350.org workshop guide

Dikili, Turkey 28 June – 18 July, 2009

350Speaks Climate Leadership Workshop

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Table of Contents

Welcome 3

Workshop Outcomes 4

Who We Are 5

Session 1 – Organizing & Leadership 7

Session 2 – Structuring Leadership and Learning Teams 10

Session 3 – Introduction to Public Narrative and Story of Self 18

Activity – Video Review 22

Peer Coaching 101 23

Session 4 – Introduction to Climate Science 28

Session 5 – The Effects of Climate Change 30

Session 6 – Introduction to Climate Policy + Solutions 32

Session 7 – Climate Justice 36

Session 8 – Story of Us 38

Session 9 – Story of Now 43

Session 10 – The 350 Campaign Strategy 47

Session 11 – Putting It All Together 55

Session 12 – Building a Campaign 57

Session 13 – Building a Campaign, part 2 67

The 9-step Plan 71

Session 14 – Spreading the Word 78

Session 15 – October 24 Planning 95

The End? 98


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Welcome!

We’re glad you made it here safely, and we’re excited to hear all about the great work you’re doing in your community. By now, you’ve probably realized that this is going to be an action-packed few weeks. This workshop is designed to be a hands-on experience. You’ll learn about the latest science and policy related to climate change, how to tell your story as a community organizer, and all the nuts and bolts of advocacy. You will be able to use these tools to become a climate leader in your village, town or city, but they will be useful beyond those geographical and issue boundaries – they will stick with you for the rest of your life.

Keep in mind that you will only get as much out of this workshop as you put in. That is, if you stay engaged and focused throughout, you will leave feeling more confident, equipped and energized to take on the challenge of climate change. Keep this guide close as you wend your way through becoming a climate leader – it will become an invaluable reference – and check back at 350.org for more tools, materials and up-to-date news and media about the campaign.

We are committed to making this workshop as interactive as possible. If it seems like anything isn’t working for you, if you need any help or you have any comments, we encourage you to give us feedback. We are flexible, and can accommodate most concerns.

Finally, we hope that you have fun! While organizing can sometimes be tiring, frustrating and difficult, solving climate change should be fun. Let’s use this workshop to get to know each other, joke around, stay positive, and build those friendships that will help us build a global community strong enough to solve this crisis.

Many thanks,

Phil, Will, Wael, Farah, Adnan and the rest of the 350.org and IndyACT team.

You can contact us at:

1505 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20037 USA +1 202 640 1838 [email protected] http://350.org

IndyACT, Nahr Street, Rmeil, Jaara Building, 4th Floor, Beirut, Lebanon PO Box 14-5472, Beirut, Lebanon +961 1 447 192 [email protected] http://indyact.org

Acknowledgements Parts of this document have been generously donated by IndyACT – The League of Independent Activists, Marshall Ganz, Joy

Cushman, Liz Palatto, and the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative.

Additional thanks to rockstar organizers Zo Tobi, Jon Barrows and the Sierra Student Coalition, Heather Cronk and the NOI team

and countless others. Many thanks to you all.


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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the

only thing that ever has." – Margaret Mead

Outcomes

Broadly, the goal of this workshop is for participants to understand climate change, and translate that

knowledge into community action. The sessions will focus on a few main themes – by the end of the

workshop, participants will:

• Understand recent climate science and international policy.

• Be able to present your own stories through the lens of Public Narrative.

• Know how to communicate effectively about climate change.

• Identify strategic targets and goals.

• Understand campaign nuts and bolts.

• Write campaign plan leading up to October 24.

Required reading prior to the training:

Salt Satyagraha, Wikipedia online article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_satyagraha


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The most important job of a climate organizer is telling a compelling story that will motivate people to take

action, so here’s a little story about how we got started!

Who are we?

The central coordinating team for 350 is a small team of youth from around

the world, and author and environmentalist Bill McKibben – check out more

about each of us at 350.org/our-team. A few years ago, after graduating

college, where we ran a handful of environmental campaigns on our campus

in Vermont, USA, a group of college friends decided to try and spark the

climate movement in the U.S. We linked up with Bill McKibben, and in early

2007, pulled together the largest day of environmental protest in a generation.

During that year, we coordinated over 2000 events in all 50 states, calling on

the U.S. Congress to “Step It Up” and cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050. We

used online tools to stimulate offline actions, and unite a grassroots movement around the U.S., which continues today. At

the end of 2007, we traveled to Bali for the UNFCCC climate negotiations, and spent two weeks talking to delegates, civil

society representatives and young climate activists from around the world who had gathered there. We found that it

seemed like our style of organizing just might work on the international level, and soon after we got back to the US, we got

to work and launched 350.org.

For the Climate Advocacy Institute this year, we’re collaborating with IndyACT, the League of Independent Activists.

IndyACT is a global non-political league of independent environmental, social and cultural activists with the aim to achieve

an active, healthy, safe, equitable and beautiful planet, by identifying, activating, connecting and protecting similar

passionate “independent activists” and providing them with the required professional skills and support to reach that aim.

IndyACT’s motto is “Passion with Professionalism”, which is reflected in all of its projects and activities. Passion provides

the drive for perfection and achieving the biggest results, while professionalism provides highest quality output and

extreme efficiency. Combining passion with professionalism means that the high standards applied in the private sector

are being delivered with the passion and innovation of civil activists. IndyACT is working on several issues at the moment

in including climate change, migrant workers, feminism, youth empowerment, no smoking, zero waste and more.

350 would never be possible with just the small team of young people who got it started. It’s made possible by a network

of hundreds of partner organizations, university groups, local activists, and community leaders who have taken this idea,

adapted it, and made it part of their local movement for change. We like to think that our central team provides the tools,

information, and facilitation to empower a global movement to stop the climate crisis. We hope that after reading this

guide, you’ll be ready to create your own local 350 movement!


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What’s different about what we do?

For one, we focus on supporting grassroots climate organizers around the world to spread our message through visual

actions because, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. A display of global solidarity will engage the media and

political leaders, which in turn will have an effect on the United Nations negotiations. We also like telling stories. Personal

stories and compelling narratives have significant impact on the pace and scope of UN climate meetings.

That’s why it’s vital that previously overlooked voices are brought into the process of international policy development. We

hope to really shine a spotlight on the communities around the world that are being hit by the worst effects of climate

change and showcase the solutions that communities rely on. Finally, we are constantly redefining what’s achievable with

online organizing on a truly global scale. With the increasing number of new web tools, the barriers to collaboration, group

formation, and collective actions have collapsed over the last few years. We like to say that the internet was invented for

this kind of work!


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Session 1: Organizing and Leadership

Good organizing requires the investment of our hearts (motivation), our heads (strategy) and our hands and feet (action).

These skills of motivation, strategizing and structuring collective action can be taught and learned, and are critical

leadership skills for campaign development and movement building.

Organizing requires three things:

1 Leaders who recruit and develop other leaders and coordinate them in leadership teams.

2 Building relationships, community and commitment around that leadership.

3 Building power from the resources of that community and using that power strategically to achieve clear goals and

outcomes.

What is Leadership?

Leaders are those who do the work of helping others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty.

One of your jobs as an environmental organizer is to identify and recruit volunteer leaders to work with you to build a

campaign to win a clean energy future. But what type of leader should you be, and what are you looking for in others?

Sometimes we think the leader is the person everyone goes to, like this (see left):

But what does it feel like to be the “leader” in the

middle? What does it feel like to be the arrow that can’t

get through? What happens if the “leader” in the middle

drops out?

Sometimes we go to the other extreme and think we

don’t need a “leader,” because we can all lead which

looks like this (see right):

Sometimes this works. But who’s responsible for coordinating everyone? And who’s responsible for pushing the whole

group forward when you can’t reach a decision? Who takes ultimate responsibility for the outcome?

Organizers are those who can ultimately be held accountable for meeting campaign goals. However, organizers are also

responsible for coordinating and empowering others to take leadership, which requires delegating responsibility (rather

than tasks) and holding others accountable for carrying out that responsibility.

Leader in the Middle Lack of Leadership


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Remember, we don’t yet have all the volunteers and leaders we need in order to

win a clean energy future. A good organizer’s job is to reach out and find leaders

in your community who can help you recruit and coordinate others well. These

leaders will be the backbone of your local campaign and you must be able to trust

them to delegate responsibility to other dedicated reliable people, and to follow

through on commitments. You may be the leader in the middle, or part of a

leadership team in the middle, guiding volunteer efforts and being held

accountable for outcomes, but you will be deeply reliant on your relationships with

others for success.

Key Organizing and Leadership Practices

Shared Values Narrative:

Organizing is rooted in shared values expressed as public narrative. Stories help to bring alive motivation that is rooted in

values, highlighting each person’s own calling, our calling as a people, and the urgent challenges to that calling we must

face. Values-based organizing - in contrast to issue based organizing - invites people to escape their “issue silos” and

come together so that their diversity becomes an asset, rather than an obstacle. And because values are experienced

emotionally, people can access the moral resources – the courage, hope, and solidarity - that it takes to risk learning new

things and explore new ways. Each person who learns how to tell their own story, a practice that enhances their own

efficacy, creates trust and solidarity within their campaign, equipping them to engage others far more effectively.

Shared Relational Commitment:

Organizing is based on relationships creating mutual commitments to work together. It is the process of association – not

simply aggregation - that makes a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Though association we can learn to recast our

individual interests as common interests, an objective we can use our combined resources to achieve. And because we

are more likely to act to assert those interests, relationship building goes far beyond delivering a message, extracting a

contribution, or soliciting a vote. Relationships built as a result of one on one meetings and small group meetings create

the foundation of local campaign teams, rooted in commitments people made to each other, not simply an idea, task, or

issue – relationships create a source of new “social capital.”

DISORGANIZATION LEADERSHIP ORGANIZATION

Divided Build Relationships Community

Confused Interpret Understanding

Passive Motivate Participation

Reactive Strategize Initiative

Inaction Mobilize Action

Drift Accept Responsibility Purpose

Leadership Team


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Shared Organizational Structure

A team leadership structure leads to effective local organizing that integrates local action with national purpose. Volunteer

efforts often flounder due to a failure to develop reliable, consistent, and creative individual local leaders. Structured

leadership teams encourage stability, motivation, creativity, and accountability – and use volunteer time, skills, and effort

for effectively. They create the structure within which energized volunteers can actually accomplish real work. Teams

strive to achieve three criteria of effectiveness – meeting the standards of those they serve, learning how to be more

effective at meeting outcomes over time and enhancing the learning and growth of individuals on the team. Team

members work to put in place five conditions that will lead to effectiveness – real team, (bounded, stable and

interdependent), engaging direction (clear, consequential and challenging), enabling structure (work that is

interdependent), clear group norms, and a diverse team with the skills and talents needed to do the work.

Shared Strategic Objectives

Although based on broad values, effective organizing campaigns learn to focus on a clear strategic objective, a way to

turn those values into action. National campaigns locate responsibility for national strategy at the top (or at the center), but

are able to “chunk out’ strategic objectives in time (deadlines) and space (local areas) as a campaign, allowing significant

local responsibility for figuring out how to achieve those objectives. Responsibility for strategizing local objectives

empowers, motivates and invests local teams. This dual structure allows the movement as a whole to be relentlessly well

oriented and the personal motivation of volunteers to be fully engaged.

Shared Measurable Action

Organizing outcomes must be clear, measurable, and specific if progress is to be evaluated, accountability practiced, and

strategy adapted based on experience. Such measures include volunteers recruited, money raised, people at a meeting,

voters contacted, pledge cards signed, laws passed, etc. Although electoral campaigns enjoy the advantage of very clear

outcome measures, any effective organizing drive must come up with the equivalent. Regular reporting of progress to

goal creates opportunity for feedback, learning, and adaptation. Training is provided for all skills (e.g., holding house

meetings, door knocking, etc.) to carry out the program. New media may help enable reporting, feedback, coordination.

Transparency exists as to how individuals, groups, and the campaign as a whole are doing on progress to goal.


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Session 2: Structuring Leadership Teams

Campaign Structure: Leadership and Learning Teams

Why do organizing teams matter?

During this training you will be working in learning teams to coach and support each other, to hold each other accountable

to meeting the goals set out in each session, and to plan your next steps together if you want to continue learning and

teaching others organizing skills as a team.

The most effective leaders have always created teams to work with them and to lead with them. Take for example

Moses, Aaron and Miriam in the story of Exodus, or Jesus and the twelve disciples in the New Testament, or Mahatma

Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, and the Indian National Congress Working Committee of the Salt Satyagraha.

Leadership teams offer a structural model for working together that fosters interdependent leadership, where individuals

can work toward an outcome together, with each person taking leadership on part of the team’s activity. At their best

leadership teams recognize and put to productive use the unique talents of the individuals who make up the team.

Team structures also help create strategic capacity—the ability to strategize creatively together in ways that produce more

vibrant, engaging strategy than any individual could create alone. During the Salt March , the field structure created

multiple layers of leadership teams to engage people creatively and strategically at all levels of the campaign. Each town

they passed through had a leadership team that coordinated local neighborhood leadership teams of volunteer leaders.

At every level the people on leadership teams had a clear mission and the ability to strategize creatively together about

how to carry out their mission. This structure created multiple points of entry for volunteers, and multiple opportunities to

learn and exercise leadership.

So why don’t people always work in teams?

We have all been part of volunteer teams that have not worked well. They fall into factions, they alienate each other, or all

the work falls on one person. Some aim to keep the pond small so they can feel like big fish. So many of us come to the

conclusion: I’ll just do it on my own; I hate meetings, just tell me what to do; I don’t want any responsibility; just give me

stamps to lick. There’s just one problem: we can’t become powerful enough to do what we need to do if we can’t even

work together to build campaigns we can take action on.

The challenge is to create conditions for our leadership teams that are more likely to generate successful collaboration

and strategic action.

The criteria for team effectiveness.

A great deal of research on teams has shown that three things help to make a team more effective:


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1 The output of your team matches the goals you need to meet to win on your campaign.

2 The team is learning over time how to work together better.

3 Teamwork supports individual growth and learning.

In short, the team is meeting the campaign’s interests by meeting goals, while at the same time meeting each participant’s

interests by giving them room to learn and grow.

The conditions than can get your team off to a good start:

Your team is stable, with clear boundaries. You can name the people on it and they meet regularly. It’s not a different,

random group of people every time.

Your mission points you in an engaging direction. The work you have to do is clear, it’s challenging, it matters to the

campaign you’re working on and you know why it matters.

Your team works interdependently. Everyone should have a roughly equal share of the work, understanding that each

part is necessary to adequately reach the ultimate goal. Thus, the success or failure of one will have an effect on all. One

way to encourage interdependence is to have clear roles based on the work that the team needs to do to succeed.

Good teams will coordinate and help each other. Good team members will communicate well when they need assistance.

No one is carrying out activity in a silo that’s secretive to others. A good team will have a diversity of identities,

experiences and opinions, ensuring that everyone is bringing the most possible to the table.

You have clear rules. Your team sets clear expectations for how you will respect and empower each other during your

work together.


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Team Work: Starting and Building Your Team – Mission, Rules, Roles

Goal

The purpose of this exercise is to help you (1) Articulate your team’s purpose; (2) choose leadership roles for

today based on the talents of your team’s members and (3) identify the rules you will adhere to as a learning

team.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 45 min.

