Audience: Environmental 'Base'

Read on for a summary of the big ideas and trends on our minds at the Lab as we reflect on everything that happened in 2022 and look forward to 2023.

I don’t know where to begin – there has been so much learning, joys, and incredible juicy training that have occurred in the last 6 months. I joined the lab in June 2022 as Training Manager, along with Gabby H., who came along as our Training Lead amidst many staff transitions. I was excited and nervous all at the same time. Let me first start off by saying that it can be so nerve racking moving into a new organization and hoping that you can accomplish all of your visions and hopes. I can say that being a program manager on the Lab staff has taught me so much and been a powerful experience. Let’s take a look into some of the incredible learnings that occurred over the course of 6 months from the Training Team.

This workshop on combating apathy and powerlessness for the RE-AMP Network’s current peer learning circle covered what social science is telling us about the root causes of apathy and ways to move people toward hope, and how to combat sentiments among supporters like “My actions don’t matter.”        

When new supporters sign up to learn more about an organization, what gets them motivated to start engaging with advocacy and taking actions? Should advocates first try to create a sense of community identity, or feed new supporters’ desire for immediate action and efficacy?
Sunrise Movement wanted to explore this question through their Welcome Series, which has traditionally culminated in a “Welcome Call” where new supporters learn more about the organization and meet other people new to Sunrise. Working with the Climate Advocacy Lab and The Movement Cooperative, they compared this to a new “Anytime Action” event where new supporters get immediate training on ways to take action.

The world can be a dangerous place, especially when you’re trying to solve a climate crisis. Disinformation – from the fossil fuel industry, conspiracy theorists, or their partisan accomplices – pollutes the discourse and draws attention away from actual climate solutions. Unfortunately, we’re now all responsible for pushing back against lies, dirty tricks, and bad-faith arguments in order to protect our audiences.
Building off of our March webinar on Fighting Digital Climate Disinformation, we want to arm advocates with what they’ll need to fight disinformation in their work, whether that looks like organizing volunteers on social media to amplify inoculation messages, debunking misleading information in frontline communities, or building a dedicated program to conduct anti-disinformation research. Participants will leave this webinar equipped with the knowledge and instructions to protect their organization and their base.