In 2007, together with university friends, Bill McKibben (well known author and environmentalist) ran a campaign called Step It Up which organized over 2,000 rallies at iconic places in all 50 US States. According to 350.org, these actions--from skiers descending a melting glacier to divers hosting an underwater action--helped convince political leaders, including then Senator Barack Obama, to adopt our common call to action: cut carbon 80% by 2050.
Since then, the 350.org has developed into an international campaign (placed at an especially important few weeks before Copenhagen in December) to urge leaders to support legislation which lowers carbon emissions to 350ppm. This simple idea is embodied in the following chart. From the chart, it seems straightforward what the obligations of civil society (including you and I) and government are until 2050. Of course, now the big question will be--will world leaders take up these issues at Copenhagen? Later this week, I'll reveal an interesting and effective way to get inside Copenhagen and set the agenda for those inside the conference--as I'm preparing to attend. More soon.
For now, I've described some key reasons why 350.org was successful in capturing powerful and numerous images happening globally. What's their motivation, is the campaign really necessary? And how might we find answers to reducing emissions? According to 350.org,
[Reducing emissions to 350ppm] will be a hard task, but not impossible. We need to stop taking carbon out of the ground and putting it into the air. Above all, that means we need to stop burning so much coal—and start using solar and wind energy and other such sources of renewable energy –while ensuring the Global South a fair chance to develop. If we do, then the earth’s soils and forests will slowly cycle some of that extra carbon out of the atmosphere, and eventually CO2 concentrations will return to a safe level. By decreasing use of other fossil fuels, and improving agricultural and forestry practices around the world, scientists believe we could get back to 350 by mid-century. But the longer we remain in the danger zone—above 350—the more likely that we will see disastrous and irreversible climate impacts.
The following are nine innovative ways the 350.org campaign used social media tools: 1. Grassroots-style events organizing (making international co-ordination possible)
2. Clear, wordless (internationally-applicable) video mission in under 2 minutes (above)
4. Effective use of 350 Twitter account inclunding a well-designed Twitter background, Twibbon and Tweets to highlight positive feedback from 350 participants and hashtags #350 and #350ppm for quick connections 5. Extremely usable website which invites participants to interact and review photos from around the world
6. One symbolic graph that defines the campaign (picture above)
7. Offline stuff like T-shirts to buy to improve organisation, but also point back to and support website brand 8. Two cool widgets. First, updates of number of actions and countries--involved tracking 350 events in real-time; secondly, a widget to update participants via text. These two widgets invited some serious feedback, and supported the over 5000 events which happened internationally!
9. A Facebook group that supported 350.org, but also co-created conversations around the event to engage participants in a place they likely visit daily
Things they could've done better (with more funding, maybe?) 1. Enable video sharing and embedding with code on their site, like what TED has pioneered (pictured on the left) 2. A more streamlined approach to tagging photos--Can't we tag photos via flickr? Would that be less time intensive?
Generations to come might call this the Generation or "Era of Change"; a time when enterprise and civil society came together to make impossible decisions. What was necessary was nothing less than international climate legislation; using all available tools to solve historic errors which mutilated environments and ecosystems.
As of 19 October 2009, there are 48 days until Copenhagen. Until then, environmentalists, concerned citizens, businesses and developing economies, like those of the South Asian Nations hope highly developed economies (like the US, EU, Australia and Canada) agree to move forward. We are writing history fuelled by passion and innovative ways to spread ideas. Active campaigns such as TckTckTck in the US and 10:10 in the UK (amongst dozens of others) are building momentum.
Today, social media marketers (in addition to other media outlets, like tv and radio) have the responsibility to consider our historical--and carbon--footprint. (I've pledged 10 percent reductions by 2010 [including going vegetarian, limiting international flying to friends and family and pushing for solar energy at home and work] have you?) As Seth Godin noted in Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, tribes have existed since the beginning of humankind. Today, social media tools enable more people to communicate with their communities than ever before.
