americans to tackle the climate crisis” by promoting environmental justice, protecting public lands and public health, and working to build resilience to climate disasters. [and] Reduce your home's energy costs.”

But the protesters who gathered Monday want to hear more from Harris.

That's why, after 45 minutes in front of the vice president's house, they escalated their actions, which ultimately led to the arrests. Several protesters moved from the side of the road to the middle of the road, dragging sofas they had brought from the village of El Carizo across the street. They didn't disrupt traffic, but they made it difficult for drivers of large vehicles and delivery trucks to pass through the two-lane road.

Sunrise Movement activists blocked traffic outside Vice President Kamala Harris' home in Brentwood on Monday.

(Al-Seib/The Times)

The protest largely ended without any arrests, but as activists were leaving, a United Parcel Service driver nearly hit one of the Sunrise Movement leaders and yelled for him to move out of the way, after which two police officers approached, pulled a couch off the road and told the protesters to move.

Most of the activists did so, but the two stayed put with the banner aloft, and as they continued to shout, police handcuffed them.

“Rather than offer climate action, Ms. Harris would rather handcuff me and take me to county jail,” Williams said as officers led him away.[Police] “They threw their furniture on the side of the road. Their houses were reduced to ashes!”

Williams and other protesters City Code Regulations Los Angeles Police Officer Jeff Lee said any violation of the ordinance banning picketing within 300 feet of a target home would be charged as a crime.

Los Angeles police arrested Sunrise Movement activist John Henry Williams outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday.

(Al-Seib/The Times)

So, is the election over in just over six weeks?

“We want Trump to lose, that's it, and that means Kamala Harris to win,” said Erica Brown, who helped organize Monday's protest. “We're reaching out to millions of voters for Kamala Harris, because a scenario in which Trump wins is no different to what's already happening for these communities.”

But Brown added that “we're not going to let her guard down” if she wins in November.

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