1. Gather and review agenda. Choose a timekeeper for this session 5 min

2. Establish Your Team Purpose (See worksheet below) 10 min

3. Review Team Roles 5 min

4. Decide on Team Roles 10 min

5. Decide on Collaborative Rules 15 min

6. Choose a Team Name


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Team Exercise One: Shared Purpose (10 min.)

Fill in the blanks in the team purpose area on the worksheet. First, write down the interests your team shares. Then fill in

the geographic area that you are working and include a brief description of the people you serve in your area. What kinds

of people live in your turf? What are their interests? What will engage them?

Examples of a team’s shared interest:

• We share an interest in uniting young people and older people in the campaign for a clean energy future.

• We share an interest in training more young people in organizing skills to build our movement

• We share an interest in creating meaningful local ways for people to get involved in the clean energy movement.

We have a shared interest in

______________________ .

Our team will provide leadership to

organize our constituency in

____________________________.

The community we will serve is

(briefly describe your community's

characteristics).

We will engage the people in

our community by:

Recruiting others to join

us,

Learning together and

coaching each other in

organizing skills,

Training other young

people in organizing

skills

We will do this by inspiring our

constituency, implementing,

evaluating and refining strategy,

and coordinating action.


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Team Exercise Two: Team Roles (15 min.)

TEAM ROLES (15 minutes)

1. Review the team role descriptions below

2. Go around the circle and ask each person to tell others what experience and talents they have and what specifically they want to learn in more detail (1 minute each)

3. Discuss roles listed below as well as strengths needed to fill them. Choose roles for each team member to play in your learning team today.

Responsibilities You would be good for this role if you . . .

You would probably not be good for this role if you . . .

Team Coordinator

Coordinate and support team members Create agendas and facilitate meetings that follow an agenda Serve as the resource coordinator for the team, making sure all events are well prepared with appropriate resources Proactively lead your team in identifying opportunities to train others.

Can stay focused on the outcome (for this training the outcome of each session is that each participant in your group gets to practice and get feedback on their stories) Listen attentively to others and summarize well Have the ability to identify talents in others and help others contribute their greatest talent to the team

Try to do everything yourself Try to set the team’s mission by yourself without listening to others Get distracted easily Are shy and reluctant to speak up in order to keep discussion moving Are too equivocal and have difficulty helping the team move through conflict toward a decision when necessary.

Timekeeper

-Steward your team’s most valuable resource—time! -Work with the Team Coordinator to keep the group moving forward toward the desired outcome -Lead the team in scheduling next steps and timelines with concrete deadlines -Hold your team accountable to the timeline you’ve set together

-Have a watch or other timekeeping device -Keep a calendar and stick to it -Understand how to structure activities in sequence to build toward a desired outcome -Are willing to ask your team to agree that you will hold everyone accountable to time and collective deadlines on behalf of the team, in order to build momentum.

-Never look at your watch -Think that the last calendar or day planner you bought was maybe in 2002 -Always procrastinate -Are not willing to remind others of deadlines and to hold others accountable to deadlines that they have participated in setting and have agreed to meet

Story of Self Trainer/Coach


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-Put extra effort in learning how to create a story of self -Coach your teammates on story of self -Prepare the story of self, part of your team’s training on public narrative so you can teach this skill when you return home.

-Are willing to invest effort in learning how to tell a good story of self -Enjoy storytelling -Can tell vivid, detailed stories that are carefully selected -Are interested in people—who they are, where they come from, how they became who they are -Can listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions of others

-Ramble -Try to tell your whole biography when telling a story of self (have trouble being selective) -Are not willing or able to invest time in listening carefully to those you are coaching and asking careful, probative questions of them

Story of Us Trainer/Coach

-Put extra effort in learning how to create a story of us -Coach your teammates on story of us -Prepare the story of us part of your team’s training on public narrative so you can teach this skill when you return home.

-Are willing to invest effort in understanding how to tell a good story of us -Are curious about community stories and willing to spend time developing them—asking questions about how a community was founded, who its heroes are, what outcomes it has achieved together, what its hopes are -Enjoy storytelling -Can listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions of others -Have patience

-Get frustrated easily. (Story of us takes a while to learn well.) -Believe that we are trying to motivate everyone in the world to action with us (which dilutes the meaning of our community and our responsibility) -Try to make the community you’re moving to action too broad without boundaries so that it loses meaning and identity

Story of Now Trainer/Coach

-Put extra effort in learning how to create a story of now -Coach your teammates on story of now -Prepare the story of now part of your team’s training on public narrative if you teach this skill when you return home.

-Are willing to invest effort in understanding how to tell a good story of now -Feel urgency -Can help others choose strategic action. You understand that scale is built by asking 1,000 people to do the same single meaningful thing (like not taking the segregated bus) rather than giving 1,000 people a laundry list of actions to choose from. - Can listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions of others

-Tend to try to do everything. You’re reluctant to make strategic choices about what to do—and what not to do. -Are not very creative about action—you stick to the same old tactics that everyone has always used. -Struggle to imagine in vivid detail what a different future could look like if we all act together.


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Team Exercise Three: Team Rules/Expectations (15 min.)

Brainstorm group rules on each theme below and how you will self correct if the norm is broken. (If you don’t self correct

the new rule will be breaking the rules.)

RECORD GROUP RULES HERE

How we will respect time and the timekeeper so we meet our expected outcomes:

What we will always do:

How we will self correct if the rule is broken:

How we will get back on track if someone gets off on a tangent:



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How we will respect each other while still giving constructive feedback:



How we will communicate and coordinate after the training :




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Session 3: Introduction to Public Narrative & Story of Self

Public narrative is a practice of leadership

Public narrative is the “why” of organizing—the art of translating values into action through stories. It is an iterative

discussion process through which individuals, communities, and nations construct their identity, make choices, and inspire

action.

Each of us has a compelling story to tell

Each of us has a story that can move others. As you learn this skill of public narrative, you will be able to tell a

compelling story that includes elements that identify yourself, your audience and your strategy to others. In addition, you

will gain practice in hearing and coaching others to tell a good story.

Why Use Public Narrative? Two Ways of Knowing or Interpreting

Public leaders employ both the “head” and the “heart” in order to mobilize others to act effectively on behalf of shared

values. In other words, they engage people in interpreting why they should change their world – their motivation – and

how they can act to change it – their strategy.

Many leaders are often good at the analysis

side of public speaking – and focus on

presenting a good argument or strategy.

Alternately, other leaders tell their personal

story – but it is often a tale of heartbreak that

educates us about the challenge but doesn’t

highlight the choices and the potential for

hopeful outcomes.

This public narrative work is an effort to tell a

story that involves the head and heart AND

moves people to use their hands and feet in

action.

The key to public narrative is understanding that values inspire action through emotion. Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to express the motivational

content of our values to others. In other words, because we experience values emotionally, they are what actually move

us to act; it is not just the idea that we ought to act. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract


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principles, but as lived experience, they have the power to move others too.

Some emotions inhibit action, but other emotions facilitate action. Action is inhibited by inertia, fear, self-doubt, isolation, and apathy. Action is facilitated by urgency, hope, YCMAD (you

can make a difference), solidarity, and anger. Stories mobilize emotions that urge us to take action and help us

overcome emotions that inhibit us from action.

Public narrative combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now.

The process of creating your public narrative is fluid and iterative and can start at any place. Once you develop your story

of self, story of us, and story of now, you’ll probably want to go back to the beginning to clarify the links between them.


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A “story of self” tells why we have been called to serve. The story of self expresses the values or experiences that call each person to take leadership on energy and the

environment. The key focus is on choice points, moments in our lives when values are formed because of a need to

choose in the face of great uncertainty. When did you first care about being heard, learn that you were concerned about

climate change, wanted to protect the planet, wanted to ensure clean air, clean water for yourself and others, learn to love

nature or appreciate being outdoors? Why? When did you feel you had to do something about it? Why did you feel you

could? What were the circumstances? What specific choice did you make?

A “story of us” communicates the values and experiences that a community, organization, campaign or

movement shares and what capacity or resources that community of “us” has to accomplish its goals.

Just as with a person, the key is choice points in the life of the community and/or those moments that express the values,

experiences, past challenges and resources of the community or “us” that will take action. For example, tying a current

effort to win a campaign to a past campus campaign victory and describing the effort it took to win, the people who

worked hard to make it happen, their capabilities, their values, etc. is a story of us.

A “story of now” communicates the urgent challenge we are called upon to face now and calls us to action. The story of now articulates the urgent challenge in specific detail. It also includes a description of the path we can take

to achieve goals relative to the mission – the unique strategy or set of ideas that will help us to overcome the challenge

we face and succeed. The story of now includes an ask that summons the audience to a specific action they can do to

achieve our collective mission. Finally, the story lays out in detail a vision for the potential outcome we could achieve if

our strategy succeeds.


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Linking Self, Us, Now

You are looking for the link between these three stories, the place where they overlap, to help explain why you are called

to this work of building a clean energy future, why we are called to act with you, and why we are called to act now. This

means being very selective about the story you tell—for example not trying to tell your whole biography when you tell your

story of self.

The Three Key Elements of Public Narrative Structure: Challenge – Choice – Outcome

A plot begins with an unexpected challenge that

confronts a character with an urgent need to pay

attention, to make a choice, a choice for which

s/he is unprepared. The choice yields an outcome

-- and the outcome teaches a moral.

Because we can empathetically identify with the

character, we can “feel” the moral. We not only

hear “about” someone’s courage; we can also be

inspired by it.

The story of the character and their effort to engage around values engages the listener in their own challenge, choice,

and outcome relative to the story. Each story should include the challenge, the choice and the outcome. It’s not enough

to say – I was scared. You need to say – I was very scared, I needed to decide, and when I did, I learned it was possible.

Incorporating Challenge, Choice, and Outcome in Your Own Story

There are some key questions you need to answer as you consider the choices you have made in your life and the path

you have taken that brought you to this point in time as a leader. Once you identify the specific relevant choice point,

perhaps your decision to choose an environmental career, dig deeper by answering the following questions.

Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your challenge?

Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage (or not)? Where did you get the hope (or

not)? How did it feel?

Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us?

How do you want us to feel?

A word about challenge. Sometimes people see the word challenge and think that they need to describe the misfortunes

of their lives. Keep in mind that a struggle might be one of your own choosing – a high mountain you decided to climb as

much as a hole you managed to climb out of. Any number of things may have been a challenge to you and be the source

of a good story to inspire others.


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ACTIVITY – VIDEO REVIEW

Barack Obama Speech – 2004 Convention We will watch this video as a model for a public narrative that includes examples of self , us and now as well as an appeal

to emotions. As you watch the video – think about the elements of SELF – US – NOW that you hear in his story.

Listen as well for the challenge, choice and outcome in each of the three areas.

SELF US NOW

What are his experiences

and values that call him to

take leadership to elect John

Kerry?

What is his reason for believing in the

capacity of the people he is speaking

to create change? What shared

values and experiences does he

appeal to?

Why is it urgent to change?

What is his strategy to

overcome the challenge?

What is the first step that

each person can take to be

part of the solution?

Do you think he did a good job of telling his story? What worked? What could have been more clear?

What are some of the specific details in his story that you remember?

What values did he talk about in his story?


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Peer Coaching 101

Coaching Checklist

DO

Say what works first in the story, focusing on specifics.

Identify both the CHALLENGE and the HOPE in the story.

Clarify choice points, the moment when one thing happened instead of another.

Connect the dots in the narrative, helping to illuminate how someone got from here to there.

Look for themes.

Ask questions about the intended audience and the desired action or response.

DON’T

Offer vague, abstract "feel good" comments, unless you’ve established the context.

What does the story teller learn from “you did a great job”, as opposed to, “the way you described your moment of choice

made me feel very hopeful because...“

Make value judgments about the story teller’s voice or the validity of the point they want to make.

The key here is that a person find ways to express themselves in their own voice –word choice, humor, metaphor, etc. Of

course they need to know if choices they’ve made communicate what they want to communicate.

Think about what you’re going to say about your story while someone else is saying theirs. You should allow

yourself to take a risk with your story by diving in. Focus on others stories so you can help them with their efforts and

then you can get the same sort of help from them.

Underestimate the power of someone’s story. If it doesn’t “work” for you, think about why it doesn’t, and more

importantly, why it would for someone else.


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Team Work: Practicing Your Story of Self

GOALS

The teamwork you’re asked to do here is to coach each other in how to tell your story of self. One goal is for you to begin learning how to tell your personal story of why you are called to organize to help win a clean energy future. Another goal is to begin learning how to coach others’ stories by listening carefully, offering feedback, asking questions, etc. In this way you can develop leadership in others, as well as yourself. Be prepared to take some risks, and support your team members as they step out on the limb themselves! A final goal is to practice working as part of a team. As you work together, think about the dynamics in your team. Practice your norms and help your other team members take leadership on their chosen roles.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 70 min.

1. Gather in your team. Timekeeper begins keeping time. 5 min

2. Take time as individuals to silently develop your “story of self”

using the worksheet on the next page.

10 min

3. Tell your story to your team members and respond to each

other—each person takes 2 min. to tell their stories and the

group has 3. min to offer feedback. Story of Self Coach leads the

team in giving feedback to each storyteller.

NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell your story. Stick to

this limit. Make sure your timekeeper cuts you off. This

encourages focus and makes sure everyone has a chance.

45 min

4. Choose your most able story teller to tell their story before the

larger group. Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story a

third time.

10 min


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WORKSHEET

“Story of Self”

What are the experiences and values that call you to take leadership on climate and clean energy?

If you’re having trouble getting started, here are some key elements and types of experiences that may have contributed

to your current choice to take leadership as a community organizer on clean energy.

FAMILY & CHILDHOOD LIFE CHOICES ORGANIZER/ENVIRO

EXPERIENCE

Parents/Family

Growing Up Experiences

Your Community

Role Models

School

School

Career

Partner/Family

Hobbies/Interests/Talents

Experiences – Finding Passion

Overcoming Challenges

Role Models

Your First Experience of

Organizing

Your First Awareness of the

Environment

A Key moment in nature

Your current experience in

Power Shift

Focus on one key story—one event, or one place or one important relationship. Take some time to think about the

elements of your story in the context of the challenge, choice and outcome. In this case, the outcome might also be the

thing you learned, in addition to what actually happened.

Remember, the purpose of story of self is to begin to create common ground with your audience by telling a story that

reflects the values that brought you here to work on building a clean energy future, and where those values come from.

So choose a story of self that reflects values you will later call on in your stories of us and now.


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CHALLENGE CHOICE OUTCOME

What was the specific

challenge you faced?

What was the specific choice

you made?

What happened as a result

of your choice? What hope

can it give us?

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members On Your Story Here:


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Coaching Your Team's “Story of Self”

As you hear each other's stories, keeping track of the details of each person’s story will help you to provide feedback and

remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team's stories.

Name Challenge Choice Outcome Notes/Themes


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Session 5: The Effects of Climate Change

Climate change is already affecting many species – inlcuding humans – in every corner of the planet. It’s happening now,

and if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, it will continue to affect us

and the planet for years to come, in ways that we can’t even begin to predict. Scientists know that as long as we stay

above 350ppm, we are at risk of changing the planet as we know it. While it’s easy to ascribe weather events, droughts,

floods and other natural events to climate change, it’s important to know that not every natural event is related to climate

change. You don’t have to be an expert, but it helps to know exactly how increased levels of CO2 will continue to affect

our planet and people around the world. Here are some of the major effects of climate change:

• Melting glaciers will initially increase flood risk and then strongly reduce water supplies, eventually threatening one-sixth

of the world’s population, predominantly in the Indian sub-continent, parts of China, and the Andes in South America.

