Resource Center

This report offers a series of “climate jobs” recommendations for Maine. These recommendations that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution at scale, create thousands of high-quality jobs, and build more resilient, equitable communities in Maine. Regarding transportation, install 25,000 public EV charging stations by 2030; transition 50% of Maine’s school bus fleet to zero-emission electric vehicles by 2025 and 100% by 2030; double and electrify city bus operations by 2030; and construct high-speed rail to Bangor, Maine. Regarding carbon-free healthy schools, retrofit and install solar on all k-12 public schools by 2035. Regarding buildings, net-zero emissions for new construction by 2030; retrofit 50% of residential units by 2040; and build 19,000 affordable units by 2040. Regarding energy, provide 100% renewable electricity by 2035. Regarding labor, ensure high-quality, union jobs in Maine. all of this will ensure a just transition for Maine.

Americans believe climate change is happening and the government should take action. 76% of adult Americans believe there is solid evidence that temperatures on the planet have risen over the last four decades. This is the highest level of acceptance recorded since the inception of this survey in 2008. 59% of Americans think that there is solid evidence of global warming and that the warming is being at least partially caused by human activity. A majority (57%) of adult Americans agree that they have personally felt the effects of climate change. 61% of Americans disagreed that “Instead of trying to stop global warming from occurring we should focus on adapting to a warmer climate.”

“Impact storytelling” is an important political tool, but it needs more coordination, training, talent, research, and funding. This report argues that “narrative and cultural strategy” are important tools of social change and should be further invested in, in many ways. The actors involved in the impact storytelling ecosystem include strategic communicators, grassroots and field organizing, legal and public policy advocacy, and artists and cultural organizers. More important people and groups are engaging in impact storytelling, but challenges remain: people don’t always lead with an impact storytelling mindset, there are too many vague reports and not enough actionable research, there is a looming leadership and staff crisis, there aren’t great ways to measure progress, and there are hurdles to collaboration. Therefore, this report includes recommendations for how to strengthen impact storytelling—there needs to be more: formal coordination and distribution of impact storytelling, training to boost the talent pipeline, practical and useful research and measurement, and more abundant and strategic funding.

Deep canvassing increases support for climate change action in rural British Columbia. The Neighbours United Project, an initiative of the West Kootenay EcoSociety, has shown that deep canvassing and storytelling can persuade on climate in a frontline, rural, industrial community in British Columbia. Successful deep canvassing requires the right script, trained canvassers (staff or volunteers), and a supportive organizational culture. When knocking on doors to have conversations with people, canvassers followed six steps: surface conflicted feelings, connect and acknowledge identity, share a personal story, make the case and help the voter process, understand the impact of the conversation, and make the campaign ask. One overall conclusion is that increasing a sense of government efficacy and support for government action on climate change could be key to moving citizens on climate change.

Our understanding of social movements is shaped by the images we see of them, and there are some key ways to create the images we need to win. A cohesive visual strategy translates disconnected technical skills from visual storytelling crafts into a plan to meet our movements goals. It brings together graphic design, printmaking, illustration, puppetry, theater, photography, set design, digital content, and more. A successful visual strategy does three specific things: contests public and media assumptions about who you are and what is possible; creates unity in your base though increasing access, commitment, resiliency, wellbeing; and maximizes your threat to power by swaying how much power your targets think you have. This resource includes one 90-minute recorded presentation and accompanying PDF slides of the presentation. These also include practical how-to exercises for movements building visual strategies, from what specific visual tools to use, how and when to employ them, and more.

Integrated, year-round community organizing is necessary to create people-powered political representation in the Midwest. Midwestern state economies have destabilized, and this has caused shifting politics, such as formerly Democratic or swing states now voting mostly for Republicans. This report dispels multiple myths about Midwestern politics, such as: some states swung irreversibly to the right; Midwest states can be won either by engaging only people of color, or by frantically chasing white Obama/Trump voters; retail politics can work in the Midwest by “treating” white voters with messages about the economy and Black voters with messages about race, while ignoring Native, Latino, AAPI, and other voters; and we can win Presidential, US Senate, or Gubernatorial races by dumping billions of dollars into paid advertisements each cycle, rather than building the human capacity to lead and govern. This report argues for intentionally, consistently organizing people into membership organizations, unions, and community institutions in order to move constituencies of people into political action and create political homes. Overall, this report argues for “state ecosystems” of democratically accountable movement groups to engage in electoral politics.

In terms of public opinion, energy issues enjoy the least partisan divide while environmental issues, such as climate change, are the most partisan. Over the past year, there has been an increase in the number of Americans who say human-caused pollution contributes to climate change—from 79% to 82%—and say their lives have been impacted by climate change—from 39% to 53%. 46% say “energy issues, like the cost of energy and energy reliability” are extremely important—including 46% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans. 41% overall say “environmental issues, like clean air, clean water, climate change, and clean energy” are extremely important—including 60% of Democrats and just 20% of Republicans. Voters say they are generally more likely to support candidates who are pro-clean energy. Republican and independent voters generally favor natural gas. Just 16% of voters think the U.S. is energy independent.