Here are 5 insights for climate activists from the science of well-being. Your mental health matters for saving the planet; protect yourself and your team by fighting burnout; learn to embrace and allow negative emotions; give yourself the gift of self-compassion; embrace skeptical hope to gain energy and agency. In this video, psychology professor Dr. Laurie Santos discussed how the climate community can apply these strategies to work more effectively and avoid burnout. Two distinct methods are described. First, the RAIN method (by Tara Brach): recognize what is happening; allow feeling to be just as it is; investigate with interest & care; nurture with self-compassion. Second, the steps of self-compassion (by Kristin Neff): mindfulness (“I’m struggling”, “this is hard right now”); common humanity (“this is something everyone deals with”, “I’m only human”); self-kindness (“what do I need right now?”, “what can I take off my plate?”).

A new climate campaign is testing whether relentless civil disobedience can stop Citi from backing the fossil fuel industry. It is an experiment: Can sustained disruption play a major role in toppling support for the fossil fuel industry from a big bank like Citi? First of all, it’s about a wide range of constituencies being disruptive. Also, to sustain disruption, we need more people, period, which requires many recruitment methods. Specifically, this campaign has partnered with community-based organizations to activate existing membership bases, and with grassroots groups and NGOs small and large to send email blasts to recruit supporters into mass calls and meetings. The campaign has also hired campaign fellows and activated volunteers to phone, text bank and flier, sticker and put up posters. This campaign is an organizing project that seeks to recruit and empower many more people and groups to step into escalated risk and disruption.

Here are practices based in the science of motivation, performance and well-being to improve the quality of political organizing trainings. Connect the activity to its impact on other people or the world. Present goals and timelines as valuable information that is necessary for achieving a shared goal. Be clear about any requirements, guidelines, or boundaries. Provide a meaningful rationale for requests and requirements. Acknowledge and accept negative feelings and affect. Provide appropriate scaffolding (training, shadowing, role-plays, etc.).

There is a large gap between people’s interest in climate activism and their self-reported actions. Social norms are linked with increased follow-through. First, there is a big difference between those who say that they “definitely” or “probably” would take an action. Americans who follow through on climate activism tend to feel more social pressure to do so.

Young people bring critical perspective, expertise, and energy to our movement spaces -- but traditional organizing and mobilizing structures can leave them feeling undervalued, tokenized, or burnt out. 

How do we design ladders of engagement that truly support youth leadership development within our climate organizing work?

Participants will leave this Lab training with:

• Evidence-insights into the challenges and opportunities of youth climate organizing

Are you looking to build digital and in-person organizing tactics that will support your organization or local group in your long-term strategy? Join us for an exclusive training session on the integration of online and offline organizing tactics; a strategic approach designed to amplify impact and engagement across diverse channels.

• Discover the significance of leveraging both digital and traditional organizing methods and tactics to effectively achieve long-term goals.

In the spring of 2020, Sunrise Movement had a goal of making 300,000 phonebank calls on six congressional primary races. Sunrise decided to create volunteer teams to manage other volunteers, liaise with campaigns, set goals, and develop strategy. The volunteer leaders of these teams took on a level of responsibility and autonomy typically reserved for staff. The team members took responsibility for setting goals, creating strategy and tactics, liaising with campaigns, and managing the work of thousands of other volunteers.

“Join the movement” is a compelling call-to-action (CTA) with people who are already persuaded and more likely to engage anyway. Those who join in response to this CTA tend to already be aligned with the organization’s position and demands, advocating for the social issue and/or participating in a similar movement or organization. “Join the movement” is ineffective with people who aren’t already receptive. Those not already in alignment with, knowledgeable about, or still in the formative stages of deciding where they stand on a social issue are less inclined to engage or see this CTA as motivational (regardless of how “Join the movement” is framed).

The emerging picture of the most-often cited challenges grassroots groups are facing currently includes: 1) Help with building intersectional narratives and coalitions to link struggles together; 2) Activist safety & security in repressive environments; 3) Maintaining activist engagement and working together efficiently in groups; 4) How to secure funding for grassroots organizing and how to report impact; 5) How to build effective strategy within non-hierarchical structures; 6) Managing burnout among activist communities & collective care. The Global Grassroots Support Network is a collection of 84 seasoned grassroots organizers, campaigners, coaches and more. The Network supports struggles for climate justice, reproductive justice, LGBTQIAS+ rights, housing justice and workers’ rights. These members currently come from: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, the U.S., UK and Zimbabwe. If you’re excited by the mission of supporting grassroots justice-oriented activists, the Network has lots of room for new members and you can commit the amount of time that is accessible to you, and the input that supports your mission.

Digital petitions are a mostly-outdated tactic now. Both our politics and our media environment have moved in directions that render them less useful. Where petitioning used to be the central tactic in a digital campaigner’s toolbox, the Trump years saw a rebirth of collective, place-based mobilization. They were years of record-setting marches and participatory local-level civic engagement. Plus we’ve seen a renaissance in union organizing these past few years. But still, the relevance of petitions has diminished—related to the pervasive sense that government officials no longer behave as though listening to and representing citizens is a core part of the job. And it’s a reminder that most of our digital behavior is downstream of a small handful of quasi-monopolistic companies. If American Democracy is going to make it through the next decade, we are going to need better elites. I suspect, if that happens, we will happen to see digital petitions make a comeback. In the meantime, campaigners will do the best with the tools they have available—they’ll develop tactical repertoires that fit the changing media environment and respond to the political opportunity structure.