• Declining crop yields, especially in Africa, could leave hundreds of millions without the ability to produce or purchase

sufficient food. Global food production is likely to be seriously affected.

• In higher latitudes, cold-related deaths will decrease. But climate change will increase worldwide deaths from

malnutrition and heat stress. Vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever could become more widespread.

• Rising sea levels will result in tens to hundreds of millions more people flooded each year. There will be serious risks

and increasing pressures for coastal protection in South East Asia (Bangladesh and Vietnam), small islands in the

Caribbean and the Pacific, and large coastal cities, such as Tokyo, New York, Cairo and London. According to one

estimate, by the middle of the century, 200 million people may become permanently displaced due to rising sea levels,

heavier floods, and more intense droughts.

• Ecosystems will be particularly vulnerable to climate change, with around 15 - 40% of species potentially facing

extinction. And ocean acidification, a direct result of rising carbon dioxide levels, will have major effects on marine

ecosystems, with possible adverse consequences on fish stocks.

• Warming may induce sudden shifts in regional weather patterns such as the monsoon rains in South Asia or the El Niño

phenomenon - changes that would have severe consequences for water availability and flooding in tropical regions and

threaten the livelihoods of millions of people.

• A number of studies suggest that the Amazon rainforest could be vulnerable to climate change, with models projecting

significant drying in this region. One model, for example, finds that the Amazon rainforest could be significantly, and

possibly irrevocably, damaged.


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• The melting or collapse of ice sheets would eventually threaten land which today is home to 1 in every 20 people.

• A 5 or 10% increase in hurricane wind speed, linked to rising sea temperatures, is predicted approximately to double

annual damage costs, in the USA.

• Heat waves like that experienced in 2003 in Europe, when 35,000 people died and agricultural losses reached $15

billion, will be commonplace by the middle of the century.

• Flood-risk hotspots occur in Africa, including the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, Great Lakes region, Central Africa and

Southeast Africa; Central, South and Southeast Asia; and Central America and the western part of South America.

• Cyclone-risk hotspots occur largely in Mozambique and Madagascar, Central America, Bangladesh, parts of India,

Vietnam and several other Southeast Asian countries.

• Drought-risk hotspots are mainly located in sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia, particularly Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts

of India; and South East Asia, particularly Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia.

• Mosquitos are spreading: They’re thriving in new places, and are bringing malaria and dengue fever with them.

What are some effects of climate change in your community? Record them below:


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Session 7: Climate Justice

Introduction

What is climate justice? How do we talk about poverty, inequality

and power in a way that brings more people in rather than

alienates them? This section will address those questions, and

help you understand how to work in communities where climate

change, the environment and power structures are intimately

connected.

Causes and Consequences of Climate Change The map below displays the historic cumulative greenhouse gas emissions through proportionate land size. You

can see how the industrialized nations (in pink) are polluting more than their fair share of the earth. The developing

nations (green) are contributing far less to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

• Who do you think causes climate change? • Who do you think is impacted most and first by climate change and list them on the second sheet of paper titled “Who

is Most Impacted by Climate Change?” • Are the people who cause climate change the same as those who are impacted most by it? We’re going to explore

this injustice in depth throughout this workshop.

Climate Cases Introduction

This activity seeks to allow participants to see that climate

change is already impacting many in the world today. We will

explore how this happens from within communities and from

an outside experience. This activity can be a frustrating and

disheartening experience for some, which is why it’s important

to realize the situations these communities are in. The

solutions will come in the next activity, but try to find sources

of hope in this one.

OVERVIEW: A brief brainstorm and discussion designed to link climate change and environmental racism. OBJECTIVES: To understand why climate change disproportionately impacts certain communities. MATERIALS: Three large pieces of paper, Markers, Map TIME: 10 minutes

OVERVIEW: A small group activity that examines case studies of disproportionately impacted communities. OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate that some communities are already impacted by climate change, to show participants this is a complex problem that requires education and community participation. MATERIALS: Case Studies, Large sheets of blank paper, Markers TIME: 55 minutes


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Activity

We are going to look at a few case studies of climate injustice in action. We will break into small groups and everyone will

get a different case study. Your assignment is to read the scenario, answer the questions at the bottom (everyone has

the same questions), and brainstorm ideas for overcoming the injustice. You will then have to creatively draw your

scenario- including the problem, assets, barriers, and solutions. You’ll have 20 minutes to work in groups and 5 minutes to

report back to the large group.

1. What links all the communities that have been discussed in this activity?

2. Which, if any, of the communities discussed in this activity are key contributors to climate change? (Some communities

are employed by oil, coal or mining companies. How can you break this tie?)

3. What would make you more hopeful that positive change could occur for the communities discussed?

4. What strikes you most about these facts? This paper is just a sample of the research that the EJCC has done around

climate injustice.

Thank you for participating in this activity. These are real, difficult struggles that communities deal with everyday.

Remember your responses to these case studies as we move into the next activity- one that will provide us with more

solutions.


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Session 8: Story of Us

Now that you’ve had a while to reflect on both your own personal story and the state of the Earth’s climate, let’s get back

to telling the larger story of our movement. Remember that an organizer doesn’t just tell his or her story, and talking just

about the science and policy tends to make peoples’ eyes glaze over. That’s why it’s important to talk about the “story of

us” so as to implicate and engage people in your activism.

A “story of us” communicates the values and experiences that a community, organization, campaign or

movement shares and what capacity or resources that community of “us” has to accomplish its goals.

Just as with a person, the key is choice points in the life of the community and/or those moments that express the values,

experiences, past challenges and resources of the community or “us” that will take action. For example, tying a current

effort to win a campaign to a past campus campaign victory and describing the effort it took to win, the people who

worked hard to make it happen, their capabilities, their values, etc. is a story of us.


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Team Work: Practicing The Story of Us

GOALS The teamwork you’re asked to do here is to coach each other in how to tell your story of us. One goal is for you to begin

learning how to tell your community’s story of why you in particular have the capacity to help address climate change and

build a clean energy future.

Another goal is to begin learning how to coach others’ stories by listening carefully, offering feedback, asking questions,

etc. In this way you can develop leadership in others, as well as yourself. Be prepared to take some risks, and support

your team members as they step out on the limb themselves!

A final goal is to practice working as part of a team. As you work together, think about the dynamics in your team.

Practice your norms and help your other team members take leadership on their chosen roles.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 55 min.


2. Take time as a group to figure out who your “us” is and then begin

developing your story using the worksheets below.

10 min



group has 3. min to offer feedback. Story of Us Coach leads the

team in giving feedback to each storyteller.




30 min


larger group. Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story a

third time.

10 min


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WORKSHEET

“Story of Us”

Remember, the purpose of the story of us is to create a sense of community among individuals who may or may not yet

see themselves as a community and to give them hope that they can make a difference. Your goal here is to tell a story

that evokes our shared values as your audience, and shows why we in particular are called to take responsibility for action

now.

Your story of us may be a story of what we’ve already done together, challenges we’ve already faced and outcomes

we’ve achieved. Or it may be a story of some of our shared heroes, challenges they faced and outcomes they’ve

achieved. Hearing how we’ve met challenges in the past gives us hope that we can face new challenges together.

Brainstorm all the stories you know of about your audience and their collective story and experience. Your story of us

may change each time you are talking to a different group of people.

Who are some of the “us”s that you’re a part of? (Your generation, your learning team, the international youth

climate movement, 350.org) Which “us” is most relevant as an audience here at this training?

What are some stories of this audience that give you an indication of their shared purpose and the goals of this

group? What are their values?

What are some shared stories that give you a sense of the strengths and capacities of your

audience/community?

What are some stories of your generation or of the environmental community that give you the belief that

together they could work to join you in creating real tangible change in the world?

Now choose one of the stories you brainstormed above to flesh out in vivid detail.


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CHALLENGE

What was the challenge we

faced?

CHOICE

What specific choice did we

make? What action did we

take?

OUTCOME

What happened as a result of our choice?

What hope can it give us?

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members On Your Story Here:

Coaching Your Team's “Story of Us”




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Session 9: The Story of Now

Remember the third part of a public narrative. Do you remember how Barack Obama, in his 2004 Democratic convention

speech, got very specific about the fact that there was “more work to do”? Do you remember how he explained the

challenges? Was it with statistics? Or was it with specific people, facing their own challenges, their own choice points. Do

you remember how gave us a sense of hope, that we could do something about these challenges? And then, he wound

up with calling on us to make the choice to join the campaign to elect the Democratic nominee, President. He identified a

very specific action he was asking us all to choose to take—to go vote for John Kerry.

This should sound familiar. There’s a challenge, but instead of being in the past, it’s in the present. There’s hope, but

instead of something that happened in the past, it’s in the future. And there’s a choice, but instead of being a choice we

once made, it’s a choice we must make now. And that’s why it’s a “story of now”.

Linking Your Story of Now to Story of Self and Story of Us

Now we know why you’ve been called to a particular mission, we know something of who it is you want to call upon to join

you in that mission, so what action does that mission require of us right here, right now, in this place?

A “story of now” is urgent, it requires dropping other things and paying attention, it is rooted in the values you celebrated in

your story of self and us, and requires action.

The Elements of a Story of Now

The strategy – your plan to achieve your goal.

A strategic “hopeful” choice that each person in your audience can make

A specific ask for each person that involves a commitment of time, resources before they leave.

A vivid description of what collectively can be achieved if we take action together.

Why It Matters

The choice we’re called on to make is a choice to take strategic action now. Leaders who only describe problems, but fail

to identify action that their community can take to address the problem aren’t very good leaders. If you are called to

address a real challenge, a challenge so urgent you have motivated us to face it as well, then you also have a

responsibility to invite us to join you in action that has some chance of success. A ‘story of now” is not simply a call to

make a choice to act – it is a call to “hopeful” action.

What is Strategy?

The story of now is a story of strategy—how my action, added up with other people’s action could, with a reasonable

amount of hope, be expected to achieve a clear outcome that would help us meet our goal.

The challenge of strategy is building toward key peaks of collective action that aren’t random, and don’t just happen and


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dissolve into nothingness afterwards. The challenge is identifying actions that will help to build capacity and momentum

that can launch your campaign toward the next peak, and the next peak, until you have enough power to win the change

you seek.

Often when working on our story of now we realize we really don’t have a clear, actionable or motivating strategy.

Working on story of now can be a way to re-evaluate our strategy and to engage others in strategizing with us.

Strategy is motivated.

We strategize in response to urgent challenges or

unusual opportunities to turn our goals into specific

outcomes. Consider Gandhi’s salt march– to what

challenge did Gandhi respond? What was his

motivating goal? Was his goal just to halt the British

monopoly on salt production, or was it to make

progress toward the goal of achieving freedom from

British rule? How did he turn a large goal into an

achievable but meaningful outcome?

Strategy is intentional.

Strategy is a theory of how we can turn what we have

(resources) into what we need (power) to get what we want (outcomes). It is a hypothesis that we can use certain tactics

to achieve specific outcomes. What clear outcome was Gandhi trying to ? How could poor Indians reasonably believe

that the action they were being asked to take could make a difference? What clear outcome were they trying to achieve?

How would they know if they had met it?

Strategy is creative.

Challenging the status quo requires making up for our lack of resources, with greater resourcefulness, like the story of

David and Goliath. Creative strategists don’t just fall back on the same old tactics to build their campaigns. They look for

tactics that will build power by engaging as many people as possible, and they think creatively about how to turn the

resources they have into what they need to win. For example, during the salt march, the resignations of local leaders

refusing to submit to British rule was a creative way to meet an urgent strategic need—gathering more people to move the

march ahead.

Strategy is a verb

(Something we do), not a noun (something we have). We can see that repeatedly in the story of the salt march, and this is

a core strength of the 350 campaign. As we work toward our outcome we need to build in time to learn from our

successes and failures and to adapt our tactics to become more and more effective. We constantly seek out new

opportunities that could help us mobilize more people or resources for our effort, and we think creatively about how to turn

challenges into opportunities.


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Four Strategic Questions

1. What’s the Motivating Goal: What threats to your common

interests must you face? What opportunities must you act

upon?

2. What’s the Outcome: specific, focused, measurable (how

will the world be changed?). On what outcome can you

focus? What outcomes are nested within that outcome? How

much time do you have to achieve these outcomes? What is

the scope (time) and scale (size) of this outcome?

3. Which Tactics will you use? Why these and not others?

Criteria include:

• Will it influence the outcome you’re hoping to achieve? How?

• Will it use your resources creatively? How?

• Will it create organizational capacity? How?

• Will it develop leadership? How?

4. When will you use them? Consider the dynamics of campaigns, which tactics will you use when, what will be the

sequence, how can you make the most of momentum, etc.?

As you work on developing your strategy as part of figuring out your story of now, remember that strategy is not

something done by an individual alone in a secretive dark corner somewhere. Strategy is best created in a strategic

team. It is very important to think about who serves on your strategy team, how it works, and how well. Does your team

have a clear common purpose? Do you deliberate well together? Do you operate with consistent norms? Is it clear who’s

on the team? Is your team’s authority to strategize clear?

As you continue to create your strategy in the face of new challenges and opportunities, your story of now will become

clearer and more focused.


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Session 10: The 350 Campaign Strategy

Our Mission:

350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to

unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that

justice demand.

Our mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate

crisis--to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

Our focus is on the number 350--as in parts per million, the level scientists

have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. But 350

is more than a number--it's a symbol of where we need to head as a

planet.

To tackle climate change we need to move quickly, and we need to act in unison--and 2009 will be an absolutely crucial

year. This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions.

The problem is, the treaty currently on the table doesn't meet the severity of the climate crisis--it doesn't pass the 350 test.

In order to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal, we're harnessing the power of the

internet to coordinate a planetary day of action on October 24, 2009. We hope to have actions at hundreds of iconic

places around the world - from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef to your community - and clear message to world

leaders: the solutions to climate change must be equitable, they must be grounded in science, and they must meet the

scale of the crisis.

If an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the

global transformation we so desperately need.

350 is just a number. Wouldn't "Climate Emergency" or "Clean Energy Now" be a better call to action?

350 translates into many languages--numerals are among the few things most people around the world recognize. More

to the point, 350 tells us what we need to do. Far from boring, it's the most important number in the world. It contains,

rightly understood, the recipe for a very different world, one that moves past cheap fossil fuel to more sensible

technologies, more closely-knit communities, and a more equitable global society.

Why October 24th?

The timing here is crucial--there is a narrow window when we can have the most influence in international climate politics.

Too early and we're irrelevant, too late and we've missed our chance to have a real impact.


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Though the final climate meeting in Copenhagen doesn't take place until December, governments will be finalizing

positions before the meeting takes place. Late October may well be our best chance we have before countries set

everyone that negotiates for the United Nations climate talks will get their final orders.

With creative actions happening all over the globe, and photographs of those events appearing online, in the media, and

on politicians' desks, we will change what these negotiators think they can achieve right before they make the important

decisions of the UN treaty. Right now most of them know the science of 350ppm, but they don't think it is politically

possible. On October 24, we are going to show them that not only is it possible, but it is what everyone all over the world

is demanding they do.

Why another organization--there are already too many things going on!