Today is the time to galvanize the power your tribe today? Use viral marketing to create an "Era of Change". Why not include a Twibbon on your Twitter avatar? Spend some time learning more about what you and your friends can do to mitigate your carbon footprint or learn ways you can reduce your footprint today and tomorrow? Why not contact your local leader and be a leader yourself? Join me on the hunt for the world's most influential climate leader on the running up to Copenhagen.
Why not make use of that server space and connect with your Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or other community about environmental issues? I challenge you to use social media creatively to communicate about a local initiative for citizens or activists running up to Copenhagen. Feel free to connect with me at eg(at)carbonoutreach.com about regional events making significant change in your country, PLEASE!
I've submitted this blog in Blog Action Day. Over 8,000 bloggers from 144 countries--totaling 11+ million viewers are covering climate change today, 15 October. Exciting, motivating and moving--considering there are less than 2 months to Copenhagen. I remain optimistic for global climate legislation in December. Keep me optimistic by speaking about Copenhagen to friends and co-workers.
Energy saving light bulbs (albeit ~16+ per chandelier) lit mammoth ceilings, supported by Gothic pillars at Southwark Cathedral. The surroundings certainly made the participant feel God had something grand to say about stopping disastrous climate change. Indeed, Operation Noah invited the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Rowan Williams) to speak and his mastery of theology was more than clear. Both eloquent and inspiring, Rowan urged for action before Copenhagen.
Quoting Genesis and referencing Noah's Ark, the Archbishop noted extreme displeasure of continuously expanding financial growth. This, according to the Archbishop, was foundational for humans' need to uphold humanity (including all living things, like Noah did when he ushered animals two-by-two [ie. breeding pairs] into his Ark to continue humanity [ie. the ecosystem]). Today, it seems, we've lost a sense of what life is, especially as a web of interactions; givings and receiving. In that era of constant growth, the respect for humanity and life has been lost. Moreover, the financial crisis shows that we've been in amnesia about our calling.
Most influential for me--the Archbishop noted changing ourselves would probably be the most difficult. The Church of England promises an 80% carbon emissions reduction by 2050. Even the Archbishop cannot answer all questions. Several questions from the audience were persistently difficult, including: What about expanding populations (the world cannot handle an infinite population, but does that mean some people shouldn't have children)? What is the Church of England doing to promote interfaith dialogue to create climate legislation at Copenhagen? For me, how do I balance the love for my family abroad with the love for God's higher calling for all of us to love humanity?
There are no easy answers, and no simple ways to solve this mess we've gotten ourselves into. But it seems the Archbishop recommends trying to find happiness first and being committed to reducing thereafter. And actually--this is a seriously smart idea. This might actually answer lots of questions; solve many problems--and reduce lots of carbon on the way. Until then, maybe we should all have a think of happy things that don't waste carbon, hey?
In the following analysis, I describe how sustainability-focused organizations could use the power of political organizing to gain the financial and human-capital resources needed to urge governments to make global climate legislation for Copenhagen 2009.
Barack Obama's Nobel Prize in Peace has sparked me thinking about political organizing. The Barack Obama election was historical for several obvious reasons, including its successful fundraising campaign. In October 2008, Obama organizers pointed the BBC to its 632,000 new donors in September 2008 alone. At the time, the total number of donors was 3.1m (average donation in September: $86). By November 2008, the Obama campaign raised more than any other political campaign in history; over $630m.
The Obama campaign also benefited from the support of thousands of volunteers. Obama's campaign was organized for outreach in many ways, which included getting the support of hundreds of bloggers with RootsCamp (now @NewOrganizing). For the more traditional canvassers, Camp Obama taught volunteer co-ordinators how to mobilize other volunteers to knock on doors. Americans abroad called counterparts using American-registered Skype accounts with the Neighbor-to-Neighbor tool. In the States, you could come into your local Democrat office (or the occasional temporary workspace created in the nook of a local Democrat establishment) and meet other inspired Democrats to organize events. On the regional and local level, activism was strong because of good organization. At NetSquared New York City in November 2008, Australian Volunteer Co-Ordinator Mike Smith (Campaign Director for an Australian MP) even talked about how impecably clean databases were for other Obama volunteers when he spoke on maintaining campaigns 'on the cheap' (otherwise known as lots of volunteer time).
