People’s Action Institute worked with member affiliates New Jersey Resource Project (NJRP) and Maine People’s Resource Center (MPRC) to conduct two deep canvassing projects focused on building community support for offshore wind power development. In the Spring and early Summer of 2024, canvassers from these organizations held conversations with over 1,400 local residents in Lacey Township, NJ and the Midcoast region of Maine combined.

In this episode, David talks with Matt Traldi, co-founder of Greenlight America, about the fight for clean energy at the local level. They discuss how small groups of opponents are successfully blocking renewable projects across the country, and how Matt’s organization is working to turn the tide by mobilizing local supporters and giving them the tools to advocate effectively at critical government meetings.

This podcast episode tells the story of how a powerful grassroots movement, ambitious lawmakers, and Governor Tim Walz turned Minnesota into a climate leader. To tell Minnesota’s success story, the podcast spoke to Aimee Witteman, the Vice President of Investment and Network at Rewiring America, Chris Conry, the Managing Director of 100 Percent MN, and Rep. Jamie Long, the Majority Leader of the Minnesota State House of Representatives. Over the past few years, Minnesota has done more on climate than perhaps any other state, anchored by a nation-leading clean electricity standard that requires 100% carbon-free power by 2040. The center of gravity for state-level climate action isn’t California, or Washington, or Massachusetts. It’s Minnesota.

Polling 201: utilizing public opinion research in your communications ca

The campaign that ushered in ‘the end of coal in New England’ has its sights set on fossil fuel power plants and reclaiming energy democracy. Earlier this year, the No Coal No Gas (NCNG) campaign won its major campaign demand: to close the last big coal plant in New England. NCNG has reissued our three campaign goals — with an update to the third — as follows: 1) build unity and community; 2) show what is possible; and 3) shut down all fossil fuel plants in New England. Activists know that change doesn’t happen through electoral politics, letters to the editor and rallies alone. They also know that when a group of people march across a bridge or occupy the halls of power, there are even more people behind the scenes involved in endless planning, calling, writing, investigating, driving, feeding, painting, sewing, conflict-mediating and thinking together. This is why “building unity and community” has been the campaign’s number-one campaign goal all along.

Join Youth Climate Finance Alliance and the Climate Advocacy Lab where we’ll share more about our new “State of the US Youth Climate Movement” Report and Zine." We will review our research methodology, key findings, and how learnings are shaping our shifts in our programming and organizing strategy. With hopes to resource climate advocates to better contextualize the state of the domestic US youth climate movement and its challenges - to intergenerational allies, movement partners, as well as funder networks - we will highlight key case studies and have plenty of time to discuss and reflect You can view the full report (bit.ly/YCFAReport), as well as the zine at bit.ly/YCFAZine.

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.

What does building durable multiracial, cross-class power for the US climate movement look like in practice? The Lab has been exploring this question over the past few years in conversation with leaders across the community, which has inspired our strategic Partnerships Program, projects like the Blueprint for a Multiracial, Cross-Class Climate Movement, our Training for Impact cohort, and our recent training series on coalitions.

It is critical that folks dedicated to protecting our children’s chance at a future continue to engage in solution-making processes, in local, national, and international governance systems and institutions that impact climate outcomes. We have been able successfully to kick open the doors to the highest levels of government, to force conversation on Dakota Access Pipeline, on Line 3 Pipeline, while simultaneously laying strong foundations and relationships for people’s movement building. Project-level fights oftentimes still result in industry wins, yet the social license of both industry and government alike continues to shrink under a wave of civil unrest. While the individual losses hurt, the collective movement and the desire to look to frameworks outside of extraction, outside of individualism, keeps growing. And in so much of Westernized movement spaces, most energy is poured into advocacy streams with little to no risk, streams that largely preserve the systems of individualism that must be undone for a habitable world to exist.

Lynsy Smithson-Stanley and Jack Zhou join The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about their work on the Climate Advocacy Lab's latest report A Blueprint for Multiracial Cross-class Climate Movements.