A new climate campaign is testing whether relentless civil disobedience can stop Citi from backing the fossil fuel industry. It is an experiment: Can sustained disruption play a major role in toppling support for the fossil fuel industry from a big bank like Citi? First of all, it’s about a wide range of constituencies being disruptive. Also, to sustain disruption, we need more people, period, which requires many recruitment methods. Specifically, this campaign has partnered with community-based organizations to activate existing membership bases, and with grassroots groups and NGOs small and large to send email blasts to recruit supporters into mass calls and meetings. The campaign has also hired campaign fellows and activated volunteers to phone, text bank and flier, sticker and put up posters. This campaign is an organizing project that seeks to recruit and empower many more people and groups to step into escalated risk and disruption.

Here are practices based in the science of motivation, performance and well-being to improve the quality of political organizing trainings. Connect the activity to its impact on other people or the world. Present goals and timelines as valuable information that is necessary for achieving a shared goal. Be clear about any requirements, guidelines, or boundaries. Provide a meaningful rationale for requests and requirements. Acknowledge and accept negative feelings and affect. Provide appropriate scaffolding (training, shadowing, role-plays, etc.).

Despite widespread discouragement among climate activists, a tested blueprint for successful movements shows immense progress being made. There are patterns movements follow as they expand from the political fringes to start shaping national decisions. One framework for identifying these is the eight-stage “Movement Action Plan,” or MAP, articulated by activist and scholar Bill Moyer in 1987. According to Moyer, during Stage One of the MAP unjust conditions “are maintained by the policies of public and private powerholders, and a majority of public opinion.” During the MAP’s Stage One, the status quo is reinforced by the public’s misconception that if something were seriously amiss, officially sanctioned forms of advocacy like lobbying should be sufficient to rectify the problem. The next stage of the MAP involves conditions aligning to create a political environment where the birth of a broad-based movement becomes possible—this may involve national or global events over which activists have little control. Then, all successful movements experience a moment when they enter the public consciousness and become a potent political force, usually after a trigger event that grabs people’s attention. The climate movement has already progressed through most stages of the MAP can provide activists with a sense of clarity about what work has already been done.

Underdogs can use the same strategies as more powerful actors do against their powerful opponents. In this podcast episode, Deepak and Stephanie discuss some great examples of how to counter corporate power, use PSYOPS against white supremacists, and drive wedges in elite coalitions. They also explore other lessons progressives can take from the “overdogs’” (i.e., more powerful actors) playbook: crafting long-term plans, recruiting based on belonging rather than belief, and using data-driven evaluation paired with the lean startup model for organizing. And overdogs today invest in strategic education at a scale that dwarfs anything on the left. Their commitment is captured in the slogan of the right-wing Leadership Institute, which has trained over 200,000 people: “You owe it to your philosophy to learn how to win.”

It is critical that folks dedicated to protecting our children’s chance at a future continue to engage in solution-making processes, in local, national, and international governance systems and institutions that impact climate outcomes. We have been able successfully to kick open the doors to the highest levels of government, to force conversation on Dakota Access Pipeline, on Line 3 Pipeline, while simultaneously laying strong foundations and relationships for people’s movement building. Project-level fights oftentimes still result in industry wins, yet the social license of both industry and government alike continues to shrink under a wave of civil unrest. While the individual losses hurt, the collective movement and the desire to look to frameworks outside of extraction, outside of individualism, keeps growing. And in so much of Westernized movement spaces, most energy is poured into advocacy streams with little to no risk, streams that largely preserve the systems of individualism that must be undone for a habitable world to exist.

Grounded in a commitment to fostering deeper understandings and connections, this theory-to-practice handbook aims to support mindful and proactive navigation of the escalating impacts of climate change on individual and community mental health and wellbeing.

Join us for the online premiere of the short documentary version of “Proposition Amanecer,” along with a live Q&A with organizer and director Miguel Escoto, organizer and editor Monica Chavarria, and organizer and producer Ralph Martinez. This documentary tells the founding story of Amanecer People's Project through the lens of the 2023 "El Paso Climate Charter" campaign, a community written ballot measure that would have transformed El Paso's economic, health, and energy future.

In July 2023, as the world experienced its hottest day, week, month, and year in recorded history, UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared that “the era of global warming has ended” and “the era of global boiling has arrived.”1 The world is not acting quickly enough to respond to the pace of climate change. As NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus observed, “we are losing Earth on our watch.” We are living through a crisis that touches every aspect of our lives, and therefore has a place in every contemporary story. Today, films set in the present or near future that do not include climate change can be considered what they are: fantasy. But there are too few studies examining whether popular films reflect our climate reality. This gap in knowledge prevents us from understanding climate visibility and represen- tation in popular entertainment, as well as the related challenges and opportunities. The Climate Reality Check, a Bechdel–Wallace Test for a World on Fire, pro- vides audience members, screenwriters, filmmakers, studios, and researchers with a straightforward way to evaluate whether climate change is represented—or omitted—in any narrative.3 This two-part, binary evaluation tool is simple, illuminat- ing, and powerful.

How are you measuring your organization’s efforts and advances towards meaningful long-term change? Would you like to begin the process of identifying a unique set of metrics that best suit your organizational goals and power-building strategies?

Organizers worldwide are using the science of motivation to create the conditions for deep learning, commitment, creativity, and performance required to achieve purpose in complex and uncertain political environments. This exclusive PowerLabs webinar is an introduction to the science of motivation and discover practical methods applicable in most organizing contexts. The organizers are achieving extraordinary outcomes by creating environments that support members in meeting the universal psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence.