Resource Type: Evaluation & Measuring Progress

Gillion’s research examines whether a protest can make a real change – and the short answer is that it does. Looking at the effect of civil rights protests from the 1960’s–1990’s on Congress, he found that protest had a small but detectable effect on legislators. And he identified factors that increased the salience of a protest to politicians.

Every day climate advocates and organizations make dozens of decisions about how to allocate time and resources most effectively– from high-level questions about campaign strategy* to weighing the trade-offs of policymaker contact tactics* to the phrasing of a canvass script. We believe that the climate movement shouldn’t waste time or money doing things destined to fail or backfire. This is why the Lab exists to equip the US climate movement with the evidence-based insights, skills, and connections needed to build durable power and win equitable solutions.