You could register online with Change.gov, watch inspiring YouTube videos, including well-maintained databases of swing voters and volunteers. The Democrats were finally up-to-speed on ways to engage target audiences. This online and offline community was nurtured through offline mantra's like what was noted in the Huffington Post, "Respect. Empower. Include." The Huff also noted,"Good organizing changes the world."
Although unsuccessful, Howard Dean made a deep impact on the use of social media for grassroots organizing in his campaign for the Democrat seat during the 2004 Presidential election. Although his campaign wasn't as historic, it plays its own role in history, including the way Dean campaigner's and enthusiastic supporters staged 'Meetups'. The phenomenon was around the use of an 'internet site called Meetup.com'. The New York Times also noted Howard Dean's campaign was 'groundbreaking' because of the way it got many smaller donors, rather than the traditional smaller number of large-scale donors.
The difference, said Joe Trippi (November 2008), Head Organizer of the Howard Dean campaign, was that Obama was able to harness the power of Web 2.0 tools, and "he [Obama] was able to move thousands of people to organize". Trippi noted the importance of the 14.5m hours of YouTube videos; as valuable as 14.5m hours on broadcast TV (estimated cost: $47m).
In the same way, grassroots organizing for campaigns such as TckTckTck, 10:10, PowerShift (Australia, UK and USA), Hopenhagen, ClimateVoice (along with regional initiatives like E-Day) channels the support of thousands--if not millions--of participants internationally. This, laid onto the already established networks in communities across the world with organizations such as NetSquared, Green Drinks, Avaaz, Transition Towns and more conserve e-mail networks such as Climatini for carbon financiers. Environmentalists already have existing networks in place to spring to action for the call of duty (ie. today's Greenpeace protesters occupying Houses of Parliment to publicize climate change action), and new networks are springing up weekly to support local sustainable development. This is a wonderful sign!
The question that now remains is: how will green companies and organizations utilize the power of social networks for their benefit? Will social enterprises and non-profit organizations have enough engagement (similar to the 'Respect. Empower. Include.' mantra of Obama's campaign) that volunteers and consumers will continue to investing in their idea? It seems clear that today--businesses and non-profits should be clear that global climate legislation is necessary and can work alongside health legislation. Indeed, Obama recently signed a 15-page Environmental Executive Order, outside of the Climate Bill begin [not likely] debated in the Senate. The United States--one of several of the highest emitting and earning countries in the world! Also, says the Pew Center, the States will be 'the single greatest obstacle to an effective global climate effort'. If there ever was a time to get involved with motivating fellow constituents of the importance of climate legislation--now is it!
One organization (that just had an affiliate event in London 9-11 October) is PowerShift. Powershift started through the Energy Action Coalition in June 2004 by youth climate leaders. The North American branch now has 36 active and 14 supporting partners. Regional Summits and events made this organization successful and spread the world to Australia and the UK. There are several reasons why PowerShift resonates with young people, but probably one of the ways that PowerShift has been most successful is in the use of social media (and particularly Twitter). This is because their strategy was, like Howard Dean's, to get participants to meet offline--demonstrating in front of the White House for green jobs, Flash Dancing in Syndey or unConferencing in London. Simply: social media and 'digital activism' is not only about digital. Like Howard Dean's 'meetups', online and social networks are only as strong as their and even websites like offlinenetworks.
With millions of potential environmentalists waiting for business, government and civil society for Copenhagen, now might be the ideal time to start considering how your company or organization might support climate change development. Of course--considering Blog Action Day is on 15 October. The topic: climate change. Don't hesistate to do your bit to support global climate legislation this December at Copenhagen.
This simple idea is embodied in the following chart. From the chart, it seems straightforward what the obligations of civil society (including you and I) and government are until 2050. Of course, now the big question will be--will world leaders take up these issues at Copenhagen? Later this week, I'll reveal an interesting and effective way to get inside Copenhagen and set the agenda for those inside the conference--as I'm preparing to attend. More soon.