It's true, there are lots of organizations and individuals working hard to solve the climate crisis. This is great news--it

means that we don't really need to build a movement from scratch because it's already bubbling up all over the world.

Our hope is that we can shine a spotlight on the work of existing organizations, highlighting everyone's incredible work

and knitting these many efforts together for a powerful and unified call to action--a call that is global, scientific, and

specific. By providing a common platform with the 350 target, we can help to stitch together a whole that is truly greater

than the sum of its parts, a diverse movement that speaks with one collective voice.

How do we know this will work?

By now, you’ve probably had a good dose of how we look at the world and what we think makes for an effective

campaign. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into action. We know that this kind of campaign works because we’ve

done it before, here in the United States.

It’s easy to join the global warming movement. We know it’s easy because we all just joined ourselves. None of us have

spent long years as organizers. One of us has spent long years mostly as a writer with a little activism on the side; the rest

of us haven’t spent long years doing anything except school, because we just got out of college.

But in 2007, we came together to see if we could kick up a fuss about climate change. That January 10th, we launched a

Web site, StepItUp2007.org. We asked people across the country to start organizing rallies for April 14, to demand that

Congress cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. We had no money, and we had no organization, so we had no

expectations. Our secret hope, which seemed a little grandiose, was that we might organize a hundred demonstrations for

that Saturday, only three months away.

Instead our idea took off. The emails we sent ended up spreading virally, in the way that certain ideas sometimes do on

the Internet. People we’d never heard of started signing up on the Web site to host rallies in places we’d never heard of.

The electronic pins stuck on our online map got thicker by the week—200, 500, 900. By the time the big day rolled

around, there were 1,400 demonstrations in all fifty states, ranging from tiny to enormous. It was one of the biggest days


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of grassroots environmental protest since the first Earth Day in 1970, covered extensively in the national media and in

thousands of local stories across the country.

Our International Strategy

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the international negotiations or policy details in our nations’ capitols and forget about

building a movement, but there has never been a more critical time to bring our message home to our communities.

That’s why we don’t ask all of our organizers around the world to protest at the national Parliament or Prime Minister’s

house (though that’s not a bad idea).

Our international strategy rests on the idea that nothing short of a massive movement will convince the world’s leaders to

take the issue of climate change seriously. We have to embrace our role as underdogs, since we won’t out-spend our

opponents who pay off politicians with favors and cash. And, in fact, many people across the globe have already taken it

upon themselves to make change happen in their villages, cities, and countries. Our friends at WiserEarth.com have over

100,000 civil society organizations around the world dedicated to making change. We have the grassroots networks – we

just need the coordination.

Here are a few ways in which 350.org helps local actions translate into a larger international strategy that will build the

movement to get an equitable and strong international climate deal:

Making the Invisible Visible

It’s a supreme irony that the people who are bearing the brunt of climate change are those with the least voices in the

international negotiations. 350.org is committed to making those voices heard – not by speaking on their behalf, but by

building capacity and power behind those spokespeople and groups fighting for strong and just targets. Together, we are

moving beyond the stale rhetoric of North vs. South and Developed vs. Developing. We are helping concerned citizens all

over the planet bring their messages to world leaders directly, making what was previously invisible, visible.

Pioneering Online Advocacy

What makes 350.org unique is our ability to harness the incredible innovations in online campaigning in the last few years.

The barriers to collaboration, group formation, and collective action have all but collapsed. 350.org will continue to pioneer

a new kind of mobilization --what we're calling “open-source activism.” Harnessing the best tools out there, we'll be

exploring new ways to catalyze action, tell a collective story, and enable people all over the world to own and co-create

the campaign as it unfolds.

Building Diverse Leadership for a Global Movement

We enter 2009 with a great core team of talented organizers. The folks who did Step It Up understand political organizing

in the internet age as well as anyone in the world. They are founding members of a global youth climate movement with

connections to youth leaders in every continent. Our staff’s diversity and talent has been greatly expanded in the last year,

with organizers in Budapest, Berlin, Quito, Barbados, Cape Town, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Washington DC, San


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Francisco, Mumbai and Delhi.

Creating a Media Moment Step It Up 2007 garnered more than 500 press hits over the course of 3 months. We know that building a truly global

narrative is the only way to compel our leaders to action. October 24 will be a day to spark a global movement, and we

hope to reach traditional and new media outlets large and small, on every continent and in every language. Surround-

sound viral and traditional media about people all over the world calling for a fair Copenhagen agreement that gets us

back to 350ppm will make it impossible for the world’s leaders to ignore us.

Taking Our Message to the Leaders

350.org staff all over the world are poised to take advantage of key decision-making moments on the international stage.

We have helped to mobilize people for on-the-ground rallies during international meetings in Germany, USA, Indonesia,

India, and Poland, and we have plans to take our message to the Major Economies Forum in France, the UNFCCC

intercessional meeting in Germany and, of course, in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of 2009.

In addition, we are working with partners and international youth to influence decision-makers in key countries. We have

recruited well-known ‘350 Messengers’ such as David Suzuki, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Van Jones, Vandana Shiva, Desmond

Tutu and others to spread the message far and wide, and luminaries such as Al Gore and the Dalai Lama have endorsed

the 350ppm target.

We will continue to work with grassroots organizers around the world in the leadup to October 24 and through

Copenhagen to ensure world leaders feel pressure to step forward and enact bold national and international policies to

deal with the climate crisis and ensure a prosperous, clean energy future for every person on the planet.

Building a Movement

In the end, this really is a movement, and our small team is surprised and thrilled day after day by all the people that

contact us with stories and news of the work they are doing in their communities. Spontaneous artwork in the Czech

Republic, ongoing 350 aerials in India, anti-coal actions in the US, churches ringing bells 350 times, farmers hand-cutting

350 into crops during harvest, 350 has begun to pop up in the least likely places. We want the world to own 350

completely, and that’s why we’re excited to hear that 350 has moved out of our control and into the hands of ordinary

citizens around the world.


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Team Work: Practicing The Story of Now

GOALS

The teamwork you’re asked to do here is to coach each other in how to tell your story of now. The goal of this team

work session is to focus on outcomes you could work together to achieve to advance your common interests. Which

urgent challenges or opportunities do you have to face?

What could you achieve if you could face them together? What are some possible outcomes? What might be some of

the tactics you could use? How might you continue to strategize together?

As you work together as a learning team, continue to think about the dynamics in your team. Practice your norms and

help your other team members take leadership on their chosen roles.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 55 min.


2. Take time as individuals to silently develop your “story of now”

using the worksheet on the next 2 pages.

10 min



group has 3. min to offer feedback.

Story of Now Coach leads the team in giving feedback to each

storyteller.




30 min


larger group. Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story

a third time.

10 min


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WORKSHEET

“STORY OF NOW”

Use these questions to help you to put together your story of now. You should draw on your own current work on clean

energy, and if possible Energy Action & Power Shift’s Campaign strategy to fill in the answers to the questions below.

Take a moment to reflect here on your challenge. What makes it urgent to you and your audience? Why must you

collectively take action now? Once you have identified that, you then need to lay down your strategy – what you think you

can do together to confront the challenge. Most importantly, what is the action step that people can take to join you in

collective action towards a solution.

Why is it urgent to take on clean energy now? What makes it urgent relative to other problems? Who are you

serving in your community and the world by taking on leadership in this area?

What is your strategy to help alleviate the problem, create real tangible change? How will you know that you

have developed an effective solution? What will the outcome look like if you are successful?

What is the single most important first step(s) can people take to join you in this strategy? What form will

their commitment take? Is it clear what they should do? Is it clear when they should do it?

Now flesh out your story of now in vivid detail.


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CHALLENGE CHOICE OUTCOME

What is the challenge we

face? What images make

that challenge real?

What specific choice are you

asking us to make? What

specific action should we

take and when?

What specific outcome

could happen as a result of

our choice? What hope can

it give us?

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members Here:


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Coaching Your Team's “Story of Now”





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Session 11: Putting it all Together

Think back to the Barack Obama video we watched. How did he tie together the Story of Self, the Story of Us and the

Story of Now. Your role as an organizer is to tell the full story of who you are, climate change, how it affects your

community, and how we can take action. Use the below worksheet and your team to practice telling your full story.

Tying it all together in a successful public narrative.

SELF US NOW

What are your experiences and

values that call you to take

leadership on building a clean

energy future?

What is your reason for believing

in the possibility of the people you

will be speaking to? What is their

story?

Why is it urgent to deal with

climate change? What is your

strategy to overcome this

challenge? What is the first step

that each person can take to be

part of your solution?

C

H

A

L

L

E

N

G

E

C

H

O

I

C

E


56

O

U

T

C

O

M

E

NOTES:


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Session 12: Building a Campaign

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"

- Mahatma Gandhi In the “Story of Now” we talked a bit about campaign strategy, and how we as citizens can organize towards a goal. Now,

let’s take a minute to go into a little more depth about building a campaign.

So what exactly is a campaign?

A working definition of campaign (n.) is an organized course of action to achieve a particular goal.

Now, not every organized course of action is a campaign. For example, while making yourself a grilled cheese sandwich

may be an organized set of actions that reaches the goal of feeding a hungry climate activist, it’s missing a few critical

pieces.

Let’s break down our definition into two key parts:

1. An organized course of action

2. A particular goal

It’s helpful to think about a campaign starting with what you want to achieve – the goal – and then moving backwards

through the organized course of action. That way, you have in mind what you’re trying to achieve while figuring out how to

get there, instead of finding yourself sidetracked by creative ideas that don’t get you what you want.

We often talk about 350.org as a campaign, rather than an organization, because we planned it in this way. We run a lot

of different projects, but they all lead to the common goal of a bold international climate deal commensurate with what

science and justice demand. All of the actions we organize on October 24 of this year (and beyond) will bring us closer

to achieving that goal, and that’s why we’re all here today. This workshop will help us refine our organizing skills so that

we can make October 24 a success in communities all over the world.

Goals, Targets and Tactics

While we may all have the same particular goal, the way we go about getting there may be different. It’s important that we

all show a unified front, build people power behind the 350ppm target and the international climate agreement, and that’s

why we’re all going to use the number 350 in our actions. However, each organizer will have to decide on national,

regional or local goals that link to the international aim. In the past, climate activists have taken on a number of related

issues, including:

• local food and agriculture

• clean water

• human health


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• wildlife conservation

• free speech

• peace and security

• fossil fuel development

• toxics

• sustainable development

• indigenous rights

• faith, religion and spirituality

• education

• womens’ and LGBTQ rights

• labor

• oceans and water

• forests

• poverty

• social justice / minority rights

Pick a local issue that matters to your community, and research how it links to climate change and the 350ppm target.

350.org has fact-sheets on many of these, but it may be helpful to go to the library, talk to leaders, follow the newspapers,

radio and TV shows and search on the internet to find a goal that is appropriate.

Make it SMART

Your campaign objective should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound. This

means you should specify what exactly you want to achieve and (hopefully) by when. You should be able to clearly

measure or envision your achievement. Although your objective should be ambitious, make sure that it is possible to

achieve in the time that you have specified for it. In the case of the 350 campaign, we’re pushing for a bold international

climate deal commensurate with what science and justice demand.

It’s specific, because it calls for exactly what we need, and identifies the 350ppm target. It’s measurable, because we

can measure CO2 in the atmosphere, and tell whether we’ve passed a global deal that gets us there. We know it’s

achievable because scientists say that if we take action now, we can avoid catastrophic climate change. It’s realistic

because we’ve built movements and made global transitions before, and it has been successful. Finally, we know that

Copenhagen is one of the last chances we’ll get to make our voices heard on this issue, so we are time bound.

When you decide on what local issue you want to link up with the 350 campaign, make sure that your objectives are

SMART. It’s good practice to write it down so that you can explain it clearly to people who join your activist group.

Targets

Now that you’ve learned about goals, let’s come back to the first part of the definition of campaign: an organized course of

action. It’s not enough to know about a problem and complain about it. Your job as an organizer is to talk to as many

people as possible, engage, inspire, and build people power such that it becomes impossible for the decision-makers to


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ignore us. On October 24, we’re going to come together to that our voice is louder than the sum of its parts.

It’s important to know who those key decision-makers are and what their interests are in order to have the most impact. It

wouldn’t make sense, for example, to stage a protest on the front step of the Finance Minister’s house if it’s the

Environment Minister who decides on your country’s climate policy. If you’ve done enough research about who holds the

power, what institutions make decisions, and are following recent developments, you will be able to tell where you may be

able to have some influence.

Building power is hard work, but anybody can do it. One way to start is by identifying all of the stakeholders (groups,

individuals, companies) related to your goal, and figuring out how much influence they have on it. Let’s take the

international climate negotiations, for example. Below is a simple map that outlines which countries are leading the way,

those that are not, and all the stakeholders who may influence the outcome of the negotiations in Copenhagen.

For your local campaign, you may want to draw a map like this one to help you to clarify who is involved in the issue. It will

also be helpful as you begin your October 24 planning to know who might be your allies, and whom you want to influence

to make a decision. Keep in mind that as grassroots organizers, we will never have enough money to go up against

corporate interests, but we will always have the upper hand because we can change public opinion, generate media,

shame our enemies publicly and cheer on our champions.

Most importantly, make sure that you stay focused on your targets while staying nimble. It’s easy to get sidelined barking

up the wrong tree, and never realize that there were other opportunities to apply pressure in different ways. Targets can

change throughout a campaign, but it should always be clear who/what they are.


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Team Work: Goals and Targets

Now that you know how to choose goals and targets, take a few minutes to think about your own local goals, and how you

will use locally relevant issues to mobilize people in your community around 350. Think through what the end result of

your campaign might be – make sure it’s SMART – and who has a stake in the issue.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 50 min.


2. Take time individually to think about 3 goals that you think could

link the 350 campaign to local issues.

10 min

3. Discuss with your team each of the goals, and review SMART for

each goal.

15 min

4. Choose the one goal you think works best, and draw a power

map, making sure to include influential people and institutions in

your community and what their interests are.

15 min

5. Share your power maps, discuss what the stakeholders’ interests

are.

5 min


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Write down 3 goals:

1.

2.

3.

Choose your best goal, and use SMART to evaluate it:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time bound


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Identify the stakeholders:

Decisionmakers Allies Opponents

Who Interests Who Interests Who Interests

Draw your power-map here:


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Make it Collaborative Our tendency when we organize anything is to work with the friends we already have, in the networks we already know

about. And that’s a very good idea—it’s how everyone starts. But you can make whatever action or campaign you’re

planning far more effective if you work hard to reach out to people you don’t already know. This sounds like common

sense, but it doesn’t happen often enough. We know it can work because the design of the 350 campaign produced

dozens of fruitful examples.

Over the first few months of 2008, people would visit the 350.org

website to register an action. Then back at headquarters, we would

notice that someone else had also signed up to host an action in

the same place. So we’d suggest that they combine efforts—and in

almost every case, they did. It turned out that we weren’t just

brokering partnerships but starting friendships, cross-fertilizing

different pools of volunteers and resources, sometimes even

combining very different worldviews.

Look for Shared Passions

When we need help with something, we turn first to our friends,

then to a wider circle of people who are still within our comfort

zone. Sometimes they are friends of friends, but sometimes it’s the people who share our faith, our associations, our

passions. Indeed, it’s rare to take a leap and invite people who don’t share something with us, and with organizing, that’s

usually our passion for an issue. Why would we be more likely to invite people who oppose our ideas? But it’s important to

include people who share your vision for a better world but choose to arrive there by different channels. While it’s

understandable to feel shy with strangers, there’s also much to be gained from reaching out.

