Audience: Environmental 'Base'

Starting in 2014, the nation’s broadest climate coalition came together to take bold action on climate. In 2018, this coalition of labor unions, communities of color, environmental advocates, tribal nations, health professionals, faith communities, and businesses coalesced around Initiative 1631 to advance an equitable transition to clean energy and climate resilience. Momentum from Initiative 1631, a stronger legislative climate majority, and a base of mobilized partners and volunteers fed a stronger push for climate progress in the 2019 legislative session and, with momentum on their side, the coalition was able to pass multiple major climate policies with a greater focus on equity and good jobs provisions.
The first five years of building the Alliance (2014-2019), developing and running a ballot campaign, and working in multiple legislative sessions, transformed climate advocacy in Washington State in ways that provide an important example for others working to build power in the climate movement. This assessment was created with a value for an open dialogue with the coalition’s partners in the climate movement, and hope that sharing their story and lessons learned can be useful to others on similar journeys toward a healthy and equitable future.  

In the lead up to the 2018 election, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) worked with the Analyst Institute to test the effectiveness of environmental and social pressure messages to increase voter turnout among their members. They also tested which mode of contact was most effective at increasing voter turnout: mail, SMS, or both. Results form the tests found:

The GOTV efforts increased voter turnout by 0.4 percentage points.
Both messages increased voter turnout, with suggestive evidence that the social pressure message was more effective.
All three modes of contact (mail, SMS, or both) led to increased voter turnout. Layering SMS and mail did not seem more effective then mail and SMS alone.

This slide deck was presented at the Climate and Energy Funders Group annual meeting.