See How Grassroots Organizations Are Changing the Face of Climate Activism
This 9-minute film documents one of the fastest-growing and most effective forces combating climate change: organized grassroots movements. Centering around efforts to overturn California’s historic global warming legislation, the film highlights how community organizations and networks throughout the state played a crucial role in mobilizing the vote in immigrant and low income communities to defeat Proposition 23, making the case that equity-based and community-driven solutions are essential in bringing about the deeper restructuring of societies to confront the climate crisis.
Wins such as the Prop 23 fight against a dirty oil ballot measure that tried to kill AB32, California’s state climate legislation, brought new voters to civic life and leaders to the table. Wins like this demonstrate that the change and the political power shift is and can continue to occur. In California, New Mexico, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida and others, there is an emerging layer of expanded former as well as new organizations with civic and electoral vision and skill to target the emerging new electorate. Operating across issues, these organizations are anchored in the grassroots while strengthening their capacity to engage in legislative and electoral arenas to activate a new majority electorate to power beyond single-issue politics or campaigns.
To win on climate means we have built the political power, connected to grassroots action that achieves an ambitious national commitment for a cap and cut on carbon and transition to a renewable energy economy. To achieve this we need a bold and activated grassroots movement in critical partnership with governing power, from local to national levels, to forge the policies and investment necessary for a just and sustainable shift to a low carbon economy.