Organizing Cools the Planet

Overview

Organizing Cools The Planet weaves together stories, analysis, organizing tools, and provocative questions, to offer a snapshot of U.S. climate activism and provide pathways for readers to participate in it. Authors share hard lessons learned, reflect on strategy, and grapple with the challenges of their roles as organizers who do not come from “frontline” communities, but work to amplify and build a climate justice movement led by low-income people, communities of color, Indigenous, youth and other constituencies most directly impacted by the crisis. Rooted in the authors’ experiences organizing in local, national, and international arenas, this pamphlet grapples with the challenges and overwhelming odds young activists face today. Organizing Cools the Planet challenges readers to look at the scale of ecological collapse with open eyes, without falling prey to disempowering doomsday narratives. It asks key pressing questions for those who wish to take our generational challenge seriously. This pamphlet is for anyone who wants to build a movement with the resiliency to navigate one of the most rapid transitions in human history.

Reviews

"There is no task more urgent than to organize a mass popular movement to deal effectively with the looming environmental crisis. The barriers are high, the forces opposed powerful. All the more reason to dedicate ourselves to the kinds of efforts outlined in this pamphlet." —Noam Chomsky

“As the climate crisis becomes increasingly unignorable, our movements must learn to navigate a rapidly changing and high stakes political landscape. Our times demand we think bigger, push harder, and reimagine the possibilities for 21st century movement building. This potent little pamphlet is a great place to begin the conversation. Authored by two visionary young leaders who share their personal struggles and hard earned lessons from organizing at the intersection of justice, ecology and change, Organizing Cools the Planet is required reading for anyone who gives a damn about the future. Tune in for some indispensable analysis, provocative thinking and a healthy dose of people-powered optimism.” —Patrick Reinsborough, co-author, Re:Imagining Change

"In an atmosphere heavy with doomsday predictions and fear, this pamphlet is a breath of fresh air. Joshua Kahn Russell and Hilary Moore weave together stories and organizing tools to create a vision for practical transition amid the climate crisis. Organizing Cools the Planet confronts pressing questions of our time." —Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Founding Director, Indigenous World Association

"This manual will be useful to all who want to make change creatively and peacefully in our brutal times. It is about organizing in Gandhi's footsteps." —Dr. Vandana Shiva

“It is always a challenge to act on principles instead of interests, to keep indignation alive while being careful that actions are not based on hatred but values. This is a rigorous and useful tool for teaching and learning the architecture of militancy, a valuable nourishment for climate justice activists and change agents in the ever-demanding task of wiping out injustices that robs life of dignity.” —Dorothy Gurrero, Focus on the Global South

"Organizing Cools the Planet urges us to take home some of the most practical, creative, and up-to-date lessons about the ongoing development of social movements, and helps us begin to feel just how these ideas can transform the ways we work and the way we live. As people around the world are rising up against the elites that have sold out our future, it could not be more timely." —www.TowardFreedom.com (October 2011)

Author Biography

Joshua Kahn Russell is a strategy and non-violent direct action trainer with the Ruckus Society, and serves communities impacted by fossil fuel extraction. He works internationally with the Climate Justice Now! network to bring justice to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and has been a leading voice in the International Youth Climate Movement. Joshua spent four years as Rainforest Action Network’s Grassroots Actions Manager, campaigning to end our addiction to coal and oil. His articles have appeared in Yes! Magazine, Left Turn Magazine, Peacework Magazine, Upping the Anti, and Z Magazine. Hilary Moore is a core organizer with Rising Tide Bay Area, a grassroots all-volunteer organization focused on direct action and education to confront the root causes of climate change. She is a founding organizer of the Mobilization for Climate Justice-West, a grassroots coalition of advocacy, community-based, and direct action organizations in the Bay Area dedicated to keeping frontline communities at the forefront of the struggle. She is finishing a graduate degree with the Institute for Social Ecology, focusing on building collective practices of care within communities engaged in resistance and struggle.