Ask for Help Early

Whenever you ask people to participate, it holds more meaning when they have had some say in how the event unfolds.

The earlier you pull people into the decision-making, the more likely it is that they will become a new ally to work with in

the future—even if your event is planned on a snappy timeline.

Think Like a Fellowship

Diverse collaborations work better as a loose group than as a hierarchy of leaders. If nothing else, that diffuses any issues

about whether one organization is more in control of an action than another, since at least some of the people involved

will probably represent some sort of institution in your community.

When inviting people to participate, ask them to be your fellow organizers, not members of your group. Share

responsibility. You’ll also be more likely to pull in people who will pitch in because they want to rather than because you

asked them for help.

Practical Tip: The Personal Touch

When starting a new project, identify individuals from

diverse local organizations that you would like on

board, even if you don’t know them well. Learn what

makes them passionate—What other groups do they

belong to? What have their recent events, speeches,

or sermons discussed? What communities do they

serve?—and then send them personal notes or

emails that tie their passions to the climate change

movement. Be humble and don’t ask for too much—

chances are everyone’s very busy.


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Go Local

After you have your list of fellow-thinking groups, you may still want to look for ways to get more people involved in what

you’re planning. Find the other groups in your community who have regular meetings. Maybe it’s an environmental group,

but maybe it’s a volunteering group or a humane society. The group should have a goal that doesn’t conflict with what

you’re doing and an infrastructure with a track record of success. That way, you kill two birds with one stone—not only will

you connect with people who are active in your community and have an established network in place, but you get to

extend the reach of the climate change movement by contacting a group less tied with it already.

Do Easy Favors Easily

Look for easy ways to help the people who help you. If you ask a local

group to donate money or services to your event and they ask for

something easy in return—like publicity—give it. For example, you might

ask an outing club to help spread the word to their members or a local

band to provide a sound system. They might say yes, but on the

condition that you put their logo on your Web site, the kind of thing that

helps them and doesn’t hurt you. Say yes, and fast! In fact, don’t even

wait for them to ask. Offer it to them first.

Doing favors is also a good way to quell tensions. If you have created a

webpage for your group or action, it may have a blog or other venue for

writing under a byline. When that person—we all know one—insists on

making a political speech during your logistical meetings, ask him or her

to write an article about it so that everyone can have the opportunity to

hear and consider the point. The chance to be heard in public will often

be enough to get everyone back to work on the tasks at hand.

Conclusion

Often an individual needs to get thing things started, but the realization

that you don’t need to always carry all the weight paradoxically means

that there are times when you feel strong enough to really lead—to put

everything you have into a campaign for a couple of months, confident

that there will be someone else to take the reins in the future.

One of the things we have learned is that you can become acquainted with folks by going to parties with them or sharing a

common interest. But you become friends with someone by working with them and depending on them—as you and your

fellow organizers will discover.

Recruiting, Running Meetings, and Delegating

The first step to organizing effectively is bringing together a team. You might think you can do everything on your own –

and believe us, we’ve all been there – but you can’t. You can keep yourself from going crazy and get more done in less

Practical Tip: Find Fellows To recruit lots of people to the global warming movement, you need to set aside rivalries and forget what you don’t have in common—and focus on what you do. Who should you ask? Environmental organizations (of course) Schoolteachers, especially in science and civics (teachers are a great way to get word out to students and other young people) Religious groups that have dedicated themselves to public service in the community Outdoors clubs, from mountaineering groups to Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops Farmers and other local food producers Local restaurant owners, especially those that specialize in local foods or vegetarian menus. Residents of neighborhoods near dirty-energy sources—they have to deal with more of the effects—and social justice groups working on their behalf.


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time by getting other people on board, and forming a group to work together.

Start out by having a planning meeting well ahead of time. Invite all people who might be interested to get involved in the

planning of your October 24 event and your local campaign, and brainstorm what kind of action you may want to host.

Oftentimes an event can be a great focal point for bringing diverse groups and individuals together to collaborate. Here

are some tips on getting people involved:

Make it personal

You can find interested folks by sending emails or text messages to your friends, talking to people in your workplace,

school or place of worship, making announcements at meetings of related groups, or putting up posters in key places with

meeting information. By far the best way to get somebody to come to a meeting is to ask them personally: a one-on-one

conversation is more effective than a group email or putting up lots of posters (though those help, too).

Unlikely Allies

Reach out to the usual suspects to get involved - your local environmental or conservation group - but also think about

faith groups, sports leagues, schools, civic societies, labor unions, and other organized groups in your communities that

may want to get involved. They’ll bring new people into the process, and new and valuable perspectives. Attend meetings

of other groups you think might want to get involved and pitch in to help with their work, then be sure to announce to

everybody there how to get involved with your climate activist group.

Run a good meeting

There’s nothing worse than sitting through a meeting where one person talks the whole time and nothing gets done. There

is an art to running an effective, dynamic meeting. Here are a few tips that will help you get the job done:

• Make sure to have an agenda with approximate times for each item, and circulate it ahead of time. Leave enough

time for others to make their points, but try to stay on schedule. Circulate the agenda before the meeting, and ask

for input.

• Assign somebody to run the meeting (a facilitator), and a note-taker to write everything down and distribute the

notes to the group. The facilitator and note-taker could be yourself, but it’s often better to delegate those tasks to

somebody else who may not be distracted by other leadership tasks. Sometimes it may be appropriate to agree

on hand signals ahead of time to make sure that the conversation moves along.

• Listen, understand and share ideas with others; understanding is different than agreeing, so you should learn to

understand and accept even opposite opinions. The leader uses his/her heart as well as his/her head. The leader

has an open mind and is nonjudgmental but rather accepts others for what or who they are.

• Stay positive and have fun. Smile at everybody. It makes communication much easier. It is very important for the

leader to enjoy what she/he is doing, and to have a sense of humor. She/he has a humble spirit and can laugh at

him/herself.


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• Circulate the notes after the meeting, with action items

delegated and clearly highlighted so that people on your team

will know exactly what they need to do before the next

meeting. Decide on a next meeting time.

Delegate

Make sure everyone goes home with something to do - and be sure

to follow up with those people who were assigned a task. Delegation

is one of the most important parts of being an effective leader.

Anybody can write a press release, plan an event or engage

politicians; a real leader is able to involve dozens, hundreds,

thousands or millions of people in the movement.

Be equal

You may have heard about October 24 first, and called the first

meeting, but make sure that you treat your fellow organizers as

equals. Each person in your group has talents or skills that will be

critical to the effort; let them take responsibility for parts of the

planning process and make sure to include everybody.

Learn from your mistakes

It is ok to make mistakes; the important thing is to learn from them. Make sure that the whole team also knows about your

mistake so that they don‘t repeat it as well. A leader will be criticized from time to time, and she/he should accept it and

act upon it. A leader is not expected to know everything, but is able to learn from others, especially his/her teammates.

The leader has faith in people.

Make it fun

Fun is probably our number one strategy. People are much more apt to be a part of the effort if they’re likely to have a

good time doing it. Good ways to keep morale up are to work with others, bring food and beverages to meetings, be

positive and creative about your planning (no idea is too crazy!), hold meetings outside, and try opening or closing

meetings with a song or game!

Practical Tip: Assign Homework

Homework doesn’t sound like much fun,

especially to anyone who has just graduated from

college. But here’s the idea: at the end of a

meeting or a round of emails, everyone

(absolutely everyone) should have something to

do. Whatever it is, by the time the next meeting

rolls around, that person is accountable for

realizing a piece of the group’s goal. Make sure

everyone has a range of possible tasks to choose

from.

Why does this help build collaborations? Because

each individual member feels ownership of the

project as a whole and can feel proud of making a

contribution to the group. Homework doesn’t have

to take the effort of a term paper—an assignment

can be as small as calling one more person and

inviting him or her to the next meeting, or as big

as obtaining funding for the action.


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Session 13: Building a Campaign, Part 2 Tactics

There are many ways to influence decision-making on an issue. In this section, we will discuss some basic tactics that you

can use to pressure targets to move toward your campaign objective. Think of each tactic as a tool in your toolbox to

make change. You can pick and choose, combine them and create new ones depending on who your target is and what

their interests may be. Note that a discussion on tactics should always come after deciding on campaign goals and

making a power map. That way, you can be sure that your tactics serve the final goal of your campaign.

For example, it wouldn’t necessarily make sense to chain yourself to a tree if your goal is to secure sustainable

development assistance for your village and your target is your finance minister. Unless he has some connection with

trees—or that tree in particular—your tactic doesn’t match up with the goal or target.

Recognizing the creativity within ourselves and our organizing communities is just as critical as raising enough money to

pull off something big. Effective actions are supposed to make people think outside the box, and so they need to be out of

the ordinary. Our world is changing at a breakneck pace, and as activists, we need to keep developing new, innovative

tactics to get out messages and flex grassroots muscle.

Below is a list of common tactics that you can use in your community to affect change. This is by no means meant to limit

you – use your imagination and you will come up with new, exciting ones. Feel free to use any of these ideas as part of

your October 24 event.

Petition One basic way to get your message heard is to have supporters sign a petition about a certain issue. If you’re working on

getting the town council to put up a solar panel on your school, for example, it could be helpful to have all the students

and teachers sign their names to a statement. Two key pieces of a petition are the target (make sure you have a very

clear one) and the delivery. Running a petition without a public delivery is like climbing a mountain and deciding to turn

around before you reach the top.

Make sure that you plan a public delivery, and that the local media covers you delivering the petition, so that everybody

who signed it feels like their voice was heard, and all those who hadn’t heard about the petition learn about the issue.

Boycott A boycott is a very effective way of targeting companies or businesses that are blocking the way, either because they

perpetrate injustice on people and the earth, or because they support groups or government agencies that do. Boycotts

can take many forms, but involve avoiding purchasing goods or services from a business, and encouraging others to do

the same. If a business leader does not feel the need to change his or her tune on an issue after being asked repeatedly,

you can hit that business at it’s bottom line. Boycotts are typically sustained, public actions, and are most effective when


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widespread, and combined with other tactics.

Good Media, Bad Media The news media, both online and offline, have enormous sway on stakeholders and the general public. You can use

tactics like penning op-eds, running advertisements and Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on radio, TV, online and

in print. You can use the media to publicly shame or vaunt opponents or allies. We will talk more about using media

effectively in the “Spreading the Word” session.

Using viral online and guerilla media can get a simple symbol or slogan into stakeholders’ and the general public’s minds.

Putting the number 350 in places where people don’t expect it, or spreading a ‘meme’ through online social networks are

ways to influence decisionmakers and the public in more subliminal ways.

Road tour Many of our friends and allies have used caravans or road tours to spread the word about climate action and garner press

about solutions. While road tours are relatively resource-intensive, they can be very rewarding. In India, for example, a

group of Indian youth climate activists drove two electric cars from village to village around the country, spreading the

word about climate change, collecting stories of local climate solutions and building a network of dedicated supporters in

strategic locations. You can run a road tour in cars, trucks, on bicycles or even on foot!

Party/Concert Music is a big part of our lives, and in the past it has provided a lot of the spirit for social change—it’s hard to imagine the

civil rights movement without the freedom songs that helped give people courage and solidarity in the face of real

brutality. But environmentalism has never been a particularly musical movement; it has tended to be highly rational, to

make more use of statistics than perhaps it should, and less of guitars and drum kits. A concert will entertain your core

audience, attract passersby, and get musicians involved. Often, three or four songs performed between speakers or

activities are enough from any one act. And don’t forget to send thank-you notes to musicians after the event—they have

(hopefully) given you for free what they’re used to being paid for.

Education A huge part of your job as a climate organizer is to educate the public and your elected officials about climate change and

how it connects to your community. Giving a presentation or putting together a teach-in can be a downright radical act in

some places in the world. Facts are often our best friends in the fight to stop climate change, but make sure that you keep

the language at the level of the people you’re talking to. Too cursory, and you won’t get your point across; too technical,

and participants’ eyes will glaze over before you can say “350.”

Getting high-profile people to repeat your ask Sometimes it takes the right messenger to put your issue on the plate of the decision-maker. That’s why so many

advocacy organizations turn to people like Bono and Angelina Jolie to talk about their issue and the solutions they seek.

You don’t have to get a movie or rock star, but having a few influential people in your community on board is a useful


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tactic to pursue, as people are more likely to listen to people they know and trust.

Lobbying A sometimes daunting word, lobbying is nothing more than sitting down with an elected official and asking him or her to

take your concerns into account. It’s fairly easy to set up a meeting with a politician or official. Make sure you’re brief, to

the point, and have a solid, actionable ‘ask’ that he or she can move forward with. It’s good to go with a partner or a small

group, but avoid making threats or being too angry. Stay positive, but be firm about what you’re asking for.

Direct Action Direct action is a way to take action outside normal social/political channels. Direct action can be violent or non-violent,

and usually targets people, groups or property that characterize the issue. When a climate activist drops a banner on the

smokestack of a coal power plant or occupies a government building, that is direct action. When all other options have

been exhausted, sometimes direct action can be used to directly pressure a stakeholder if he/she will not change his/her

position after using other tactics.

Direct action should always be non-violent, so as to show the opposition that we are willing to reconcile differences as

soon as they realize that they are morally wrong. If your group is considering direct action, make sure that you have

exhausted all other options, that you have evaluated what the

results may be, and accepted the risk, and have planned logistics

for any eventuality ahead of time. Direct action should not be taken

lightly.

Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws,

demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying

power, without resorting to physical violence.

When youth from Soweto township in Johannesburg stayed out

past their curfew, or African-American youth sat-in a lunch counters

and were arrested, they engaged in civil disobedience. Like direct

action, civil disobedience should be non-violent, but is sometimes

more involved, as participants may be bodily harmed because of

their refusal to follow laws.

As with direct action, civil disobedience can be very effective, but

should not be taken lightly.

Creative Tactics Don’t get stuck using the same tactics over and over – they will get boring for you, less exciting for participants and less

effective politically. There are a whole host of creative tactics you can use, from arranging a flotilla down a local river,

SIX PRINCIPLES OF NONVIOLENCE

From Martin Luther King, Jr.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence is a way of life for

courageous people.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence seeks to win

friendship and understanding.

PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence seeks to defeat

injustice not people.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence holds that suffering

can educate and transform.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence chooses love

instead of hate.

PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence believes that the

universe is on the side of justice.


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putting together an activist art installation, doing street theater, holding a vigil or prayer service, or any other publicly

engaging action. Invent a new one yourself! Rally/March This is our bread and butter. The team behind 350.org have organized and attended hundreds of rallies and marches.

Why? Because they are fun, easy and often the most effective ways to get people involved from the smallest village to the

largest metropolis. They can be celebratory and fun for the whole family, and still garner media and become moments of

public pressure. Rallies and marches, if done right, can uncover a movement that may have previously been invisible at a

local, national or international level. They can also provide the energy and morale boost your group needs to continue the

hard work of solving climate change.

Over the past few years, we’ve interviewed thousands of climate organizers around the world, and have come up with an

easy 9-step plan to help you organize your rally or march.


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Team Work: Tactics

Goal: To understand the toolbox of tactics that is available to a campaigner, and when those tactics should be utilized.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 45 min.


2. Look over the three campaign situations provided. List and

discuss what tactics might work in each case, and why.

20 min

3. Review the goal and power map for your campaign, and write

down some tactics that may work in your community.

10 min

4. Discuss with your team why the tactics you chose might work. 10 min

Below are three campaign situations that an organizer might run into. Think through and discuss the best option in terms

of targets and tactics – it can be either one or a combination – that will work:

1. You are trying to get your Mayor to agree to fund the installation of a photovoltaic solar panel array on the primary

school in your town. Despite repeated attempts to set up a meeting with the Mayor to discuss this opportunity, she does

not respond to your requests, and avoids bumping into you and other prominent members of your climate action group

while walking around town. What do you do?

2. You’ve been working with a local pickle-making factory to green their practices, since they dump hundreds of gallons of

briny garlic water into a nearby estuary daily. They recently introduced recycling bins into their employee cafeteria and put

bike racks outside the main office, and now market themselves as “the first green pickle producer in the province,” even

though they are still dumping hundreds of gallons of waste water into a fragile marine ecosystem. What do you do?


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3. You’re deep in the planning process for your October 24 event; You’ve gotten a group together and decided to focus

your efforts on convincing your representative to Parliament or Senate to vote for an upcoming bill that will regulate

carbon dioxide emissions from all power plants and factories. A group of private power plant operators in your district that

have hired professional lobbyists to oppose the bill. How can you effectively use your October 24 event to put pressure on

your representative to do the right thing? What combination of targets/tactics might work?

Now, review what the goals and targets are for your local/regional/national campaign, and think about what combination of

tactics may work. Remember that the order and timing in which you apply each tactic matters – sometimes it helps to

think of campaigning as a game of chess, and try to anticipate a few moves ahead of where you are.

Write down how you might apply tactics to your campaign here:


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Doing a lot with a little

Make It Cheap. Inevitably at some point in your organizing, you’ll be asking yourself the following question: “Who’s going

to pay for all this?” For Step It Up, keeping it cheap was one of our priorities. First, because we had too—as a completely

new ad hoc group, we began with zero cash in our coffers. We also knew an important thing about money, though, which

is that it often slows you down. In our experience, every dollar an organization raises is often another minute or hour

fighting over how to spend it. Dollars, like all resources, are best used in moderation. Still, you’re going to have to cover

your costs:

Hold down expenses. You won’t need to worry about money if you don’t need to spend it. In fact, money is often used as

a substitute for creative thinking.

Use your local resources. Of course, some events require more than a banner and a canoe. When planning larger

events, costs add up quickly, but only if you’re going at it alone. When it comes to organizing a big event in your

community, the best way to keep costs down is something you learned in kindergarten: sharing is caring. As you plan an

action or campaign, think about the people you know who may have the supplies or skills you would normally pay for.

Need a banner? Try calling up a friend who is an artist or seeing if kids at a local school will make one as part of an art

project. Don’t have the money to pay for speakers and a microphone? Maybe those kids down the street with the garage

band will lend you their equipment if you let them play a song or two. Need food? See if a local business will sponsor your

event in return for some free publicity.

All of these options have one main thing in common: making friends. As many scholars have pointed out, it’s no

coincidence that as we spend more of our own money, we tend to forget about how much our community can provide for

us. By learning how to effectively use your community resources, you’ll not only save money, but also strengthen your

group.

Fundraise effectively. When it comes down to it, sometimes you’re simply going to need to shell out some dough. If

you’ve exhausted all your other options and know that you’re going to need to spend some money, then it’s time to do

some quick fundraising. Think about fun and creative ways to get people to pledge money—especially ways that

somehow connect with your community or cause. Ideally, every member of your group or community will contribute what

he or she can. For some, that means hours of hard work; for others, it means financial resources. When people give

money, don’t just take it and run. Keep in touch with them, share your future ideas, listen to theirs, and involve them in

your organization just like you would involve someone who is volunteering to pass out flyers in the park. And most

important, thank them for their support!

Be Homemade—It’s Better. If you had all the money in the world, and all the time in the world, you could be completely

polished—but that can detract as much as it can add to the success of your event. Speed requires that you throw a

potluck, not a formal dinner party, and if you’re like most of us, an informal potluck will be more fun and more accessible

than a perfectly prepared formal banquet—leave those to the corporations. In general, politicians and the media pay more


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attention to work if it seems to come genuinely from the grassroots than from some over-organized effort.

Avoid Perfection. Organizers often think they have to have everything mapped out in order to run a campaign or start an

organization; they worry that no one will join them unless they’ve thought everything through in advance. That’s wrong.

People like to help out, they like to be involved in the decision-making process, and they like it when someone needs their

input. It turns out that it’s more important to commit—to jump in and say, “I’m going to organize a demonstration outside

the city council meeting next month.” You can put together the final pieces of the plan with other people as you go along.

If that means you don’t have an absolutely perfectly polished event, so be it—we’re not talking about your wedding here.

We’re talking about an event, one of many actions in a movement that may play out over years. You may be involved in

some or all of the campaign, or this may be your one moment of maximum participation, but don’t put it off because you’re

worried you don’t have a complete plan. Once you start, things will begin to fall into place.

In the end, this strategy actually leads to less work, not more. If you plan an action a year in advance, you will likely do a

year’s worth of work on it. If you plan that action three months in advance, you will only have three months of work, and

you’ll probably get almost as much success—a ten percent larger crowd isn’t worth the extra nine months of work,

especially since you can use that time to organize two or three more actions.

Build a Budget. It’s important to know what you have, and how much you need to run a campaign. A budget is a

document that details these facts precisely. Even though it’s precise, a budget is designed to give you an idea of how

much resources you might need. You don’t need to hold fast to it, nor should it dictate what you can and can’t do. And

remember, an effective action doesn’t have to be an expensive action.


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Team Work: Mobilizing resources, scaling cheaply

Goal: To map out the financial, material and human resources you have available, and to practice mobilizing new

resources.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 30 min.


2. Look at the tactics you wrote in the last exercise that may work

with your campaign leading up to and beyond October 24. For

each tactic, talk about and then list resources you might need.

10 min

3. Build a sample budget for your October 24 event. 10 min

4. Debrief 5 min

Look at your tactics to assess what kind of resources you may require, and then try to match up some of those needs with

your natural allies, many of whom you have listed in your power map. List them below:

Now think about ways to mobilize new resources, both inside and outside your community. Don’t forget that members of

your climate group, friends or family may have skills or resources they’re willing to lend. Use this space to draw up a

sample budget for your October 24 event.


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Session 14: Spreading the Word

Campaigning is all about communicating. You can be very well organized, have everything mapped out and planned to

the smallest detail, but if you can’t spread your story far and wide, you’ll have missed some great opportunities. This

session will help you make your own media online and off, and work with traditional media outlets like radio, TV and

newspapers.

Make it Seductive (to the media). There’s no guarantee that even if you do everything absolutely right you’ll get a lot of

coverage in the press. That’s because the news is inherently unpredictable—a big news story completely unrelated to

global warming could break the same day as your action. If you don’t get much coverage, don’t fret—you will have all the

good and lasting effects of educating the people you reach directly, no matter the news.

Yet, getting press coverage is worth the effort since it can multiply the effects of your hard work and gives everyone

involved a nice boost. And you can vastly increase the odds of getting coverage if you understand how reporters and

editors think—what it is that makes them want to write about or film a story, and then to give it good placement in print or

on broadcasts. With Bill McKibben’s lifetime of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, 350.org has an insider’s

insight into how the process works—and you will, too.

They Don’t Call It a “New”spaper for Nothing. The first thing to understand is that reporters and editors are deeply

interested in what’s new. And, by contrast, they’re deeply uninterested in anything they perceive as old—as yesterday’s

news. When we started planning 350.org, for instance, many people suggested that the climate movement needed a

massive march on Washington. We thought it was the wrong strategic idea for many reasons, including the mixed

message it would send to have people crossing the continent spewing carbon behind them in order to protest global

warming. But we had also noticed that recent big demonstrations on the mall in Washington or in New York’s Central Park

had received virtually no news coverage even though they had drawn hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. The

frustrating reason: reporters and editors saw them as ‘old hat,’ as a cliché. Take the early 2007 anti-war protest that

successfully mobilized tens of thousands of people on the Capitol. The Washington Post, one of the few newspapers to

give it any coverage at all, emphasized what they saw as the “newsworthy” part of the event: a few hundred militants who

skirmished with police. So we decided that a dispersed action all across the world would seem “new” and generate more

coverage, even if it drew no more total people than a big march on Washington. That proved right.

The same dynamic is probably at work in your city or town. If it’s the usual suspects doing the usual thing in the usual

place, there’s not much chance the press will show unusual interest. You should think beyond the standard rally or march

for something that is distinct enough to generate media interest. (This is a good idea for more than attracting the press, of

course—it’s also a good way to attract new people into the global warming movement.) Consider how to take advantage

of your place, your history, and your struggle in ways that entice media coverage.

The power of place. In Helena, Montana, local organizers Becca Leaphart and Ben Brouwer were originally planning a


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march through town, but they ran into problems getting permits—which turned out to be a blessing. When they were

forced to think a little harder, they came up with a truly inspired symbol to make the centerpiece of their action: the town’s

historic fire tower. For years, it had housed a fire spotter, who protected the forested community from wildfire; the tower

was known as “the guardian of the Gulch.” You couldn’t ask for better symbolism for a global warming rally—especially

when they recruited a city commissioner to help them get permission to ring the tower’s bell, which many in the

community had never before heard. Becca and Ben handed the first paragraph of the story to their local news reporters.

The power of history. Adi Nochur and his co-organizers in Boston wanted to highlight the danger of our dependence on

coal. The city did not have much visible connection to the coal industry, but it is a place rich in revolutionary history. So as

part of an international day of climate action in 2006, Adi and his friends staged a Boston Coal Party, dressing up in

colonial garb and dumping coal in the Boston Common in the spirit of America’s tea-dumping ancestors. The innovative

street theater powerfully connected the city’s special history with the dirty energy issue, and hundreds of people showed

up to watch the festivities and participate.

The power of struggle. People are inherently interested in hearing stories of struggle and success. Even walking fifty

miles is challenge enough to raise some drama—one reason our 2006 Vermont march raised attention was that by day

five, the TV cameras could take pictures of our blistered feet as we rested by the road. In 2007, a hardy crew of skiers

ascended one of the High Peaks in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in the midst of a blizzard. The picture of them

fighting their way to the top with a banner on climate change dominated the front page of the Albany Times Union, upstate

New York’s most important paper, the next day, and was picked up by scores of online news services.

Hook Them with a Story Line

Reporters love a narrative, a story line that lets them

understand why something is new and different.

If you can provide that narrative for them, if you can

almost write the story yourself, you’ll get covered.

That requires figuring out the angles that might

interest a reporter and going far beyond “We’re

having a rally and we hope a lot of people come”

and “global warming is really, really dangerous.”

Here are a few tried-and-true narratives that you can

adapt to your situation.

The superlative. Find a way to boast about your

action. Is it the “first interfaith gathering in the area

on global warming”? Is it “the longest march in Cairo

in a decade”? Is it “the biggest piece of aerial art

ever on an Indian beach”? Don’t make outrageous

claims (“perhaps the biggest” and “among the first” are useful phrases when you can’t prove your superlative without a

doubt), and if someone points out that there was a longer march the year before, thank them enthusiastically for letting


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you know—and think of something else to boast about.

David v. Goliath. There’s a temptation to make your organization sound bigger and more polished than perhaps it is—we

figure people will take us more seriously the more professional we seem. But that’s not always the case. With the media, it

can be an asset to be a little amateur, a little homemade. Reporters and editors are used to dealing with organized

interest groups with slick press releases, and often find it refreshing to get a different pitch. In discussing 350.org, we

usually emphasize that we are a handful of youth climate activists and a writer, and hence a little clueless. This has the

advantage of being both true and interesting, and has made the success of 350.org more remarkable. So invite a reporter

to see that you’re meeting around a kitchen table, let them know that you’ve organized four hundred people on $5. Keep

in mind, though, that this approach only works as a news story if David is beating Goliath.

Strange bedfellows. One of journalism’s favorite narratives is the happy odd couple. And it never seems to grow old, no

matter how odd. (The media also love the unhappy odd couple, as all the he said-she said coverage and news debates

attest, but you’re in this to build collaborations and a movement, not to make enemies.) Are you an evangelical pastor

concerned about global warming? Invite a secular environmentalist in to share your pulpit some Sunday before your

event, and let the local newspaper know. Are you a secular environmentalist? Find the local evangelical pastor who

shares your concerns, and make him or her a featured speaker at your rally.

Think Dramatically. In earlier sessions, we practiced many different methods for dramatizing your message. This is

especially crucial when it comes to the media, because there are a couple of problems with global warming from a

reporter’s point of view. For one thing, it happens more slowly than traditional news events. Its effects are also felt

everywhere, instead of in a particular place, that is, your hometown. In a sense, climate change is too big a story, so your

job is to break it down to reasonable size.

One way to do that is with the latest forecasts for what climate change will do to your area. Many good newspapers have

run series about such possible impacts, and someone at the local college or university will probably know where the latest

data on your region can be found. That’s good—but then you need to bring it to life.

Feel free to borrow ideas that others have used elsewhere—until something becomes clichéd, there’s no prize for

originality, so a crane hoisting a yacht will work in any coastal community until one of the events gets a national media hit.

Think about the striking visuals that define your community.

There are different kinds of drama, of course, and some you may want to avoid. Angry people are inherently dramatic,

because you never know if something will happen. For the moment, though, we think the climate movement has less to

gain from people being angry than from people pointing out that it’s completely reasonable and obvious to take steps

against global warming. The day may come when anger is the appropriate emotion—but in relation to the press,

understand that if there’s confrontation in your event, that’s the drama that will dominate the coverage. And it will drown

out any other message, so make certain it’s the message you want to get across.

Which leads us to the most important piece of advice about the media: when everything is over and done with, it’s largely

outside your control. Don’t worry too much. Good and bad images and stories are transitory, gone in a day or a week, and


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definitely by the time you start brainstorming your next action.

Manufacture Media Momentum. People like to be involved in things that promise to be successful, and reporters are

people, too. And one of the ingredients of a successful campaign is the impression of “snowballing”—that your supporters

and participants are numerous and growing. Much of the work that you do to build a crowd for your action will build

interest among the press. And vice versa.

An early step is to land your first article in a print publication, and a good place to start is the alternative paper in your

area—they’re likely to be well disposed to what you’re doing. Ditto the community radio station if there is one nearby.

Once you’ve got that clip or those tapes, send copies along to your contacts at the more mainstream press. You can do

the same thing with blog posts—collect a few about your action and forward them to the reporters you’re working with. In

general, press begets more press. Reporters are more comfortable running with a story if someone else is covering it.

You can bootstrap your way up the media food chain in this way.

But you don’t have to rely solely on getting people to write stories about you. The local press is wide open to uncensored

input from the outside. Letters to the editor can be very effective. Especially in a small community, they’re what people

turn to in order to take the temperature of the town in a given week.

