Washington Climate Action Network

This is a moderated public list: all are welcome, as long as your posts are relevant and in the spirit described below. The list is only for support of nonviolent political actions directly related to climate change; please do not post anything else.

Why do you want to be on one more list? Because if we don't come together on this issue, we cannot succeed in any other.

Please read what's below, and then subscribe using the link at left.

The Spirit of the Thing

In starting this list, we hope to take advantage of the incredible dispersed power of the internet, while helping to knit together the fractured communication that sometimes results. Everyone can post: that's the point. But in order to make the list useful, we also have to keep it streamlined: climate change only, nonviolent political actions only. No philosophy, no lifestyle suggestions, no paper-or-plastic arguments (all of these things are important, but they have abundant forums elsewhere). The list will be moderated for its first month or so; after that, if people seem to be keeping to its spirit, it will only be moderated if there are problems.

The inspiration for this list came from the fact that a few Seattle-area friends noticed that although they were on several local environmental lists, and had engaged politically with one or more groups, there were things going on that they only heard about afterwards. And even when they DID find out in advance, there was often no way they could do much that was useful apart from showing up, because the organization of the actions was very hub-and-spokes: usually one person (or small group) took the lead on any given action, and that person/group was very, very busy...so sometimes, connections weren't made as widely as they could have been, and the actions weren't supported by as many people as they might have been.

So if you (representing yourself, or a larger group) plan to lead an action, that's terrific. That's exactly the kind of thing we hope will be posted here, along with details like "I need help making flyers" or "does anyone know the best media contacts for this kind of action?" or "who knows if the X and Y community groups have been alerted about this?" or "are there any UW students on the list who can help spread the word about this action?" or certainly "who wants to join me?". This way, questions can get asked once, and people who have skills, contacts, or free time can jump in to offer help.

The list is an experiment; it could fizzle, or it could get very busy. If it succeeds enough that at some point there's simply too much traffic--say, for example, if two people in a given month are organizing demonstrations, and five others are doing Obama office visits or Republican candidate office visits*, and half a dozen others are trying to coordinate media campaigns (letters to the editor, op-eds, articles in community newsletters, etc.)...well, that might make it messy enough that people don't want to read the list messages anymore, so we might have to figure out a way that some of those details, once announced, can go off-line (i.e., people can simply e-mail each other instead of the list). But that, of course, is an outcome greatly to be desired, and we'll worry about those kinds of problems when we get to them.

Meanwhile, please make sure to let us know about climate change actions taking place, and encourage people to sign up for this list.

*We can't win this fight unless everyone is involved; please keep all comments nonpartisan and respectful. Apart from any high-minded reasons for this, the simple fact is that there's a decent chance a Republican will win the White House, and they've already (in case you haven't noticed) won the House: they need to know that their constituents care about this issue, and won't tolerate the denialism most of them are currently espousing.

FAQ's

• I'm with (insert organization here): why should I encourage people to be on this list?
  

  Because with any luck, you'll get more support for what you're already doing. Also because THERE WILL BE NO FUNDRAISING ON THIS LIST. EVER. We've run nonprofits too, and we know that survival often demands that you be possessive of your mailing lists, even when working for causes you support, with groups you support. This promise, we hope, will alleviate your concerns. One list member may ask another if they have access to a copier; a group of self-selected individuals working on a given action may pool small amounts of cash for posters, etc., but no request for financial support will ever be posted to the list. Furthermore, we won't ask for your mailing list...it's not important that everyone in WA who cares about climate change be on the list, only that if you're part of a group engaged in climate change actions, one or two people from your group post them here, and keep an eye on what other folks on this list are doing, so that we can support each other.

• Who will be on the list?
  

  Anyone who wants to know what people in Washington State are doing to fight climate change politically. So a lot of people, we hope...eventually. A little more specifically, we hope anyone who's involved in environmental or social justice activism; immigrants and refugees from countries already suffering from climate change (whose voices are perhaps most essential of all); parents, teachers, labor and party activists, kids, neighbors, religious groups, atheist groups.....you get the idea. It will have a slow start for the first several months, probably, because while we hope to spend some time making connections, this list will always be secondary to actual strategizing and actions to fight climate change; it's meant to serve as an ever-widening resource for people doing just that, not to be a new group that competes in any way for time or attention.

• How are you defining POLITICAL actions?
  

  Good question, and one that will clearly evolve. Certainly rallies, nonviolent protests, vigils, letter-writing campaigns. Also broader media campaigns; we hope that many Seattle community papers, in many languages, will have a letter or an article that helps to educate people about why climate change is important to them, in their already busy, stressed lives. Most of all, at the moment, these actions should focus on SPECIFICS: Keystone XL, fracking, the Power Past Coal campaign, support for carbon taxes and renewable energy, etc. The candidates need to know that we care deeply about these things, and we're watching them.

• Why isn't this a Facebook page?
  

  If this turns into something strong and useful, it will do so precisely because it avoids the hub-and-spokes problem, and lets people speak directly to one another, activists and would-be activists alike; posting on a wall isn't as effective, and we didn't want to make anyone sign away their privacy rights in order to know what's going on. For the moment, a good, old-fashioned listserv/mailing list seemed like the least invasive, most direct way to go about this. People can sign on using whatever name they like, add/remove themselves at will, and join in when they're ready.