Climate Mobilization News
Thank you to everyone who attended our March 30th Climate Mobilization Network meeting, and a special thanks to Anna Siegel of Maine Youth for Climate Justice, and Zack Burley from The Climate Mobilization, for sharing their wisdom with our Network members on overcoming funding challenges to implementing radical local climate action.
If you are interested in accessing a recording of the meeting, hearing more about our Network resources, or coming to our next quarterly meeting, please email us! If there are topics you would like to amplify nationally through our Network, we’d love to hear from you.
In the absence of major federal funding for a mobilization-scale response to the climate emergency, the failure of Build Back Better and the lack of national leadership on climate, we are partnering with organizations making local change and training new organizers to push for policies that bring benefits to historically marginalized communities and eliminate fossil fuels at the same time.
The Climate Mobilization team in Sonoma County, California is forming a transit riders union to build power for demanding the low-carbon transit system people need and deserve. The team canvassed bus riders this past week to learn more about their priorities.
In Acton, MA, Housing and Climate Justice for Acton, an organization of renters and condo residents that we support, held a rally in late March urging the Town to create more resources for renters. At Acton’s May Town Meeting, the group hopes to pass an Electric Vehicle Charging for All agenda item asking the Town to add electric car charging stations to apartment and condo building parking lots.
Team Spotlight
Meet Zack Burley, our policy analyst. Zack provides policy support for the Climate Mobilization team, and brings a versatile set of policy skills and experiences in labor organizing, journalism, legislative politics, and legal practice to the climate emergency movement. Zack earned a JD from Denver University Sturm College of Law, is a founding organizer of the Political Workers Guild of Colorado, and formerly served as a legislative aide in the Colorado General Assembly.
Volunteer roles
We are looking for friendly, dedicated volunteers to help grow our Climate Mobilization Network! We need experienced organizers to support us as Network Climate Campaign Coaches, to mentor volunteer-led climate groups organizing local climate campaigns in cities across the U.S. We are in need of Regional Network Recruitment Coordinators to help us expand our membership base by identifying and doing initial outreach to climate action groups — with a focus on groups that are under–resourced, need support with their campaign and policy work, and/or are led by frontline communities. If you are interested in making connections, consider joining us as a volunteer Network Peer Learning Facilitator to help us facilitate connections and learning across the Network and between Network groups.
If you are interested in applying for these positions, please fill out our volunteer application, or send an email to mariyah@climatemobilization.org.
Stories informing our work
Though the news was inundated with discussions of the Oscars when it was released, we’d like to see the IPCC report on the front page of every newspaper. This report sounds the alarm, and provides guidance on the bold, urgent changes we must make to avoid catastrophic outcomes.
The Governor of California has proposed distributing $100 million to tribes in California to buy back privately owned land. The proposal aims to put more land under the stewardship of Native people, and take a small step toward returning land stolen from California’s nearly 200 tribes.
Rather than using funds from the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act to benefit Californians through climate-friendly infrastructure improvements or aid to communities, California used a huge percentage of their relief dollars to fund policing.
Big banks have been touting their climate pledges, but continue to invest in ever-riskier fossil fuel projects and are completely ignoring their (albeit weak, net-zero) commitments.
In case you missed it: Bill Mckibben argues that fossil fuels prop up autocratic governments, while renewable energy is more democratic.
Behavioral scientists have found that having access to energy sources has a positive impact on well-being, as measured by factors like health, longevity and happiness. A new study demonstrates, however, that gains level off at rates of access lower than what is consumed in the U.S. and other wealthy nations, showing that we could cut energy consumption considerably without experiencing declines in well-being.
Support Climate Mobilization
Can you pitch in to invest in this critical work? Every donation helps speed up the transition we need towards climate justice at emergency speed. Thank you for being a part of this movement!