Writing a good letter to the editor isn’t hard, and it needn’t be long. It isn’t necessary or even useful to recite the whole

story of global warming -- connect to something local, and then get the information out about your event:

Dear Editor: I was walking on the beach at Moanda last Sunday after reading the story in your paper about the possibility of sea level rise from melting ice shelves. I calculated that the twenty-five foot rise in sea level would be enough to submerge the whole city of Moanda—that’s the world we may be leaving our kids. Some of us here in Kinshasa are trying to do something about it. We’ll be holding a protest on Saturday, October 24 to urge our federal government to pass legislation that would halt deforestation in the Congo Basin. A team of windsurfers with that message on their sails will be playing in the waves. We’ll all converge on the beach at noon and form a human postcard to our leaders by lying in the sand. (Details are at 350.org.) I hope many of our neighbors will join in this day of action. It seems to me like the least we can do to help make sure our kids can enjoy the same Congo forest that’s meant so much to us.

You don’t even need a news story about global warming as a hook for your letter: Dear Editor:

It saddens me how often we hear news about the polarization of our politics between left and right—I think our country has gotten stuck in a rut, and it’s making it hard to deal with our most important problems, like global warming. That’s why I’m so glad that religious groups from around the county will be gathering for a special interfaith march to call for action on climate change. This is an issue that all people who care about God’s creation can agree on, from evangelical Christians to Unitarians, from Jews to Muslims. We’ll be walking a circuit of the seven houses of worship in downtown Johannesburg, stopping in each to offer prayers—and to replace the light bulbs in each sanctuary with new compact fluorescent lights that symbolize our hope for a new and brighter energy future. Our eighth and final stop will be at MEP Johnson’s district office, where we’ll deliver a petition asking for action from


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Pretoria to help in this effort. All are welcome to join—we’ll meet at the Lutheran Church at 10 AM on Saturday, April 6. Complete details can be found at circlethechurches.org. Religious people can go on looking for things to disagree about—there will always be plenty. Or they can concentrate on the things they have in common, namely a reverence for the world God has made.

Basically, your letter to the editor should convey the core of the idea in a sentence and then provide enough details that

interested readers can easily follow up. Keep it short—because if you don’t, either the paper will cut the text of your letter

for you or won’t find room to print it.

Your local public radio station may also feature listener commentaries that serve the same purpose. If there’s a radio call-

in show on a related topic, it might pay off to try to get a listener comment on the air that way. Finally, your local

commercial radio stations may have morning drive-time shows during which the hosts conduct five- to ten-minute

interviews with local residents. For these programs, it helps if the person can wield a sense of humor.


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Team Work: Making the Pitch

Goal: To practice making 1/3/10 minute pitches about your campaign to news media

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 45 min.


2. Write down 5 talking points about your campaign and how it links

with the international 350.org campaign.

10 min

3. Assign one teammate to act as an interviewer, one as a

campaigner and the rest as observers. Practice running a 1-

minute radio interview. Discuss how it went, then switch roles, and

repeat the same exercise.

10 min

4. Repeat the previous exercise, but practice the 3-minute pitch. 10 min

5. Continue to practice, honing your talking points as necessary 10 min

Talking Points:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Weak points and clever phrases:


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Working with reporters & writing a press release Sometimes even getting reporters to come to your event can be difficult – and sometimes they miss the point entirely. It’s

best to present them with a succinct, refined and informative 1-page document that gives them the story on a silver

platter, called a press release. It’s easy to get caught up in the details of putting one together, so we’ll make it as simple

as possible, and let you do the rest.

Create a Relationship. Now that you have your story pitches down, it is time to turn to the care and feeding of your

media list. Reporters and editors are extremely busy, but they are also much more community-minded than you might

expect—especially local reporters and editors (though the same principles apply at all levels of the business). Your job is

to be helpful to reporters—to provide them with information without being pesky.

The temptation when dealing with reporters is to send a press

release and leave it at that. But press releases drift into newsrooms

like snowflakes in a blizzard. It helps to get to know a reporter and

an editor early on in your work. Say you’re planning a rally two

months hence. Call or email and ask if you can meet with the editor

for ten minutes—chances are he or she will say yes. Journalists

want to know the people in their communities who will be making

news, and they like to have a sense (or a sneak preview) of what’s

going on.

Once you’re in the office, don’t use your ten minutes to explain why

global warming is a bad idea. The editor of the local paper or the

news director at the radio station cares less about global warming

than he or she does about the politics and news of your particular

town.

Instead, lay out the basic plan for your campaign—the things you

plan to do in the lead-up to your event, the kinds of people you

have involved so far. If there are a few things in your early planning

that seem unusual—and thus newsworthy—mention them; they

might spark interest in a feature story. Consider how the people

who would be featured would help pull in an audience for the

newspaper or station. Perhaps you’ve got a group of residents at the local nursing home who have volunteered to handle

the clerical chores or a group of school children who will be performing at the event—that will get their families reading,

clipping, watching, and video recording. But this isn’t the time to press for commitments on stories—all you’re doing is

establishing a relationship and demonstrating that you’re accurate, helpful, and not so self-righteous that they’ll need to

roll their eyes when you call with an update.

Practical Tip: Get Your Ten Minutes

What seductive words will get a reporter or editor to

accept your request to meet? You’ll need to craft a

two-sentence (or maybe three, if you include your

ID) query that makes the most of your news and

your narrative. You have about twenty seconds to

ask for your ten-minute meeting. Try something like

these:

“My name is John Smith and I’m a lifelong resident

of Anytown. For October 24, I’m planning what’s

shaping up to be the biggest rally in our town in two

decades and I would like to meet with you for ten

minutes to tell you about it.”

“My name is Jane Smith and I own the sporting

goods store on Main Street. I’m part of a community

group that will be demonstrating how global warming

will affect our town by “kayaking” down the new

coastline that will run right in front of my storefront.

I’d like to give you a sneak preview of our plans over

ten minutes on Thursday.”


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Choose a Single Point of Contact

You need to identify one person in your planning team as the main

contact for the press. That person will hold the initial meetings and

build the relationships with reporters and editors, and he or she should

have the ability to be informative without boring and persistent without

hectoring. As the media goes, your official contact is the public face of

the event. This doesn’t mean the person needs to be an expert, but he

or she should be self-assured, optimistic, confident, and convincing.

Your media contact should be easily available; a person who only

checks email weekly is no doubt virtuous, and probably saner than the

rest of us, but should be given a different job. Having enough sense for

how journalism works that the person can make the lives of editors

and reporters easier also helps—at the very least, your contact should

be prepared and willing to provide interested media with the phone

numbers and email addresses of local experts that can be interviewed

(which requires, to some extent, nurturing good relationships with the

experts, as well).

Everyone else on your organizing team should back off from calling reporters and editors directly. The last thing you want

is for six people to each call the same reporter, who will feel besieged and drop the story rather than sort out the right

contact for your event. But that doesn’t mean everyone else won’t play a role in helping to assure good coverage.

Create Advance Coverage

If you’re getting together to make signs for your demonstration,

have your official spokesperson invite his or her closest media

contacts, and let the reporters and editors know in advance that

there will be good visual images as you’re prepping for the big

event. Or plan “prequel” or “teaser” events for your action. One

idea is to deliver invitations to each of the members of your city

council in the week before. Tell the assignment editor the date and

time when you’ll be making the delivery, and add that you’ll be

giving each of the councilors a compact fluorescent light bulb at

the same time. The basic principle is that journalists often like to

cover things before they happen, whether you call it a scoop or

call it good community service. And you like that too, because it

builds momentum for your event.

By the same token, though, you need to acknowledge the last-

minute nature of the press. Some reporters may feel that if they cover the pre-event, there is nothing new to report once

Practical Tip: Watching the Byline

Want another way to build a close relationship

with a reporter or editor? Track the types of

stories that your local newspapers and radio

and TV stations like to cover that fit into the

narratives you’ll be pitching for your action—and

think beyond the science, environment, and

political beats. Who at the local affiliate tends to

be on camera when the station goes to the

retirement center to do a community feature?

Who likes to cover stories of ordinary folks

trying to fight The Man? Does your local paper

always cover any event that happens at Central

High? If you know who reports the sort of story

you want to place or what sorts of locales get

regular coverage, you’ll do a better job of caring

and feeding for your journalist.

Practical Tip: Spurring the Media

Carry a simple media contact phone and email list on

the day of your action so that you can make calls on

the spur of the moment in order to get spur of the

moment coverage.

Have your official media contact pre-write text

messages and add media email addresses to cell

phones so that he or she can send an email blast to

the list right half an hour before your event and as the

event kicks off or breaks news.

Ask members of your organizing team, including

anyone staffing a media check-in table at your event,

to add key press phone numbers to their mobile

phone address books before the day of the event.


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the main action arrives, and they may leave you wondering until the last minute about whether you’ll get any coverage at

all. If you’ve cultivated your relationships and done your homework, it’s reasonable to expect a payoff at the last minute,

which is when journalism (the ultimate last-minute profession) bites.

Build Last-Minute Buzz

But count on nothing. Instead, you need to work the media right to the last minute. In the final twenty-four hours before

your event, you want to create an overwhelming sense of urgency around it in the newsrooms.

Don’t worry any longer about a single point of contact—obnoxiousness is no longer a big issue. Have six, eight, ten

people call the news tips line for each of the papers and TV and radio stations the day before and the day of your event.

The callers don’t need to identify themselves as part of the planning team—they can just be citizens who have heard of a

big event that’s taking place the next day. Or they were just downtown and saw two hundred people gathering on bicycles

and wanted to let the station know. Precisely because news is a last-minute business, journalists are set to cover things

on the spur of the moment, and you want to provide that last spur to get them into action. Sometimes last minute really

means last minute.

While you’re following all this good advice, don’t forget to take some time to make your own media. We live in an age less

dependent on the formal press than any in American history—if you have access to a computer, you have a printing

press of sorts. Use it too.

Drafting a Press Release Writing press releases is an art – but anybody can do it! Start off

by following these simple steps:

Jot down words or ideas you want to include, then formulate draft

sentences from those ideas; forget about spelling, forget about

good vocabulary and just focus on the content first. Now that you

have a first draft, you can move on to carefully reread what it says

-- make sure your information is as specific as possible. Next,

decide on an attractive angle for your story (see the suggestions

earlier in this section.)

Here’s what the format of the press release should be like:

Headline: Include the most important/interesting news, in no more

than 7 words. Sometimes, readers of newspapers just read the

headlines so it is your chance to grab their attention.

Introductory paragraph: Describe the event.

Tips for a solid press release

Avoid any amazing, fantastic, best, biggest, smallest

and similar adjectives

Do not over use unnecessary words. Stick to your

facts.

Make sure you don‘t repeat yourselves.

Use large readable font.

Overcrowding your paper with information is not for

your advantage. Let each paragraph have one big

idea only.

Review the press release. Double check every fact,

name, date and quote.

Make sure someone else reads your release before

you start faxing it and ask them for their first and frank

opinion.

10. End with -30- centered on the page. This is a

world-wide agreed upon sign that your release has

ended.


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For example: Today, 10 350.org activists organized a concert at their school to raise awareness about energy efficiency

on campus. More than 200 individuals attended the concert, including students, parents, teachers and local municipality.

Second paragraph: Focus on the issue. So -- to continue the example above -- we can explain why climate change is

important, and how efficiency will save the planet and save money.

Quotes from key people: Need to hold the most interesting information, the punch line, and the one that would influence

the feelings or thoughts of the readers. Always include a quote by someone from your climate group – preferably the

leader. You can add one or two quotes from other key people, such as experts, decision makers or other partners.

After the quotes, you need to present and explain the solution – i.e. why you are taking action on climate change, and how

we will solve the problem. You can also add a quote at the end of this paragraph.

The last paragraph in the press release is your demand. What are you asking for? What is your goal?

Now you need to put your contact details so that the media can contact you for more information and materials (photos,

more facts, etc.)

Add ### to the bottom of the press release – this is so that reporters know where the critical information ends.

After the contact details, you add the editors‘ notes, which can include: a short paragraph (maximum 5 lines) about

350.org and your local climate group – i.e. who you are, and what you do.

Below is a sample press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

Rain or Shine, Lebanon Will Walk against Climate Change

NGO, Private and Governmental Sectors Call for Action on Climate Change Beirut 24 October 2009 – “Rain or Shine, President or No President, we are going to walk as a statement against Climate Change this Saturday,” stated Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director of the League of Independent Activists (IndyACT). This call for action, supported by HSBC, the main sponsors of the event, came at a press conference held by IndyACT at the Ministry of Environment. Other speakers at the press conference included Mr. Charles Hall, CEO of HSBC, and Mr. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. Mr. McKibben spoke via teleconference from London about the importance of the event in Lebanon. The climate walkathon in Beirut will be one of many held worldwide on the same weekend as part of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. The purpose of this global event is to call on the world leaders meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark this December to take urgent action against climate change. During the day, information about climate change will be distributed, and a petition will be signed that calls on the Arab League to support the fight against climate change.


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Mr. Hall said, “HSBC Bank worldwide has committed USD 100 million over the next five years to fund climate change projects around the world, and in Lebanon, by sponsoring the Climate Change Walkathon on 24 October, 2009.” McKibben added “The image of Lebanon around the world is that of war and political conflicts. This event on Sunday will show the world that Lebanon is still on the global map, and that the Lebanese public is still engaged with global problems.” “We can live a long time without a president, but we will not be able to survive one day without water,” said Hmaidan. “Climate change is the main threat to our water and agricultural resources in the future.” This conference served as one of the final calls from the three sectors – private (HSBC), governmental (Ministry of Environment) & NGOs – for all Lebanese to participate in the climate walkathon. The event follows an extensive publicity campaign characterized by the theme ‘draw the line.’ Walkathon Details: 24 October, 2009; starting 10 a.m. at Ein El Mreisseh (beginning of Corniche), Beirut. Contact: Wael Hmaidan, IndyACT Executive Director: Tel/Fax: +961-1-362592, mobile: +961-3-506313, email: [email protected]

###

About IndyACT IndyACT is a league of veteran environmental, social and cultural activists working together to achieve a healthy, safe and equitable planet. IndyACT uses non-violent direct and indirect actions to create the necessary pressure or to inspire the required change. IndyACT has already established regional and international campaigns on climate change, marine protection, waste management, and the rights of women and youth, among others. About 350.org 350.org is an international campaign dedicated to creating an equitable global climate treaty that lowers carbon dioxide below 350 parts per million. 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide; it's the number humanity needs to get back below as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change. www.350.org


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Make it Wired

The Internet has become the essential tool for building momentum behind the kinds of activism we describe, and there

are some crucial things to understand as you put it to use in planning your campaign.

In fact, we’d go further than that. While the pace of technological change can be a bit overwhelming, we see the Internet

as a way to help save our threatened planet. If a crisis of this magnitude had to strike at any time, it may as well be in the

Internet age. Tackling global warming is going to require an unprecedented level of collaboration and communication at

every level of society—and that’s precisely why it’s so vital that we learn to take advantage of the connections that the

internet provides.

But actions themselves don’t happen online—they are real-life, on-the-ground affairs, with neighbors coming together in

the flesh to demand change. We feel strongly that the Internet is best used to get people together face-to-face, for action

on the ground. Too many organizations have put a blind faith in the Internet, thinking that simply having a basic online

presence will immediately transform their group to a cutting-edge, international organizing miracle. But to effectively

harness the Web’s potential, you must have a strategy to guide your work and good set of tools to put your ideas into

action.

Online tools

While there’s nothing more important than meeting up and taking action face to face with other people, connecting and

showcasing your work online is a very important part of activism today. Be sure to post all your action reports, photos, and

videos at 350.org to share your action with the world. If you’re using Youtube, Flickr, twitter, digg or other websites where

you can tag content, make sure to use ‘350ppm’ as the tag.

