Issue: Lab-sponsored Research

Campaign wins don’t happen without broad-based, community organizing on the ground in the communities most impacted by the pipeline. Effective and successful climate campaigns require a combination of multiple strategies and actions, garnering as much organized influence on the local, state, national, and even international level. Welcome and support new leaders who’ve never been involved and respect them, even when their political and cultural views are different than your own. There is great need for building community and mutual support. A powerful key to victory was the collection and widespread dissemination of valid, reliable, and culturally responsive and competent research and use it wisely in the campaign alongside the power of committed and able people. This report documents organizing lessons learned from the experience of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in North Carolina.

Here at the Climate Advocacy Lab, our ambitious mission and diverse programs mean that we endeavor to do many things. Sometimes I find it easiest to think about them in terms of metaphors: the Lab is a library, a coach, a research institute, a neighborhood bar for the community, a matchmaker, an extension service, and a professional continuing education provider, among other things.
 

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.