Resource Type: Tips & How-Tos

This Insight explores the linkages between environmental injustice, policing, and prisons. By now, many folks in our movement are familiar with the pitfalls of the current policing and prison systems, but how do we, as climate activists, understand the call for police reform, or even abolition, within our own work?

Maximize impact this legislative session with the Lab’s training on the most effective evidence-based ways to influence legislators and other policy makers.

A good time to be thinking about best practices for educating—the Lab is (c)3—legislators and other policymakers on climate and clean energy. It’s been almost two years since we last touched on this in a Lab newsletter (and created our comprehensive guide). We revisit that guidance in light of the latest research and tools.

Open with a shared value. Reference race in the shared value. State a problem after the shared value. Name villains who use racial scapegoating or division as a weapon that hurts all of us. Uplift victories and/or everyday collective actions that solve problems(s) across race. Focus on tangible outcomes, not policies or procedures. Give a clear call to action. Share what we are for without repeating the opposition’s language. Use simple, everyday language.

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.