First of all, make sure your event is registered at http://www.350.org. Use 350.org to unite your community to stop the

climate crisis and connect your efforts to a global movement. At 350.org, you can:

• Find or start a local group and an October 24 event.

• Create e-mail lists and discussion boards

• Share photos and files and more.

• Connect with allies and build a strong local climate action group.

It only takes a minute to join, so get started right away! Remember, its’ easy to get so caught up working on the web;

creating beautiful images and linking to magnificent sources of information that you forget to organize. Being wired is not a

substitute for actually making contact with the people in your community that you need to persuade, it’s one more tool for

making it easier. Use it wisely. A few tools to help multiply your impact:

Blogs

You have a lot of options when it comes to blogging. The tool that is easiest to set up (but also the least customizable) is

Blogger (www.blogger.com), which can get you up and running in a matter of minutes. If you need more functionality and


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flexibility, check out WordPress (www.wordpress.com) and TypePad (www.sixapart.com/typedad).

Photo sharing

Web sites like Flickr (www.flickr.com) allow you to create a centralized online repository of a large number of digital

photos and contribute photos to public “pools,” or groups of photos around an event, a theme, a city, a neighborhood, or

anything else you can think of. Using flickr you can easily embed photos into other Web sites and blogs. Make sure that

you tag your October 24 photos 350 and upload the best ones to 350.org as soon as your event is over.

Video sharing

There are only a few big players in the game of online video, with the most dominant being YouTube

(www.YouTube.com). After registering on their site, you can easily upload videos and embed any video in your web page

or blog. Make sure to tag your videos 350. If you want a higher file size limit, we suggest Vimeo (www.vimeo.com) or

BlipTV (www.blip.tv).

List Managers

If you’re trying to communicate with large numbers of people, using regular email might not cut it. When your list gets

bigger than a few dozen people, your messages can get flagged as spam or junk email. Listserves come in a few different

flavors – unless you are emailing thousands of people regularly, a free, Web-based service will do. We recommend

Google’s list manager, Google Groups (http://groups.google.com). Remember that once people have signed up to attend

your event at 350.org, you can email them all at once by logging into your 350.org account.

Social Networking

The rise of social networking tools, designed to help individuals create active online communities, has been truly meteoric.

While no social network is tailor-made for local action groups, they are evolving rapidly, and they are yet another way to

let your friends and their friends, know what you’re up to. While MySpace (www. myspace.com) and Facebook

(www.facebook.com) are the prototypical social networking sites, there are scores of others that are worth investigating.

Check out Orkut, Hi5, Friendster, SkyRock and LiveJournal. To stay updated with the latest 350 news, sign up for the

350.org groups, pages and events on each of these networks, and invite your friends to do the same.

It’s not enough to know which tools to use, but also how to use them wisely. Here are a few tips on how to make sure that

your content is as exciting as the online tools that you’re using:

Become an Email Guru

Though it may not be the most exciting tool in the box, email is nonetheless the cyber-activist’s single most powerful

weapon. You need to know how to craft compelling emails, send them out to many people, and handle large quantities of

incoming mail. In fact, the ability to write compelling emails may be the single most useful talent an organizer can

possess.

• Keep Your Message Focused. When sending out an email to a large group of people, make sure to keep it short

and sweet—if you make it too wordy, people will simply click “delete.” Try to keep each message focused on the

very next action steps people can take.


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• Break Up Your Text. Sometimes you will need to convey a lot of information in a single message. In these cases,

you should avoid long, stream-of-consciousness blocks of text. Instead, break down the information using bullet

points, underlines, paragraphs, and bold formatting.

• Nail the Subject. An email’s subject line can determine whether or not people even open the message. You get

fewer than a dozen words, and you need to make the most of them.

• Double Check. Nothing makes you feel ditzier than sending out an email to three hundred people only to realize

that you forgot to put in the location of your meeting or that you asked people to “Fight Global Worming.”

Mobile Activism

Mobile phones are quickly becoming more widespread than computers. Even in the furthest reaches of the Sahara desert

or the Congolese rainforest, people have cell phones and use them to communicate in various ways. There are a number

of ways to use your cell phone as an activist tool, from starting a text tree about your October 24 event to using twitter

[http://twitter.com] to hiring a third party vendor with a short code. The best way to get started is by building a mobile list at

events or planning meetings. Make an announcement and ask everybody who is in attendance to SMS his/her name to

your phone number (or another number set up for this purpose). You will then be able to store those numbers and names

in a spreadsheet or on a piece of paper.

When you have a piece of news to announce, or if you need something specific related to your campaign, send out a

mass text. Short, informative messages are usually more effective. NOTE: Using SMS for a campaign can be both

expensive for you, and annoying for your supporters, so try to keep your SMS use to a minimum – one message every

few weeks is probably a good rule of thumb.


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Make Your Own Media

In the last few years, the barriers that prevented people from generating online media have shrunk or disappeared

completely. Now, with little time and less money, you can get up and running within minutes as a blogger, digital

photojournalist, or YouTube videographer. It sounds hip and trendy, but there’s a catch: new media can’t be used simply

because they are “the new cool thing.” Thinking strategically about if, when, and how to deploy digital media is just as

important as having a grip on the technology itself.

• Blog it. Start your own blog and update it frequently. A blog post should be fairly short, be about a discrete

subject (plans for a particular rally, a word about a particular politician), and be written with confidence and just a

bit of brio. It should take advantage of your collaborations—inviting people to write guest posts or post comments

livens up the blog, provides an accessible space for fresh ideas and encouragement, and offers one more

opportunity to involve everyone.

• Play Tag. Another way people will find your blog is through “tags,” self-made indexing words that you can attach

to your blog post, pictures, tweets, social network updates or other web tools. Invent a tag specific to your

campaign, and use it whenever you put content on the web. Use ‘350ppm’ whenever you want to tag something

related to October 24 or the 350.org campaign.

• Take a picture. A picture says a thousand words, or in this case, just one number...

Your action photo is KEY, and here’s why: on October 24th,

a cascade of photographs from diverse and beautiful

actions in every corner of the planet, will come together on

the web to reflect how big this global climate movement

really is. Taking a great action photo that incorporates the

number 350, and submitting it to the 350 website is one of

the best ways to show the world the powerful work your

community is doing on climate change, and to link it with other efforts around the globe. Here are just a few tips:

• Designate a photographer: it could be a professional, a volunteer, a friend – whoever you can find that can take

a good photo and make sure to be reliable. Don’t have a camera? Fortunately they’re becoming more accessible

than ever these days, so look around for a local university, library, or friend that might have one you could borrow.

You can even use the camera on your cell phone (but a high-resolution camera would be much better.)

• Put it on the agenda: make some time in your event schedule to get everyone together to take a photo.

Nothing’s worse than realizing everyone’s gone home before you can take a photo to remember it. Some

questions to ask yourself: Will you have a lot of people? Where could you take the photo from to get a shot of the

whole crowd? How can you capture the backdrop of your iconic location in the photo?

• Upload the photo as soon as you can! Get to your computer or an internet cafe right away to upload your best

action photos at 350.org. The sooner you do that, the more you’ll be able to help the coordinating team get the

message out to the media about the amazing actions that happened all around the globe. Send the photos

around to your email list.


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• Make sure we know where you are. We often receive beautiful photos from organizers who have painstakingly

spelled out 350 in some creative way or another, but they forget to tell us where they took the photo. When you

upload your photo, add the location to the caption, or include the name of the place in the photos itself. For

example, a banner with Kinshasa for 350 or 350 Kinshasa will help people looking at your photo elsewhere in the

world recognize where you are instantly.

• Make a video. Digital story telling is now more accessible than ever, with the advent of YouTube and cheap video

cameras. Consider taking video as a compelling way to get the word out before your event, document your action, and

amplify your impact. Here are just a few tips to keep in mind to make your video stand out:

• Avoid the talking head. There’s nothing less interesting than watching 3 minutes—or even 30 seconds—of a

person talking at their desktop computer’s webcam.

• Choose lively locales. Let the background in your video provide some visual interest and play up your local angle.

• Take steady, easy-to-watch shots that can be spliced with other video using quick cuts in your editing software

• Don’t have a camera? Record audio — particularly if you can include music — and create a podcast (audio file)

that can be shared on the web or sent to your local radio station as a PSA.

• Focus on what’s fun, funny, or what you’d want to watch. That’s what makes a video go viral.

• Upload the video. YouTube is a great first choice. For higher-quality or longer videos, use Vimeo.com or blip.tv.

Make sure to include the video in your report-back at 350.org as soon as you can.


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Team Work: Record your story

Goal: To practice telling your story and spreading the word using new media tools.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 45 min


2. Think back to your Story of Myself, Story of Us and Story of Now.

Choose one teammate to film, one to tell the story, and the others

to observe. Practice telling your full story (in 3 minutes) in front of

the camera.

15 min

3. Watch the film, and provide feedback on the story and the

videography. Switch roles, and repeat.

15 min

4. Film a final version on your story for each teammate, and then

upload to a computer.

10 min


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Session 15: October 24 Planning

This is what you’ve been waiting for – putting all the pieces together into a campaign plan leading up to and beyond

October 24. You’ve repeated your story a gazillion times, learned all about climate science and policy, power-mapped

your community, got creative with targets and tactics, practiced your media pitch and made your own media. Whew!

Now, it’s time to put it all together in a coherent document. Why is it so important to put it all down on paper? For one, it’s

easier to engage people, evaluate your resources and ask for help when you have a clear picture of what your goals,

targets and tactics are. Secondly, in the middle of your campaign, when you’re running 100 miles per hour towards your

goal, it’s easy to lose sight of the path you set for your group. If you have everything spelled out for yourself and your

group to see, it’s easy to evaluate whether, working with a local union or church on a related campaign, for example, will

get you closer to your goal.

Finally, a campaign plan is where you put all of your goals, targets and tactics on a timeline. On a campaign, progress

often happens in fits and starts, and is difficult to predict. But, if you at least have a rough outline of the road ahead, with

interim goals and events, what may seem impossible at the start (getting leaders of the world to sign an agreement that

puts us on the path to 350ppm), suddenly seems doable. As an organizer, your job is to work with your community to

make what may seem impossible, possible. The first step is designing a plan to get it done.

Writing a campaign plan: Nuts & Bolts

A campaign plan has a pretty standard form. It takes some research and some serious thinking (usually best done in a

small group of 3-6 key people). You will want to use a precise, confident tone throughout, and try to make it a narrative

piece rather than a list of ideas. Make sure it’s succinct and readable to people outside your organization, but don’t share

it publicly unless you need to – you don’t want your opponents to know all of the moves you’re planning! The good news is

that you’ve already thought through most of the pieces you need throughout this training. Let’s take a look at what a

campaign plan might look like:

I. Introduction. An introduction should include a little bit about who you are, and what your main and secondary goals

are. It should provide a brief overview of the campaign plan so that somebody reading it for the first time will know what is

coming later in the plan.

II. Background. Here’s where you put all the information about climate change, how it’s affecting your community, and

the history of your climate group. Don’t be shy about putting statistics in this section, but make sure it’s readable for a

general audience. Describe the political situation in your community, region, town and the world (from your power map),

but make sure to tell the story so that it leads the reader to the solution that you’re proposing – your campaign!

III. Rationale. This is where you set forth your campaign targets and tactics, and explain why they are the right ones to

use in your situation. Describe how you will build power, what tactics you will use, how you will achieve your goals, and

whom you will get on board.


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IV. Field. If your focus is to empower the public, you may want to describe you “field” tactics, which include recruitment,

phone banking, going door-to-door, and other one-on-one tactics. Chances are, most of your work will be field work, so

just describe those activities in this section.

V. Media. We’ve talked about the importance of involving the traditional news media and creating your own content.

Describe your media plan in this section – you don’t need to list specific outlets, but include a general overview of how you

will engage media through your October 24 event and other public venues.

VI. Online. Increasingly, organizers are thinking strategically about how to implement myriad online tools that are at our

disposal on the internet. Use this section to describe how you will use blogs, podcasts, online video and audio, email and

listserves to build power and spur online-to-offline action.

VII. Timeline. This is perhaps the most important part of your campaign plan. Think through all the moving pieces, your

context and goals, your allies and resources, and try to sketch out a feasible timeline for your campaign. Keep in mind that

snappy, quick campaigns can sometimes create more energy and generate more power than long drawn-out affairs. That

said, things often tend to move more slowly than we expect. You can do a week-by-week or month-by-month calendar,

making sure to include internal goalposts for the campaign (“I will have X done by Y week) and critical events and

holidays. This will let you envision your campaign into the future, and provide your group with a sense of urgency and

mission.

VIII. Budget. Think about the resources you have, and the resources you need. Don’t inflate your budget, and consider

where you partners can help you with non-monetary resources. Make sure the budget doesn’t sit center-stage in your

proposal – it’s more for you than for anybody else.

IX. Conclusion. Use this section to review your goals, targets, tactics and timeline, and piece together a short paragraph

telling why your campaign will be successful.

Be flexible!

Too often, organizers come up with campaign plans that they cling to throughout a campaign – even if some aspects

prove to be ineffective or a time suck. The #1 rule of organizing is be flexible. Use your plan as a roadmap, but don’t be

afraid to stray off the highway occasionally – you may find something worth pursuing, or a short cut! Some organizers

change their campaign plan document daily or weekly, and others write new ones as the campaign develops and new

ideas, tactics and targets reveal themselves.

Whatever way you do it, give yourself time to evaluate your campaign plan as the campaign develops. Some tactics and

targets are going to be worth pursuing, while others may prove to be inconsequential or resource-intensive. Use your

budget, your gut and your good judgment to decide where to spend your limited financial and human resources.


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Team Work: Write a Campaign Plan

Goal: To write your campaign plan leading up to October 24 and beyond.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 45 min


2. Write an outline of your campaign plan (no need to write full text). 30 min

3. Discuss your campaign plan with your small team and give

feedback.

10 min

4. Continue to develop your campaign plan, and use the skills you’ve

learned in your afternoon track to present it in a creative way to

the large group.

Outline your campaign plan here. Make sure to include your plans leading up to October 24, and how it will fit into your

longer timeline:


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The End?

Thanks for being part of the first ever 350Speaks Climate Advocacy Institute. We hope that the sessions were both

useful and fun, and that you had a chance to talk with some of the most inspiring climate organizers in the world.

If you’re anything like us, your head is probably spinning right now with ideas and energy that you will bring home to your

communities. Don’t be surprised if you run into some skeptics or some people who move more slowly than you. Stay in

touch with each other and the 350.org staff. All of us are resources, so even when you’re in the depths of despair, or

stressed about a hard decision you have to make, consider us a safety net. A true leader never leads alone.

350.org staff will be in contact with you many times over the net few months to make sure that your October 24 plans are

going smoothly, but don’t hesitate to reach out to us with questions, ideas, concerns or thoughts. Our contact information

is below. Let’s not think about this as the end of the Climate Advocacy Institute, but rather the beginning of a youth climate

movement that will take the world by storm.

Keep up the good fight.

In Solidarity,

Phil, Will, Farah, Adnan and the 350.org and IndyACT Team

1505 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20037 USA +1 202 640 1838 [email protected] http://350.org

IndyACT, Nahr Street, Rmeil, Jaara Building, 4th Floor, Beirut, Lebanon PO Box 14-5472, Beirut, Lebanon +961 1 447 192 [email protected] http://indyact.org


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350.org workshop guide

Technology