Last week, we launched the Fossil Free campaign off-campus, and the response has been amazing! If you haven’t had a chance, check out our new off-campus campaigns page and sign up to start your own. Here’s the email Jay Carmona sent out about the launch:
Dear Friends,
I wanted to share some exciting news.
Later this week, we’re going to be officially launching the next phase of our fossil fuel divestment campaign: taking our movement to cities, states, and other institutions beyond colleges and universities.
If you’re getting this email, it means that you’re either one of our top grassroots organizers around the country or that you’ve expressed interest in the Fossil Free campaign by clicking on a divestment petition or action. Before we launch to our nationwide network, we wanted to give you a chance to check out our new online platform for the campaign and — if you’re interested, kick-off your own local divestment effort by starting a new local petition on our website.
Click here to start a petition and launch your local city/state divestment campaign
(If you’re interested in working on a campus campaign, this is the link for you).
Since I joined the 350 team a couple weeks ago as our full-time off-campus divestment organizer, I’ve been talking with people around the country who are already hard at work on their own local campaigns.
In San Francisco, organizers are preparing for a hearing at City Hall on a resolution to divest around $1 billion from the 200 fossil fuel companies on our list. In Maine and Vermont, 350 activists are working on state-level divestment legislation. Divestment resolutions are also moving forward in religious communities, from the United Church of Christ to Methodist congregations.
Just yesterday, I got an email from the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, an organization that helps protect endangered species. They’re divesting their holdings and encouraging the global network of zoos they work with to divest, as well!
If we’re going to be successful in taking away the fossil fuel industry’s social license and seriously weakening their political power, we need this divestment effort to spread everywhere: cities, states, churches, and yes, even zoos. Students have done an amazing job starting this campaign — we’re on over 250 colleges and universities — now it’s up to the rest of us to take it to the next level.
If you could start a petition today, before we go out to our full network later this week, it would help us test out the system, work out any kinks, and make sure that map so that when people visit the website they’ll see some example campaigns already underway.
I’ve put up some basic guides and resources on how to get a local campaign going here. You can also check out the student organizing resources (lots of the tips apply to off-campus work, as well).
But most of all, I want to learn from you: what talking points are working well? how are you organizing your campaign? What additional resources can we provide? You can always email me at jay@350.org to share your ideas, ask questions, or just say hi!
Thanks again for helping lead this effort. I can’t wait for it to take off.
Onwards,
Jay