It’s tremendously exciting to start hearing more and more stories from people around the world who are brainstorming and sorting possible action plans for 24 October. One such story I picked up not from the organzers contacting us by email but from reading the news! (with a little help from Google) The Sun Journal newspaper of Farmington, Maine, USA, published a story about The University of Maine at Farmington Sustainable Campus Coalition hosting a meeting to discuss plans for October 24th. (The image on this post is the group’s logo — I like it.) Click here to read the story.
Full plans aren’t in place yet for what they will actually be doing in Farmington for 24 October. But that’s completely ok. In fact, the way these students are approaching their planning process is just right. Here’s what I mean:
First, it’s always wonderful to see groups commit to take the lead and activate their community for the day of action — really, it’s what keeps us going here at 350 headquarters in the face of all the bad news from the climate science world. This is the only way for the movement to grow — an individual or a group stepping up to take action and inviting others to get involved. Second, with enough time to do some good planning, these students are inviting participation from the broader community and engaging the local media with the story! For this movement to have the largest impact possible, we need to invite everyone imaginable to be involved, and sharing the story of our work and our activism within the media increases the chances that those who aren’t directly engaged can hear our message and take up the cause.
So, let these young climate solutions leaders of Maine be an example to all of us as action organizing and planning continues in the coming months.
We’ve done our best to write up a simple 9 Step Organizing Plan for folks who might be new to community organizing. You’ll see some strong similarities, but also differences, in the approach we oulined and what the students in Maine are doing now. None of this is an exact science, and we mostly just ask that everyone invest whatever creativity and energy they can. In the work we have been doing coordinating 350.org and Step It Up before that we have heard story upon story of different ways of effective action and community organizing (in fact, at one point we wrote a whole book about it). In the end, do what works for you and for your community, in your own place. And if you think you have tips and ideas that will be valuable to other organizers in your part of the world or anywhere, by all means, please get in touch. Onwards!